Many people have a dream home in mind. For some it is a bungalow surrounded by trees, for others, it is a mansion on a cliff edge. For one man who has become a YouTube sensation, it is a medieval castle. He decided to take the time to build his own castle using shipping containers and he put the whole process on YouTube.
Andrew Camarata is a computer science graduate with a passion for construction. He grew up helping his dad with various projects and soon fell in love with the handyman lifestyle. He started his own business focusing on property maintenance in 2009. In his spare time, he likes to work on various passion projects. His latest project took far more than a few hours on a quiet Saturday. He decided to build his own shipping container fortress.
The fortress is massive. It has four layers of shipping containers on top of each other to provide a large downstairs with high ceilings (2 shipping containers). An open planned upstairs (1 shipping container) and a tower to view his kingdom from (1 shipping container stacked vertically). Camarata says the shipping container build model is better than people realize. It is far cheaper to buy some shipping containers than to build a house from scratch and they offer total resistance to wind and fire. By adding some bricks and cement in the necessary places Camarata was able to build an entire castle with ease.
The final video shows he added a large roof to the entire building to further protect it from environmental factors. The outside is now fully constructed and he has started to add the finishing touches to make the castle more liveable. In the latest video, Camarata applies paint to the entire roof structure. While the project still looks pretty rough at the moment it is clear to see he has some incredible ideas to turn this project into a beautiful home. The large wooden door and natural stone framing it shows that this man is not just throwing up containers he is building his masterpiece.
The best thing about this project is that Andrew has filmed every part of the process from start to finish. If you go on YouTube he is literally teaching you how to do the same thing. He shares everything with his viewers from the original model he built to the AutoCad designs to the early construction work and planning. For anyone who is entertaining the idea of constructing with a shipping container, this is a must-see.
The video is particularly charming because it features his two dogs Levis and Daisy. It is heartwarming to watch the dogs grow up as the videos are uploaded. In the latest video Levis is starting to age a little and struggles with the winding staircase. Soon she will likely be too old to make it up those stairs.
It is clear that Andrew took on a huge task in trying to build his own castle. There is no doubt that there were many challenges along the way but he has overcome them all. The project is now approaching finalization and it looks incredibly impressive. The large building with a built-in tower really does remind you of a time when knights and kings were in charge. It is a pity that no one builds castles anymore because with modern techniques and old ideas something truly special can be created.
We encourage you to follow the final steps of Andrew’s build on his YouTube channel. It is likely that he will make a large amount of progress in the next few months as he applies the finishing touches to his dream castle.
