Treat it like a use piece of structural steel and have the engineer provide calculations.
they do provide tremendous resistance to vertical loads, shear, and lateral forces. they just might not meet the required
thermal envelope criteria without some additional work, IF they enclose or are part of a conditioned space.
Water resistant potentially.
Over the years I have worked with and analyzed these units as to strength, even with massive cutouts and modifications.
just look at them on a ship deck full of every thing from popcorn to automobiles and yet they survive?
the frost depth is an issue as thought
I drive by this one daily
http://www.boxoffice460.com/ - the units were assembled placed empty and finished on site last week PV panels added to canopy
portions of exterior corridors / exits
design teams are looking into prefab units now also a valid and somewhat exciting use of old boxes
