We've covered a few tiny houses with slide-outs, but the Devasa is the first we've seen that slides up. The novel home, from Tiny Houses NYC, can increase in height to provide more headspace when it's not being towed, much like a camper van with a pop-up roof.
The big benefit with the Devasa is that when in the lowered position, it'll be easy (and legal) to tow, but when parked up, it can expand upward and offer lots of headroom, meaning no crawling around in a loft space like most tiny houses. It measures 23.5 ft (7.16 m)-long and 12.5 ft (3.81 m)-tall when in the lowered position and 17 ft (5.1 m)-tall when raised, offering an impressive 6.5 ft (2 m)-high ceilings upstairs.
The interior comprises roughly 300 sq ft (28 sq m) of floorspace and has a fairly standard tiny house layout, with a snug living room area near the entrance, a kitchen with no appliances yet installed, and a bathroom that includes a shower, sink, and composting toilet.
There are two bedrooms upstairs reached by storage-integrated staircase. Of course, even with the extending roof you can't install tall wardrobes or the like up there or you'd need to move them when traveling, so all you're really gaining with a system like this is the headroom. That said, as someone who has traveled much of Europe stooped over in a camper van, this writer can attest that headroom is a good benefit to have.
The raising roof system, well, raises some concerns – such as how it works, if it could fall and crush someone, if it's stable in high winds, and if it'll stand up to repeated use. Slide-outs are known for leaking and are prone to failure when not well-built or properly maintained, for example.
A Tiny Houses NYC representative told us that the system runs from a 12 V car battery attached to a motor by the trailer's tongue that operates four individual screw jacks on each corner. The rep also indicated that the roof can be operated manually if required and would not fall if the system failed, but as of writing wasn't able to give us any more specific information.
The Devasa is up for sale. We've no word on its price but those interested can get in touch with the firm directly for more information. Check out the video below to see it in action.
Source: Tiny Houses NYC
