How do you prep the ground for a shipping container?
Pick firm, high ground that drains, then either build a gravel pad a bit larger than the box or set solid blocks under the four corners, and the middle on a 40ft. Avoid fresh fill and low spots, and make sure the truck has a straight, firm run to get there.
Gravel pad or corner blocks
A container sits on its four corner castings, so it does not need a slab. The two common bases are a compacted crushed-stone pad a little bigger than the box, or solid concrete blocks or treated pads under each corner. A 40ft should also have support under the middle of each long side.
Gravel drains, keeps weeds down and spreads the load. Corner blocks cost less and lift the floor off the ground for airflow. Either works on firm ground. See container on grass for setting it straight on turf.
Drainage and what to avoid
Pick the high side of the lot. Set the door end a touch lower than the back so rain runs away from the doors, not into them. Avoid fresh fill, which settles, and any spot where water stands after a storm.
If your lot is in a mapped floodplain, a floodplain permit may come before the box; your town page names the office.
Yazoo clay in the Jackson metro
Much of Jackson, Madison, Rankin and Hinds counties sits on Yazoo clay, which swells when wet and shrinks when dry. It cracks slabs and moves foundations, and it will move a container's corners too. Wider pads under each corner and a gravel base spread the load and help with drainage.
Expect to re-level by season. How to level a container covers it. Last, check the truck's path: about 60 feet of straight, firm run for a 20ft and 100 feet for a 40ft. See delivery access.
Buying a container?
Longleaf sells used and one-trip 20ft and 40ft shipping containers, delivered by tilt-bed across the Pine Belt. Enter your ZIP for the delivered price — it comes straight from the supplier feed and already includes the haul. Locks, vents, shelving and lights are on the accessories page. We sell; we do not rent.
Keep reading
- How to level a shipping container on pasture, sand, clay or a gravel pad — How to level a shipping container with a bottle jack and blocks on pasture, Pine Belt sand, Jackson clay or gravel, how to tell it is off, and when to re-level.
- Shelving for a shipping container without drilling: brackets that hang on the corrugation — How to put shelves in a shipping container without drilling: brackets that hook on the corrugation, 2x12 boards, pipe racks, and a layout with an aisle.
- What should you check when your shipping container is delivered? — A delivery checklist for a shipping container: doors and seals, the daylight test, floor, roof, the grade you paid for, and what to do if something is off.
- Which accessories make a shipping container usable: locks, vents, shelving and more — Which shipping container accessories to buy first: a lock box and padlock, vents, solar lights, no-drill shelving, a leveling jack and ramps, in order.
- Solar lights for a shipping container with no power run: what works and what to buy — Solar lights for a shipping container with no power: interior string and work lights, motion lights over the doors, the panel, and when to run a cord.
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