modern outhouse

I built this 8 by 8 modern outhouse for my property. I dismantled a 1993 25 foot camper and used the toilet, vanity ,sink. shower, and windows from the camper.

Step 1 Building the floor

I studded in a 8 by 8 floor  with pressure treated 2 by 8s and in between the studs i mounted the black water tank from the camper .

Comments

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thank you for all the views and comments everyone .Im getting ready to open up the outhouse for the summer . Im going to post some more pictures very soon .
Jim

[stormy0314]

Don't you love it when people say, "this is great but". Well it is, but... I lived in Japan for a few years and they had a really good idea and one I would incorporate if that were my outhouse. They had separate urinals for men. Takes much less water to flush, can be cleaned more often to get the splashes, allows, a male at least, to eliminate while the "other room" is being used. It also allows a different way for liquid waste to be recycled without the worry about the various bacterial problems associated with human solid waste. Most urine is almost sterile. With proper treatment it could be used as a good fertilizer. Check out the following

http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-09/fertilizer-future-might-be-closer-we-think

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=human-urine-is-an-effective-fertilizer

Scientific American states, "Recycling urine as fertilizer could not only make agriculture and wastewater treatment more sustainable in industrialized countries, the researchers say, but also bolster food production and improve sanitation in developing countries."

Plus, I think it would be really cool to have a separate, "men's room". This was a really good "ible.

[wagonmaster]

Sorry I didnt look at the video until later. Say that the holding tank is down the hill a bit. But on a hot summer day and you being up hill I would put a vent on the back side just to make sure no methan seeps into the structure. You have given be some great ideas.

There are a lot of cheap RV's around and they make a great donor for a project like yours.

[coolbeansbaby68]

The vent tube goes up the wall and out through the roof. I can say this though,after tearing a camper apart i sure wouldn't buy a new one for thousands of dollars . They are built so crappy ...

[GrapeApe226]

This is great! I am building a shed for a combo pool cabana~dressing room and also be for guests camping in my back yard overnight. I'm going to make it look like an old train station with beds in a tower loft, A/C, fans & small fridge via a RV gauge extension cord when needed and a pot belly stove. The freight room will be the gardening shed. The loading dock will be a shaded banana lounge area. Now I see I'm going to need a "Yard/Mail" house a few feet away. It can look rustic rail road area and house your wonderful idea of an outhouse. I too have an RV I'm about to dismantle and keep the 3 axle Dodge Van chassis (3rd tag axle) for a custom pickup or van in the near future. I can use the entire bathroom set up. I live in So-Cal earthquake country. This would be a great emergency use bathroom if water supplies are cut a few days or weeks. I have a 35,000 gal pool for water and I can dig a septic tank if I have to, if the local waist pickup companies are over burdened. I'm so impressed with your design :)

[coolbeansbaby68]

thank you very much for the compliment

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thank you very much for your compliment. I have the trailer and duel axles ready for a home built utility trailer when i find the time to start it . I was so amazed of how cheap a camper really is. My god the whole body of the trailer is made out of 2x2s and big 1inch staples. Never would i spend that kind of money for something made so cheap.Im pretty proud of the outhouse. Im in the process of making the cart to empty the black water tank so i can get rid of the waste at the waste station down the road from me at the camp site. Thank you for commenting.. Hope to see your instructable when your finished .
Jim

[wagonmaster]

I didn't read all the comments. But what about venting? I have been reading a lot about outhouses. But not for building one. I'm a gardner and I researched using urine for growing vegetables and ran accross several articles about out houses.

In other countries and outback areas where outhouse are used they seperate the urine from the feces. Then use wood ash on the feces, no smell and no flies. Plus
how they vent is critical.

Very nice structure and recycling was major cool.

[coolbeansbaby68]

The ceiling fan is vented out the back above the roof line and so is the vent tube from the waste tank.

[coolbeansbaby68]

I am almost done with the wagon with the waste container that i tow with the atv to the septic waste site at the camp ground.

[jgain]

I don't have any use for this instructable, but I did want to stop and commend you on a job well done. Nice reuse of materials.

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thanks for the compliment Jgain

[dieterschmied]

Why did you build it?
How do you clean out the tank?

Why did you not just build it on the trailer frame and keep the original enclosure so that you could save materials and transport it easily to a clean-out station?

And it could be placed where you need it?

I am considering something like this because the state environment people won't let me use my shed for living without a septic system; this might be a solution.
[e-mail]

[coolbeansbaby68]

The setup underneath the outhouse is just like a camper trailer. I use the old fresh water tank from the trailer and made a little trailer with wheels i tow behind my 4 wheeler . There is a camp ground down the road from me who lets me get rid of the waste there .

[junebug.tx]

Is it connected to sewer or septic? If not, what was your solution for waste?

[coolbeansbaby68]

The setup underneath the outhouse is just like a camper trailer. I use the old fresh water tank from the trailer and made a little trailer with wheels i tow behind my 4 wheeler . There is a camp ground down the road from me who lets me get rid of the waste there .

[blemke]

This is awesome. We need a out house badly,6 poeple on 7 acres and only 2 bathrooms,we need to build a two man yurt any ideas of how to do this as cheap as possible??

[iammiamiman]

That sure is a nice crapper!

[whatsupbeans]

Nice job.Well done making use of your utilitys

[Buzzinski]

Well done and a great way of reusing something for a new purpose. The only suggestion i would add would be to include a solar panel for water heating. Yes they do work even when it snows, so long as they have a couple of hours of sunlight falling onto them. Maybe even use another one to run a small battery powered LED Light fitting.

Sigh snow. I live in North Queensland Australia and the only snow I see is called Burdekin Snow - it is the ash that falls out of the sky from burning sugar cane fields.

[bo88y]

This is an attractive little outbuilding, but it could benefit from being coupled with a composting unit underneath. Though some 'composting toilet' designs are little more than a bucket that one empties into a compost heap, there are very-low-maintenance DIY composting designs that are very green and very sanitary.

http://oikos.com/library/compostingtoilet/

There are many ways to decompose human waste, and there are many designs for doing so. Some of them are complicated and messy, while others are quite simple and "hands-off.'

[coolbeansbaby68]

thank you for your comment.

[Sharlston Cat]

to be honest why carnt you people buy a toliet in ur house

[haiku_rendezvous]

Places like Alaska where it's so cold that it's really hard/expensive to keep pipes from freezing in the winter, many people have outhouses still.

[falcotheimpaler]

Applications where this would be better than a toilet in a house:
Camping
Hunting
Outdoor garage/workshop addon
(and let's be honest, there are sometimes when you have to quarantine a bathroom. this is perfect for such times)

[coolbeansbaby68]

thank you for your comment

[coolbeansbaby68]

well to be honest....... This is a site that people make things and get a chance to show them there ideas. Mine came from a camper that was old and i didnt want to throw everything away so i made use of them all.....

[Sharlston Cat]

i know that this is a site for people to make thing's and show them off but i woul think that this would be better if you owned a pub and you put it out side

[sharlston]

To be honest sharlston as the author said,he made a toilet and hes shared it,thats what the instructables community is about?

[blkhawk]

Thank you for posting and sharing with our community! Please ignore those with ignorant comments. I would love to see more pictures and descriptions on the bottom part of your outhouse and how you connected the plumbing and electricity (I noticed an electrical outlet in one of the pictures).

[lfeliciano]

I like the size of the place but I agree with dieterschmied, if you build it on a trailer frame, moving it would be a breeze, and I think you need to add pics of bedroom and kitchen. Otherwise it's an out house. by the way, I've never would've thought of recycling a camper, environmentally its very nice.

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thank you for the comment. I already posted the deck kitchen pictures on my other instructable. All the parts from the camper went into that to. The sink , plumbing, stove, frig, microwave ,door hinges all came from the camper.

[doon01]

Good job Coolbean - really. But ya know u could have built 4 normal sized OH's w/the materials - yes, you would have need of 3 more doors. But i'm sure yours will accomodate more women leading the rest to wondering what they are doing in there. For conversation sake i added a non working phone in mine so others didn't think that they were going primitive. BTW, neat kitchen too

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thanks for the compliment. I was thinking about adding a car stereo in the wall so when your doing your business you could rock out !! hahaha

[coolbeansbaby68]

Thank you for the comments

[projectbronco]

I love how the window still has the Good Sam sticker on it. Ha haa!
You did a very nice job on this. Great craftsmanship and fit and finish.

[coolbeansbaby68]

oooops Ya know what i didnt even realize the sticker until you mentioned it lol MY bad!! lol .Thank you for the comments.

[andhi]

but.... where is the room for bedroom? I don't find that room?

[RyansRiggs]

All interested should try a composting outhouse. Have a flap on the back to empty. After each "deposit" just put 2 scoops of wood chips and ash over it. When full just empty and bury. Trust me digging the hole is worse than actually emptying it. If any one is interested a may post it here.

[ar_caver]

Please do.