[imagesource: Modpools]

Repurposing shipping containers and turning them into modular-style homes has become increasingly popular over the past five or so years.

As the cost of buying property surges, so too do the ways we look to maximise our money and also minimise our impact on the environment.

Now shipping containers are being looked at as a way to kit out your home with a swimming pool, especially across the US and Canada.

Fast Company profiled Vancouver-based company Rathnam recently, founded by Paul Rathnam, with a focus on their pool designs:

It’s a way to reuse containers that are often transported overseas just once and then go to waste—while at the same time providing comfort for home-bound families who may be using their backyards more often during the pandemic.

The portable pools are relatively easy and efficient to build and install, and can be modified with some luxurious features.

Image: Modpools

[Paul] would buy containers that were doing a single trip across the Pacific, carrying goods like cellphones, computers, and clothes from China to North America…

“Turning them into something that you can use for 30 years on your property [is] probably the best form of recycling we can do,” Rathnam says.

Shipping containers around these parts put in a good shift before they’re retired – just ask local forwarding and clearing agents Berry & Donaldson, who have branches in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban.

After some thought, Paul created Modpools, which constructs the pool using a modular approach. To start, the 20-by-8-foot or 40-by-8-foot containers are cut down to the customised shape and size a customer desires.

That happens before it arrives on-site, reducing any noise and disruption, and can be installed within a day either above the ground, in-ground, or partially above ground.

Modpools can also add window features as desired, and even divide a container into a pool-hot tub combination.

Image: Modpools

Pop a pool in at home and who knows, maybe you’ll form a strong bond with your Kreepy Krauly.

There appear to be a few South African companies doing something similar to Modpools – here, for example – but there are some pros and cons.

You might want to read through this buyer’s guide before you pull the trigger.

[source:fastcompany]