Storage Containers in Portland, Oregon

Rain is the whole story in Portland. It settles in from October through May instead of pouring, and a steel box with the wrong setup will drip on your stock for seven months. If you are renting or buying a container here, plan for moisture first and everything else second.

Keeping the inside dry

Container rain forms when warm, damp air meets cold metal. In Portland that happens daily in the wet season. For storage that matters, pick a box with a roof vent, or add a liner and a small dehumidifier if you have a power outlet nearby. Silica gel packs help for small items. Nothing replaces getting the box off wet ground.

Soft, saturated soil is the other issue. A container sitting on bare dirt in January will sink a bit on one corner and the doors will stop closing right. Put the box on gravel or timbers, and keep the surface sloped so water runs away. Ask your provider whether they can level the box when they set it down, and what happens if the ground gives afterward.

Moss and rust go with the territory. A one-trip container in good paint will look better longer than a bare, scuffed used one, and a repaint is easy to add when you buy.

Hills, narrow streets and trucks

Delivery is where Portland gets tricky. The west hills, Lake Oswego and parts of West Linn have steep lots and narrow roads, and a tilt-bed truck needs room to back in and set the box down. Many homeowners in these neighborhoods end up using a smaller ten foot unit because a twenty will not fit the approach. Send photos of your driveway to the provider before delivery. A short drive that curves uphill under power lines is a common reason for a failed drop.

On the flat east and north sides, in Gresham and along the Columbia in Vancouver, access is easier. Industrial lots in Tualatin and Wilsonville often have plenty of room, and some of those yards sell used boxes directly.

If the unit has to go in a backyard, a roll-off style delivery can sometimes get it past obstacles that a tilt-bed cannot. Ask, because not every provider offers both.

Who uses them around the metro

Hillsboro and Beaverton have the tech and manufacturing employers, and the construction that goes with them. Contractors there rent boxes for tools, and building trades near the Tualatin Valley industrial parks keep spare parts and fixtures in them. Nurseries and farms in the Willamette Valley south and west of the city buy used containers for equipment and seed storage.

Breweries and food makers inside the city, especially on the east side, use containers for dry goods and seasonal stock. Retailers run them for holiday inventory. Homeowners in neighborhoods with older houses and small basements rent one during a remodel, which is a common reason in Portland and Oregon City.

Across the Columbia, Vancouver is in Washington. Ask if your provider crosses the river, and if Vancouver counts as part of the metro in the quote.

Permits and neighborhood rules

Portland and its suburbs treat containers as temporary structures in many cases, and rules change depending on the zone and how long the box will sit. A homeowner putting one on a driveway for a few weeks is in a different situation from a business keeping one on a lot for a year. Check with the city or county permit office. If your project is already permitted, the box may ride along with that approval. Confirm it with the permit office.

Neighborhood associations in places like Lake Oswego and parts of Beaverton may have rules of their own. Read them before you commit.

Winter jobs and the mud problem

Construction does not stop for rain in Portland, and neither does the demand for boxes. The trouble is that the ground you want to set one on is soaked from November through March. A driver who sinks a truck to the axles in a muddy lot on Hillsboro's edge is going to leave without dropping anything.

Lay a gravel pad before delivery day. Even a thin one, compacted, gives the truck something to stand on and the box something to sit on. Ask the provider what size pad they recommend, and whether they want it for the whole box or just the corners.

If you are building in Beaverton or Tigard, where lots are small and neighbors are close, a ten foot box often works better than a twenty. You give up floor area but save the grief of blocking a driveway.

Buy or rent

Portland is closer to a working port than inland metros, so used boxes tend to be easier to find than in Salt Lake City or Denver, and cargo-worthy grades are common. If you need the box for more than about a year, buying a wind and watertight unit usually makes more sense than paying rent every month. For short projects, rent.

Get the grade in writing. A wind and watertight box that leaks is a problem to be settled before the invoice is paid, not after the first rain.

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