From food truck to home: a single mom lives in a self-built tiny house at the campground

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“I have finally arrived. I can charge my batteries here after work,” Gloria Sandrini, 38, smiles at Blick. She seems relieved as she prepares coffee for guests on the gas stove and talks about her self-built house in the garden in front of the mini-wheelhouse.

For nearly two years, a dentist and single mother spent her days screwing, drilling and sanding a disused food truck and building a small house for herself and her daughter Aliyah, 15. She was supported by a carpenter who helped her realize her childhood dream with the help of her own sketches. A disused food truck has become a cozy dream home on wheels for mom and daughter.

debt free hosting

During the renovations, the mother lived in a room with her grandmother in the Zurich Oberland so she could practice her reduced lifestyle and save money. The expansion cost the single mother around CHF 140,000. She says, “I don’t want any debt and I paid everything debt-free,” and she doesn’t regret taking this business in the slightest.

Finding a stand was almost more difficult than the construction job. His rather tiny house was completed in September 2022, but there was still no place where Sandrini could legally set up his mini-home. The tiny house was temporarily with friends in the canton of Bern and served as a weekend home for mother and daughter throughout the winter. “While not everything went well with the underfloor heating, it was comfortable, nice and warm thanks to the stove.” But in the long run Bern was not an option because Sandrini works in a dental practice in the Zurich Oberland and wants to continue to look after her grandmother at Wald ZH regularly.

Long waiting lists for legal places

Sandrini took the important clue in mid-March 2023 from her old friend Melanie Zimmermann, 46, who also lived all year in a converted trailer at a campsite in Tösstal. A seat opened right next to Zimmermann’s car. “Everything still looked pretty muddy, but I immediately said yes. I know how hard it is to find a legal seat. The waiting list is long,” Sandrini says.

The idyllic place near Töss costs him 460 francs a month plus electricity. The single mom doesn’t hide the fact that low living costs also played a role in her decision to move into her own tiny house.

Moving and moving house in one day

The relocation of the house from Bern to Tösstal was organized with five helpers. The dentist was able to move into his small home the same day. His daughter Aliyah is currently in her senior year of boarding school and currently lives in a mini house she built with her mother only on weekends and holidays. “But she thinks it’s ‘super cool’ and some of her colleagues stayed with us. We have enough room,” says Mom. Gloria Sandrini proudly shows off her little empire and explains the construction and technology in detail inside and out.

Space and organization thanks to optimally used storage

In fact, the mother and daughter’s house looks more spacious than it looks from the outside. The glass door opens to the terrace, the bright mini house, which Gloria Sandrini renovated for around CHF 3,500. Eye-catching at the entrance is the pine pine kitchen made by Sandrini himself, which cost him less than 1,000 francs. To the right of this is the dining area with storage under the seats that can be converted into a bed in a few simple steps. Above this is the mother’s large bed, with a window overlooking the countryside and Töss. “Depending on the water level, you might hear a splash of water or a loud rustling sound,” says nature-loving Sandrini.

To the left of the kitchen is the covered tub that offers both storage and storage space. «Because I did not connect the fresh water tank, I could not use it until now. In the campground, this is unnecessary. We use the showers and wash the dishes in the toilet.» Sandrini has a bio-directed toilet in a separate room opposite the tub. Aliyah’s two-story kingdom is bounded by a sliding door. Downstairs there is an area where the teenager can relax, upstairs above the permanently placed stairs is the sleeping area with storage space. “It’s important at this age that he can pull back as well,” says Anne.

community with privacy

For Gloria Sandrini her dream of living in Tösstal has come true. Besides the usual recreational campers, he appreciates being in the close circle of his girlfriend and other like-minded people who have settled in small houses or dorms at the campsite. “Everyone here is very helpful, protecting the community, and yet everyone has enough privacy,” Sandrini says.

Mother and daughter are happy in their little paradise, even if some details in their home, such as the originally planned fixed water connection, are still not working, and other things, such as the small refrigerator, turn out to be less than optimal in practice. “I’ll take care of it later. We have everything we need for daily life and we like it. Now let’s enjoy the summer.”

Source : Blick