A bathroom hangup

[chsunspirit]

I gather seaweeds.....I like the black papery eel grass......nothing too thick and pokey.....carry it back in bags from the shoreline.....and use a handful for every "flush"....keep it covered.....compost it in pallet en\closures.....let it sit for a year or two after you've piled it 3 ft or more high......keep it covered with more grasses....seaweeds.....compost from the kitchen.....my system has been working for 15 years.....no...the kids are 28 and 32......it's been a long time...The Humanure Book is the bible....read it thoroughly and you'll be convinced you ARE on the side of the enviro-angels....and yr doin' the RIGHT thing......Sawdust is great ( not cedar or locust....something that'll break down like maple or oak ( which will already smell like cat.....uh.....urine....there I typed it....lots of sawdust goes to waste....compost it....or "flush" with other soils.....switch buckets out often....I don't usually DUMP the buckets when the wind is blowing directly from the North...wait til the wind changes....if you cover it well with stuff that used to be growing....no issues...and ENJOY the process....you're a great part of the planet...make your deposits !!!

The picture is of my 88 year old mom..Betsy Ross...during my Underground sauna re-build project

[Jafo]

I use sawdust in the outhouse and about once or twice a year I have to dump some ash from the wood stove in there to get that cat urine smell out of there.

[chsunspirit]

aaaaaah the smell of Oak sawdust in the mahrnin'.....

[MT Rod]

It is unrelated, but sometimes so am I.

All this made me think of my great uncle Carl who lived in an old house "up the holler" outside of the "town" of Cashiers, NC.

When you visited his place, you probably got a chance to visit his outhouse. Written on one of the boards on the inside of the door about eye level when seated, with what looked like a piece of charcoal (perhaps a wooden matchstick, he was a pipe smoker) was an original poem entitled: Who shot the hole in the outhouse.

It always made me laugh, and Carl had a great sense of humour.... and a real live bullet hole through his outhouse. Perhaps I remember that more than the smell?

I wander what happened to his poetry when he passed some 25 odd years ago.

I am loosing a family member at the moment. Perhaps it makes me more nostalgic.

Rod
rodyurtlocker.com
Home Page.

[bss]

we have a humanure setup and it works well for our needs. I use pine sawdust, only because I do not have consistent access to hardwood shavings. With a household of more than two folks, I would recommend building an outhouse privy vs. a humanure toilet. You would gain back that dry storage/use space in the bathroom and obviously never have a second thought about odor. It would fill up too quickly anyways.

Composting toilets are prohibitively expensive; they require an electrical heat source whenever temps fall below 50F, some still require water to be plumbed to them, and most will require that you cut a hole in your yurt's roof to vent it properly.

Always seemed silly to me to cut a hole in a $5,000 waterproof membrane just to take a dump.

YMMV

[Marshall Eppley]

We have an outhouse and we also have a coleman camping toilet for those cold nights just dump it into the outhouse in the morning.

[stephanwik]

Originally Posted by cmwingfield

I'll try and offer some insight regarding my experience with composting toilets. I used a Biolet composting toilet for the first three years in my yurt. After the third year I stopped using it.

The Biolet is called a MullToa in Sweden, which is where it comes from originally. We've got three of them and they work just fine. They do require some care and the right conditions however. Also, they are improving their technology (I believe they're on the 6th iteration).

What we have found is:

- they need to have a heated space. 15C seems OK as the minimum

- the

moisture

level needs to be monitored. If it's too wet, turn up the thermostat. Too dry, turn it down and if necessary spray some water in it with a mister.

- if you don't use it for a few days, close it with the supplied lid and shut it off.

- if it's used sporadically let the mixer work 5-10 times every other day or so.

- the compost needs to be emptied if the toilet fills up (that should be obvious!)

We've not had any problems with flies, but then we are on the west coast of Sweden and don't have the same insects as other places do.

So yes, they need a bit of awareness but they seem to work well enough even with pretty intensive use.

[chsunspirit]

as winter is coming ON in New England ....and Sweden...as well....ALL should know that an Outdoor Outhouse seat made of rigid

Insulation

foam 1" or 2"....( I made mine from a discarded Ocean riding Boogie board)....changes the experience from brutal to comfortable/enjoyable. The actual feeling is that someone must have JUST gotten off the SEAT....because the seat FEELS HEATED !!! it totally reflects your internal body Heat....a remarkeable tranformation...Trust me....pass it on!!!

[homeiswheretheyurtis]

Thanks everyone! This has given us so much to work with. In the interim we are using the basic humanure but are planning on upgrading later!

[Ronjf1]

What the world needs now is a good solar thermal toilet seat. Graphic to follow.