How I repaired a house on wheels

You keep driving around it, thinking to yourself, that’s not possible, why can’t this object on wheels be purchased. After all, it will fall in a few years. And look. One fine day, the wife returns from a maringotka holiday in the Rychleb Mountains and says: “I would like to have a maringotka too, darling”. And since you will do for your wife what you see in her eyes, you go to negotiate the price of the maringotka and find out the possibility of transport.

Transport

I would stop at the movement of the maringotka, i.e. start. Not everything that has wheels can move, and large immobile objects are expensive to transport, and secondly, a truck cannot go anywhere in the forest and over any bridges. I had the advantage that the maringotka was drivable after the tires were inflated and the tractor moved it only a kilometer to a new location along a small local road. Prepare the place in advance so that you don’t sleep on a hill. It is good to know where the main window with a view will be. Then you don’t have to turn the tractor or digger 180 degrees like I did.

Project

An amateur sketch is fine. Layout of furniture, sockets, opening of doors and windows, electricity supply and possibly water. … Our maringotka is near the building where there are social facilities. That’s why I decided not to make water. The truth is that bringing in water and taking away water is not one, two, three and that’s it. And I’m not talking about spatial integration of the bathroom, rather a bathroom in a space of 1 m x 1 m. And to keep everything unfrozen in winter? In my opinion, unrealistic for this type of maringotka. Yet.:)
Have you noticed that the offer of accommodation in Tiny houses, so-called Glamping, often lacks beautiful photos of toilets or showers? Well, the tribute isn’t exactly something to brag about, it’s mostly small cabinets or outdoor booths.

Small things matter in design

Be clear about what should be “standing out” in the space. It can be chairs, it can be switches and sockets. I wanted to have old black bakelite switches, sockets, a lamp and a light. Searching the bazaars was not difficult. Sometimes I had to take the switches apart and clean them. Pretty cool job, knowing what such a beautiful old switch looks like from the inside.

Winter operation

Maringotka heats up quickly, but also cools down quickly. Anyone who wants to have water has to temper it and insulate the pipes. A 2kw electric stone is enough for the maringotka and even in the dead of winter it is warm in a simply insulated maringotka (we have sheep’s wool).

Something for something …

Many points can play a role in the budget. Do you need to replace your roof? Insulation? Furnish the interior? Just randomly:

carpentry work including windows, beds, lines, doors 60 thousand
electrical work 10 thousand
plumbing work – new roof. (60 thousand)
auxiliary work (demolition, grinding, painting, insulation…) 100 hours
plus interior
A few goodies:

Calculate the transport in advance.
Prepare a place for all wheels to stand in balance. To balance the maringotka, I recommend having 2 Hever hydraulics at your disposal. The structure of the maringotka is supported by load-bearing elements so that the entire weight of the object does not destroy the wheels. When you insulate the floor with mounting foam, take an old hat. The foam will fall on your head and you won’t have it in your hair for a week like I did.

The article was published in March 2022 in the True Home Magazine, to download here.

When you insulate the floor with assembly foam When you insulate the floor with assembly foam?