outhouses

We use an outhouse all the time here. It's flushable except for in the winter when it turn to the bucket bergade. And when the water freezes, there is nothing like a bucket of boiling water to thaw things out to flush.

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Thumper/in Okla.
Growing a Homestead from the dirt up.

save the grass, eat a cow
C.L.F.
{chlorophill liberation front}

Mostly by changing the ph, so that the odor causing bacteria don't grow.
Dry plant matterial balances the carbon/nitrogen (ammonia is nitrogen) so more good bacteria grow instead of the bad types.

__________________
Thumper/in Okla.
Growing a Homestead from the dirt up.

save the grass, eat a cow
C.L.F.
{chlorophill liberation front}

I just heard a story from a guy in the peace corps. He said that in africa, some families would just do their business in the woods nearby. And then all sorts of people were dying for people-poop related diseases carried by the flies.

Does the lime and the sawdust keep the flies away?

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[raising chickens] [diatomaceous earth] [permaculture] [rocket mass heater] [lawn care]

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I've got one but she is getting pretty decrepit. I need to build a new one. Yet one more project in a seemingly unending line of projects that need doing.

I really like it. It is great when you don't want to have to undress to go in the house to use the toilet. When you are all muddy it is much easier to just use the outhouse rather than taking off your muddy boots and muddy coveralls. It is much nicer than just copping a squat outside with a cold north wind gently caressing your nether regions.

Is it legal. I have no idea and I really don't care either. We don't have intrusive bureaucrats nosing around our private property around here. No codes of any sort out in the county. As long as you aren't discharging your toilet into a ditch or stream you are pretty much free to do as you please.

What's the best way to keep smell down in a traditional outhouse--I'm talking your basic deep hole with a toilet seat. When I was younger, we used lime, but it never seemed to do the trick. What about wood chips? Straw?

I've yet to see a pit style outhouse or latrine that didnt smell short of using chemicals and even then... Porta potties seem mess also. And opening up a septic tank, whew.. Organic matter decaying in water just stinks like rotting material in a stagnant swamp. Above ground outhouse such as Chinese and Irish have used doesnt stink cause the poop isnt sitting and fermenting in water. Just sprinkle some wood ash or peat moss after each use and flies dont bother and just earthy smell. Cleaning out an above ground outhouse is no worse and usually more pleasant than mucking out a stall where manure has dried/composted.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

I believe it, about the flys and disease that is how nature works, as for the sawdust and lime,
It helps some, the biggest draw back to a true old style out house is that the pit is dug filled with mostly waste and left open to the air for the flies and such to come and go as they please,

Does anyone know how to culture bacteria in a lab? You give the bacteria water, a food source, and heat, (ie; you protect it from cold) that is what old style outhouses and most septic tanks do, they don't freeze to the bottom in even the coldest weather, so the germs reproduce and increase in numbers, than what happens if a flood washes over the outhouse, or a heavy fly season comes, or the septic tank backs up? Those germs are carried away to new loactions and disease spreads.

I had watched my grand mother empty the over full pit by fishing a bucket into the mess and dumping it on the ground, that really isn't the right thing to do, the building should moved to a new spot and the old pit should covered over with dirt and a new pit dug when it reaches about 1/2 full,

and improvment on the old style is what I was taught to call a 'pit privy' it is back filled as it is used, the waste is not left exposed to the air for flies to feed or reproduce on the waste, carbon is added to lock in the nitrogen and incourage the better composting microbes to grow because the air spaces held open by the sawdust or chopped leaves or what ever, earthworms will move into areas that have the righ ph and add air paths as well. More air better health conditions the key is to dry the waste, and keep oxigen available so the "good" germs can grow faster than the "bad" ones. While reducing access to flies. We have used this type of privy on our place, it works with as little as a post hole sized hole by just kicking dirt back in each time it was used.

In these days of modern travel, it is not uncommon for someone to be in a different country in just a few ours now, what if a traveler is exposed to a disease but not yet ill, if they use a "modern toilet" their waste with it's new and dangerous germs are deposted and mixed with what? Water, a food source and protected from extreme temps, and them dispursed throught out the city va the sewer lines, heavy rains can flood the sewer system and flush the new incubated germs into the water ways and out where it can be exposed to new people to infect, in a pit privy if a flood comes the germs are buried and liitle exposure should take place, these germs have been in a relatively dry location,
not exposed to flies, and in some cases the heat the is generated by the "good" bacteria ingesting the carbon and nitrogen will kill the trapped disease germs.

In a sawdust toilet system, with a above ground bin, there is also added freezeing action on the outer edges of the bin while the inner portions are cooked. If flooding washed away the bin's contence it has not been allowed to increase the population of disease germs because of the lower water content and temperature swings and increased oxigen levels.

I am teacher at heart....

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Thumper/in Okla.
Growing a Homestead from the dirt up.

save the grass, eat a cow
C.L.F.
{chlorophill liberation front}

The feds made a big move a few years back to bring the country up to a civilized level and eradicate most of the outhouses. Wish I had one.

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We may be done with the past, but the past may not be done with us.

Yep, real smooth move to force everybody to crap in their water supply. Sounds like something 'homeland security' should worry about.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Words that should send a ice cold chill up any Liberty loving patriot's spine. It should also illicit other responses which I won't go into at the moment.

In our suburban house, we use a sawdust toilet in addition to the water-plumbed one. Like the sawdust better, of course, because how smart IS it to relieve yourself in your drinking water? But, we are still creatures of convenience at times, and old habits die hard. Our water bill, however, has gone down quite a bit since we built the sawdust convenience.

At the farm, we built our very own outhouse. It's so cute! We use lime (keep it in an ammo can with a scoop), and also keep a box of that cat box freshener in there. Got a little poem we teach our guests:

If you tinkle,
Use the sprinkle;
If you poop,
Use the scoop.

Never have had a problem with smell. Wasps are a bit of a pain, as well as mice if someone forgets to put the TP back into the ammo can -- mice like to use the soft paper for nests!

Pony!

Well, those "other responses" are why we're discussing outhouses.


Pony!

Im a part timer and hope to be full timer soon. I have found that applying sawdust after using does a very good job of keeping odor down.

Does any one have suggestions for flying insect control?