16-year-old hand-builds wooden trailer – as college dorm

Want to move out from the family home or ensure a roof over your head when you go off to university – but not sure how you’ll cover the expense? Follow in the sawdusty footsteps of American teenager Austin Hay, who’s just built his own timber caravan.

Originally designed as a way to move out of his parents’ home at a low cost, Austin said he’ll also use the trailer for accommodation when he goes to college – and wherever he ends up after that.

He hand-built the caravan on a timber frame, using materials mainly scavenged from junkyards and his own bedroom, spending around $12,000/£7000 on it which he mostly saved up from summer jobs.

It’s designed to be environmentally friendly and low-cost and comes with a compost toilet, three-sided bay windows and a shower – next up is building a solar cart to produce electricity.

Big kudos to Austin, and we hope he doesn’t fall foul of any parking regulations when he looks for somewhere to park his new home. We’d like to say we were as inventive and smart aged 16, but our mum might read this and point and laugh…

(Pic courtesy of Fair Companies , via TreeHugger )