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Monday, April 28, 2014

Sanitation With A Twist

I've mentioned that I'm looking for some rural property, and most of them are on private wells and septic.  Having been a "city boy" my whole life, I'm trying to get a grip on life without all of the normal amenities, and the "rules" you've got to follow.  No fat in the septic, for instance.

I've been doing a lot of research on sanitation, and I thought I'd share some of what I've found.

The Taj Mahal of Outhouses - holy crap (oops) this guy rocks!  In addition to recycling most of the materials for the outhouse to save a couple of bucks, he turned  his creation into a full outdoors bathroom - crapper, sink and shower.


Take a look at the video he provided to get a good look at what he created -



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The state to which I'm planning my move is dry.  Really dry.  Water is truly a scarce commodity.

This simple but ingenious Gray Water Recycling set-up caught my eye.  The primary purpose is to flush his toilet.  It incorporates simple, Big Box supplies and non-rocket scientist engineering.  Right up my alley!


What was very nice about this project was, he came back to the site after using it for 6 months, detailed some of the problems he ran into - and the fixes/upgrades he performed.

Really a great project.
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Another outhouse project, but this one is also a composting set-up.  I've seen a number of commercial composters that I've really liked, but it's always nice to know how to do it yourself.


I don't think Mrs. Chief Instructor is quite ready for this one.  I like the idea of having a ready source of material for a compost pile (I know, not for use on veggies that come in direct contact with the compost), as the areas we've been scouting have areas of poor soil quality.  We're looking at the "good dirt" areas initially, but I do plan on doing lots of composting of all plant materials.


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2 comments:

Ryan said...

Completing toilet as an outhouse is anfine idea but I would just discardnthe contents. Mess up poo compostnand you end upndead.

Chief Instructor said...

LOL, words to live by, "mess up poo compost..."!

Indeed, there can be some downside, but the "mechanics" of composting are the same whether it's humanuer or cow crap. I don't think I'd ever use it on below-ground veggies, but wouldn't hesitate using it on fruit and nut trees, beans, tomatoes and the like.