How To Repair Damaged Shipping Containers
Shipping containers are one of the easily damaged items during shipments because they go thousands of kilometers in one go where they go through different weather conditions that might cause them to rust, or during loading or unloading, it might hit somewhere and break apart or create holes. These are very common during shipments especially in international ones where a container gets loaded and unloaded onto a ship several times.
Some of the biggest issues that shipping containers face are rust, because of the weather changes and faulty caring of the container, broken doors (generally seals) due to being used too much. Since it is used too much, the parts of the doors that hold it gets problematic and old and breaks down. The same goes for the seals. And lastly, floor cracking or sometimes, floor getting rusted. These are common problems that happen to every container no matter the quality of it. It might take a while for the quality ones to get it but eventually, it happens. In this article, we will talk about how to fix the most common damages in shipping containers.
Rust
Rust can happen for a variety of reasons. Even weather conditions could be a reason for rusting in containers but the most common is the damages that they get when they are transitioned from one place to another. Due to damages they get, they lose their protective paintwork, allowing them to rust very quickly and hurt the steel. The bad part is that once the rust starts no matter how small it is, it can grow significantly and affect other parts of the container. They are mostly seen in the seams, bottom parts of the doors, container sides near the grounds, or any other damaged place.
There are two ways to fix the rust according to the type of it. If the rust is at the surface rust which generally happens due to sun or water. To fix this, you first need to remove the rust and the contaminated paint with sandblasting. Later on, you can prime and repaint the container to gives it its best shape. For the other type, which is deep rust and the holes it created, you need to cut out that part and patch a brand new steel to that hole that you just cut out. Then, you can paint it. Check your container’s paint regularly to have a rust-free container.
Doors
Doors are easily damaged because they are the most used part of a container and most prone to damages. Especially its seals tend to get broken or lose their touch. Containers have to be airtight and watertight, and even a simple problem with the door’s seals could make it lose that and hurt the items inside it. To ensure that your container is not breached and protects the goods inside it safely, you have to regularly check the door seals and also the doors themselves in case there is anything that compromises the safety of it.
Replacing the door seals are pretty easy if done by a professional and will not cost too much. Let a professional take a quick look at your doors and their seals and let him/her make the decision. If anything is needed, a professional should do it, rather than yourself. Another thing is about grease on the doors. If the doors are rigid, you might need to apply new grease onto the hinges of the doors. But make sure to remove the old grease before you apply the new one.
Floors
Floor damage could happen at any moment with any kind of thing. Either damage to the floor could cause it or it might happen due to carrying too heavy goods on it. It is perfectly normal for the floor to get damaged. This kind of wear is called delaminated flooring. Generally, only a part of it is affected but instead of changing that specific part, there are some people (also some damages require this, too) that want to change the entire floor. So, there are two ways to fix your delaminated floor, and they are not so hard. It just requires some knowledge, experience, and materials to do it.
If you are going to fix only a small part of the floor, this one is the easiest. You cut out that part where you want to fix and replace it with the necessary piece. After that, you are gonna want to apply a fresh coat of sealant to make it stick and also to make it solid. It is this easy to replace a part of the flooring. To change the entire flooring, you first need to remove any kind of screws before starting the process. After that, you can start from one edge to pull the floor up. You can easily take the entire floor up if you have already removed the screws. Once you are done with that, clean any kind of glue or such before you put the new flooring. After you put the new flooring in the container, put the screws back in, ideally every 30-35 cm. Voila. You have successfully changed the entire flooring of your shipping container.
To sum up, from rusting to delaminated flooring, shipping containers can get easily damaged either through certain damages while transportation or through time, normal wear that happens with anything. Either way, you always have to check your shipping container occasionally to see if there is anything wrong with it. Ideally, repainting your shipping container once or twice a year and making the necessary care to the doors or other parts is a necessity. Even though you take great care, this just makes the process of problems coming out slower. You are going to want to know how to fix the rust, broken door seals, and delaminated floor by yourself.
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