Self-built house on wheels

A tiny house embarks on a big trip

Tiny houses are currently an important trend, regardless of whether it is a matter of making the maximum use of living space in cities, a temporary home - for the garden, for instance - or a mobile accommodation option. This kind of mobile mini house has now been constructed for a magazine - on a STEMA trailer. DIY enthusiasts and hobbyists can find out more about the project in this article.

Tiny houses not only offer living space that is used most intelligently in the most confined of spaces, they are also available in a wide variety of designs and even for people on the move. The best example of this is the tiny mobile house that was created for the June issue of ‘selbst ist der Mann - das Do-it-yourself-Magazin’ (Self-made - the DIY Magazine). It offers around eight square metres of living space, a bed, intelligent use of the available storage space and protection from wind and weather. The basis for this ‘home on wheels’ is a double-axle STEMA SySTEMA platform low loader with four parking supports. All the material used for the gabled house that features in the magazine article were obtained from a DIY store. Hobbyists will be delighted to hear that in the future one supplier will even offer a complete kit including the trailer.

Simple interior design with sophisticated details

The thermal insulation and windproofing properties of the tiny house on wheels protect you from the cold at night, and from wind and weather at all times. The gabled roof and wooden façade also lend it a friendly and cosy appearance when viewed from the outside. This makes it a real eye-catcher at the campsite or when you go fishing. The mobile tiny house also offers a simple interior design with a bed measuring 140 x 200 centimetres, a folding table and an intelligently designed area of storage space that can be loaded from above. According to the editorial team, it is still possible to customise it in numerous ways here. You certainly have a large number of options when choosing the colour scheme, or deciding how the interior is divided up and what you wish to fit inside it. Without it needing to be authorised for road traffic, you do of course have much more creative freedom here.

Two DIY enthusiasts would need a week to construct it

One of the special features of the Tiny House on wheels is that you can construct everything yourself. According to the magazine, at least two experienced DIY enthusiasts can erect the whole thing within a week. If it is constructed outdoors, the weather must of course play along. The price of the project is also manageable: The material costs amount to slightly less than € 15,000. In addition to the trailer, this requires wooden beams, boards and battens, coarse chipboard panels, mineral wool, an underlay membrane, trapezoidal metal sheeting, PVC flooring and a few more materials - everyday products; nothing special. To these are added simple tools such as cordless screwdrivers, jigsaws and cut-off grinders. These prerequisites in themselves should very much help to arouse the interest of DIY enthusiasts and hobbyists in constructing it.

Little house with approval for use on the road

You can actually drive with the mobile tiny house built for the magazine on the road as normal due to the fact it has undergone an individual assessment of its roadworthiness. A condition for the approval of the project as a caravan was its basic interior fittings. In addition, only certified campervan windows may be used as windows. Moreover, marker lights and stickers displaying the trailer's maximum speed of 80 kilometres per hour are required. If you want to drive with the house on wheels on the road, you will of course also always need to take your driving licence category into account where the design and load capacity vehicle is concerned - and the maximum total weight a trailer may have when you are driving with it.

Incidentally: if the model catches on, it will be easier to use the ‘trailer with a wooden frame caravan body’ on the road in the future: As soon as five individual trailers have been passed by Dekra upon presentation, it will be easier for the testing organisation to certify their roadworthiness, according to the article.

Would you like to find out more about the project and SySTEMA?

As a passionate DIY enthusiast has the mobile tiny house sparked your interest? In that case you will find comprehensive building instructions and further information in the June issue of the magazine ‘selbst ist der Mann - das Do-it-yourself-Magazin’. Here is the link to the website: www.selbst.de

Would you like to find out more about the SySTEMA flexible double-axle car trailer? Here is the designation and product number of the low loader: STP O2 20-40-20.2; #24164.003. You can purchase it from any STEMA dealer. You can also find out more about the sophisticated details and available options of the SySTEMA from our experts or on our website.