Like the pioneers, who used logs and sod to build their homes, Bruce Hornstein and Lee Dorman have learned to make use of available materials.

On their 13-acre property in Monkton, they created a house out of the steel shipping containers that pile up at ports, including Baltimore's, around the world.

The 320-square-foot house has become their groundskeeper's new home.

Painted gray with a red door, it has all the amenities he needs: water, electricity, heat, air conditioning, a kitchen and dining area, a bedroom and a bathroom with a shower. It has eight-foot ceilings, laminated floors, insulation, a 30-gallon water heater, a microwave and a two-burner propane stove.

"I never can imagine two containers can make a house. My family does not believe it when I tell them," said Nimrot Vera, of Vera Cruz, Mexico, who has worked at Hornstein's Sans Souci Nursery for 10 years.

He has only one complaint about the new house, Vera said. It's too quiet.

Vera, whose wife and son live in Mexico, works from March through November, helping maintain the iris gardens for which Hornstein is known.

He lived in a recreational vehicle on the property until state officials rejected it on grounds it was temporary housing. So Hornstein and Dorman, who are domestic partners, moved Vera into their house, where he remained until the steel house was ready.

And, when it was completed, they formed Steel's The Answer, a company to mass-produce affordable housing.

Their prototype would sell for about $75,000, with mass production making much lower prices possible, Hornstein said.

"We want to do this for the forgotten people of this country. There are thousands of farm workers living in appalling conditions in Maryland," he said. "And the ports are filling up with empty containers. Now that we know how to do it, we could build villages for migrant workers or for the homeless."

The house is not a fire hazard; it won't get termites, and it can withstand winds up to 175 miles an hour, a good attribute for hurricane-prone areas, Hornstein said.

He and Dorman already have talked with Baltimore's comptroller, Joan Pratt, about the possibilities, Hornstein said.

Steel houses could accommodate some federal workers who are relocated to Maryland under the base realignment and closure process, said Jim Richardson, director of Harford County's Office of Economic Development.

"I'm very interested in the whole re-use concept," Richardson said, adding, "Maryland is prime for this type of housing because of its ports."

He and Dorman are hoping a local, state or federal agency will help them set up a manufacturing plant, Hornstein said.

At their ages, they want to avoid borrowing large amounts of money, he said.

"But as we get older, we also see that we have everything we want," Dorman said. "Now we're saying, 'Let's see what we can do for others.' "

Six-ton delivery

Hornstein, 76, is a former veterinarian whose practice was in Mt. Washington. Dorman, 59, owned a construction firm and did rehab work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1980s.

They spent two years designing and getting approvals for their steel house, made of two 8-by-20 containers.

First, they cleared trees for a new septic system. (The steel house shares a well with their main house.)

Next, they paid $3,590 -- including delivery and painting -- for the containers, each weighing 6,000 pounds. A crane lowered the containers onto cement footers on their property, on the Harford County side of Monkton.

Tom Napper, a local welder, cut away an 11-foot section of each container's inside wall, then welded the two containers together to create one big room. He also cut out openings for four windows and the front door.

The interior walls were covered with panels from Owens Corning and typically used for finishing basements.

Hornstein and Dorman added wooden trusses to create a pitched roof. As rain falls, it flows into barrels on the ground.

They covered the front and sides of the house with exterior plywood and painted it to match their house.

Harford County officials checked every aspect of the house -- before, during and after construction -- to make sure it met their requirements for single-family houses.

"We had to meet the same building codes as a house," Dorman said.

Baltimore County zoning officials say they will wait to see plans for a such a house before they comment.

"We'd review it if it came in, and it would have to go through our permitting process, but we don't think it could comply with our stringent regulations," said Mike Mohler, deputy director of the county's Department of Permits and Development Management.

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