Repair Shipping Containers

Doors aren’t shutting right. This is the most common problem in containers. The reason is that if you load your container, it can shift the way the container is sitting on the ground ever so slightly. Just ¼” can make opening the doors trickier. The easiest fix to this is to either readjust your blocking or add a little blocking under your container. You can lift up one corner of your container with a car jack. Once you have the container lifted, rearrange your blocking (or slip some under there). Be careful not to put your hand under your container in case your car jack slips. We recommend wood blocking if you don’t have any. Once you adjust a corner or two, the doors should open more easily.

Floors need repair. The flooring of your container is made of plywood. The good news is, this is easy to replace. They have treated plywood to prevent moisture from coming through, so we recommend using that as well. The flooring sections are attached directly to the cross-members under the floor. If you look at your floor, you will see where they are attached. Carefully remove the flooring section and rivet or screw in the new piece, depending on how your flooring is attached. Be sure to get the same thickness flooring so your floor stays level.

Repairing Holes in Containers : You have a hole in your container. This is a biggie. You can’t let it be or it will get things wet in the container. If it is a small holes, you can simply weld it shut. This works best for pin holes. However, if you have something bigger on your hands, then you will need to cut out that section and replace it with more corten steel. Chances are you don’t have that laying around, so you will probably have to call the company who sold you your container to see if they have some they can send you. Also, this repair requires cutting and welding skills. If you do not have them, hire a welder to do this repair for you. The area with the hole needs to be cut out, a new piece added in and welded into place to seal it up again.

Your door seals or lockrods are broken. It will happen eventually that you need new door seals. You can get door seal kits that fit perfectly on the door. You just take off the old seals and put on the new one. If the lockrods (the piece that goes the height of the door) can bend or break. Those also can be replaced as well as the keepers that lock the lockrod in place. If you need help with any of these container parts, let us know.

This doesn’t solve every problem, but it should cover the most common problems people have with containers. If you need more help with your repair, give us a call and we can try to walk you through a solution or help you find a way to get your container fixed.