Double-Door Storage Container Rental in Philadelphia

Most job sites do fine with one set of doors. These are the jobs that do better with two:

The second set of doors works best with a plan. Split the box by the job: one end for tools and daily supplies, the other for materials waiting to be installed. Or split it by trade, with each crew owning an end and a lock. Keep an aisle down the middle so anyone can walk end to end, and stand long items along the walls. Shelving down one side and lighting overhead turn a 40 foot tunnel into something closer to a supply room.

Doors at both ends only help if both ends can open. That's the one thing that changes about placement: instead of pushing the back of the container against a wall or a fence, the site needs clear space at both ends for the doors to swing and for people to work. Each door swings out about four feet, so plan for that much clear ground at both ends plus room to stand.

On a tight Philadelphia lot, that can be the deciding factor. If the only spot puts one end against the building line, a standard container with the doors facing out is the right call. On an open construction site, a commercial lot or a warehouse yard, set the container where both ends face something useful: one toward the building, one toward the street or the materials. Our container delivery page covers what the delivery truck needs to get it there.

Two sets of doors means two places to lock. Each end takes its own padlock, and each can have a lock box over it to keep bolt cutters off. When one end isn't used every day, lock it from the inside if it allows, or put the stronger lock on the end that faces the street or the alley, which is the one a thief will try first. Keep both keys with the people who need them and nobody else.

Outside of construction, double-door containers are popular with stores, warehouses and restaurants that need overflow space they use every day. A retailer holding holiday stock behind the building can load from the delivery side and pull from the shop side. A restaurant renovating its kitchen can keep equipment at one end and dry goods at the other. A school or church can keep event tables at one end and athletic gear at the other, each reached without moving the other.

The doors seal with rubber gaskets just like a standard container, so a double-door box stays as dry as a single-door one. As with any steel container, humid days and cold nights can bring condensation inside. Keep paper, drywall and finished wood off the floor and away from the walls, and on a dry day open both ends for an hour. That's one more advantage of a tunnel: the air moves straight through.

A job big enough for a double-door container usually has a dumpster and a restroom on it too. A roll-off dumpster and porta potties on weekly service go on the same quote and the same invoice, and the container is rented by the 28-day period until you call for pickup.

A double-door container loads differently from a standard one. Instead of filling from the back wall forward, work from both ends toward the middle, or load straight through for long material. A few habits help:

A 20 foot double-door container is handy on a site where the container sits between two work areas, like a building and a laydown yard. Most of the time, though, the second set of doors earns its place on a 40 foot, where a single set means walking forty feet to the back. A 40 foot double-door container on a commercial job, a warehouse or a long multifamily build acts like two 20 foot containers end to end that share one delivery and one spot.

Sometimes two standard containers beat one double-door. Two containers can be placed in different spots on a big site, locked by different trades and picked up at different times. One double-door container takes one spot and one delivery. If the site has room for only one container but two crews or two kinds of storage, the double-door is the answer. If it has room for two and the trades work on different schedules, two standard containers might be. We'll help you pick when you send the site.

With doors at both ends, a double-door container has two places for weather to matter. Keep both doorways clear of puddles and snow, check that both sets of doors close tight and latch, and in winter clear ice from the bottom of both doors before the first cold morning. A door that's been frozen shut for a week is one end of the container nobody can use.