A ‘Bump-Out’ is an extension on (at least) one of the longer sides of the shipping container structure as shown below:
The bump-out has three purposes:
- Improve the aesthetics of the house by adding angles to the facade so the house doesn’t look so ‘boxy’.
- Convert a narrow 8′ interior (or even less after you take insulation and walls into account) into a more livable 10′ space, effectively overcoming one of the biggest drawbacks of building houses with shipping containers.
- Increase the total living space by 48 SqFt
It is possible to have more than one bump-out on a shipping container house. A one 20′ shipping container house can have 1 or 2 bump-outs, a 40′ shipping container house can have 1, 2, 3 or 4 bump-outs, and more complex houses can be built with a variable number of containers and bump-outs.
The bump-out does not affect the structural integrity of the shipping container, and they can still be stacked up to create multi-tiered houses. They can also be moved and transported with standard shipping container handling equipment (e.g. forklifts, flat bed trucks, etc).