Outhouse or Construction & Maintenance Guide InspectAPedia® -
Outhouse or dunny construction & maintenance specifications
Types of lime used in outhouses: lime, quicklime, calcium hypochlorite
Alternative to lime additives for outhouse or latrine odor control
Outhouse vents & ventilation for odor control
Outhouse fire, explosion, and pit safety
Outhouse location - where to put the outhouse or Latrine
Outhouse pit size & depth specifications
Composting outhouse design compared with traditional outhouse design
Products & books on outhouse & latrine use & maintenance
Questions & answers on how to build, locate, use & maintain an outhouse
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This article discusses outhouse construction, maintenance, venting and lime or lime alternatives for odor control, outhouse sanitation, outhouse safety, and outhouse products or alternatives. We list sources of outhouse supplies. Our page top photo shows a modern outhouse along the Appalachian trail in Sharon, Connecticut.
Readers should also see TOILET ALTERNATIVES for a discussion of camping toilets, chemical toilets, emergency-use toilets, waterless toilets, graywater systems, composting toilets, home health care toilets, incinerating toilets, outhouses, and latrines. Also see SEPTIC DESIGN ALTERNATIVES. Citation of this article by reference to this website and brief quotation for the sole purpose of review are permitted. Use of this information at other websites, in books or pamphlets for sale is reserved
to the author. Technical reviewers welcomed and are listed at Reviewers.
An outhouse is a separate building constructed over a pit dug into the ground and used as a toilet. Inside the outhouse is one or more holes or toilet seats constructed over the pit. Outhouse construction usually includes a separate vent that conducts gases and odors from the waste pit to above the outhouse roof.
Traditionally outhouses were constructed close to the principal building or residence in communities not served by sewers and at buildings not served by a septic system.
Commonly in many parts of the world modern outhouses are also placed at remote locations on hiking trails and in camping areas. Here we illustrate and describe outhouses or dunnies used in a variety of locations.
Our outhouse photo at left shows the interior of a modern outhouse along the Appalachian trail in Sharon, Connecticut.
About the Types of Lime Used in Outhouses
Our outhouse photo at left shows a modern installation in Portland Maine. Notice the air intake venting around the base of the outhouse walls - a contributor to fresh air and low odors in this outhouse. Other than lime (or in some areas lye) we have found these suggestions for outhouse maintenance:
Question on Lime Alternatives for Outhouse Odor Control
I use an outhouse and use lime. What else works. I am low income and live in Texas. Thanks. - Rob Hager, TX.
Answer:
Lime has been traditionally used reduce the odors or smells in an outhouse or at an outdoor latrine. Lime does not speed waste decomposition and may actually slow it down by decreasing the acidity of the sewage. Lime also reduced the problem of flies in the outhouse or latrine. (Some folks hang flypaper inside the outhouse pit to reduce the fly problem further.)
Lime may also absorb some portion of liquids (urine) and may pick up moisture from the air, aiding in waste decomposition. More about the types of lime used in outhouses is below at Details About the Types of Lime Used in Outhouses.
Watch out: don't get lime on the toilet seat - it will cause skin burns.
Types of lime that have been used in outhouses include the following:
Lime is calcium hydroxide (CaOH2), or more carelessly called S-lime or slaked lime.
Quicklime is calcium oxide (CaO). Quicklime, when "slaked" with water (providing more H2O) becomes hot and chemically changes (this is why mortar can be warm or even hot when being mixed).
Quicklime is made from limestone (calcium carbonate or CaCO3) by heating limestone in a kiln to drive off CO2 leaving CaO.
Calcium hypochlorite Ca(CLO)2, (lime chloride) produced by treating slaked lime (CaO) with chlorine gas, is also sold for treating manure or for sanitizing dairy barns, and is essentially powdered bleach - a disinfectant.
Alternatives to Lime for Outhouse Odor Control & Maintenance
Sawdust for the outhouse: After using the outhouse sprinkle a thin layer of sawdust. That will reduce the odor and still decompose.
Cedar shavings work even better and may provide a more pleasant smell. In a remote area if sawdust or wood shavings are not available, even dry leaves may help reduce odors.
Wood ash: If your home includes a woodstove, wood ashes can also be sprinkled over waste in the outhouse.
Straw or peat moss for the outhouse: Other recommendations for an outhouse additive to keep down odors include chopped straw or even peat moss to encourage the formation of a crust atop the waste.
The crust also reduces outhouse odors and flies. Crust formation is encouraged by adding lye or hydrated lime at one pound per 1000 cubic feet. In other words, for a human-use outhouse (as opposed to manure storage) you don't need much lime for daily use - just a sprinkling. If the pH of waste is kept over 6.7 crust formation is encouraged.
Outhouse chemicals for odor control: In the enormous world of magic additives sold for septic systems (products that are generally not needed for septic systems, are sometimes harmful, and are illegal to use in some jurisdictions), some producers of bacteria or enzyme septic additives recommend their products for use in outhouses to promote decomposition and reduce odors.
We have not been able to find technical data supporting that use - contact us if you find such information as we'd be glad to add it here.
Kitchen waste for the outhouse: Some people add vegetable waste (never meat waste) to the outhouse on occasion, especially cooked cabbage, to promote the composting action of the outhouse.
Watch out: Do not use thick wood chips in any volume in an outhouse as they won't decompose rapidly and the added volume will reduce the life of the outhouse pit.
Watch out: do not use bleach nor formaldehyde for outhouse odor control. These chemicals are irritants to the outhouse users and they also interfere with the biological break-down of sewage in the outhouse pit.
Use a Vent for Outhouse Odor Control
If your outhouse does not already have one, construct a vent pipe that conducts gases from inside the waste chamber up through the roof of the outhouse itself. (Photo below-left shows a home-made round wooden vent stack on a building in Cooperstown NY.)
If the outhouse includes a toilet seat with a lid, and if the lid is kept shut when the outhouse is not in use, the vent will reduce odors inside the outhouse by venting them outdoors.
Your vent can be constructed of a 4" or larger plastic pipe but you can also simply make a home made one out of 1x6 boards framed into a rectangle.
You can also use 4" aluminum or steel vent piping such as a clothes dryer vent or a steel chimney vent pipe.
Ventilation of the outhouse interior itself (see our photo, above right) can help avoid heat stroke in a too-hot outhouse interior during summer months.
Warnings: Do Not Use These in an Outhouse or Latrine
Watch out: do NOT try pouring bleach or any chlorine product into the outhouse or any other type of dry toilet. The chlorine will react with the urine to make dangerous, even possibly fatal ammonium chloride gas.
We also do NOT recommend using the deodorant chemicals intended for chemical toilets such as those used in RVs or porta pottys - those chemicals may interfere with the natural breakdown and decomposition of outhouse sewage.
Do not spray pesticides into an outhouse pit or latrine. Frequent spraying of outhouse pits for insects will breed pesticide-resistant insects that can become a serious health hazard. One-time insecticide spraying a latrine or outhouse pit that has become filled and is about to be filled in and closed, is permitted. This is to prevent fly pupae from hatching and gaining access to the open air.
Outhouse and Latrine Fire and Explosion Hazards - Lessons from Camp Virginia
The Day the Blackfeet Set Fire to Oklahoma
Outhouse fire risks: In the summer of 1955 at Camp Virginia, in Goshen, Virginia, there were two large outhouses, each sporting about a dozen open seats. The outhouses were named for two U.S. states. Campers would say "I'm going to Oklahoma" to mean I need to use the outhouse. That was fine. The second outhouse was named "Arizona". Also fine. Oklahoma was a bit more popular than Arizona as it was a shorter walk from the camp cabins.
We were divided into camper groups by bunks (cabins), each named after an american indian tribe. Arapahoes, Blackfeet, Mohicans, Utes. That's me (DF) 3rd from left in the photo above. But as Mrs. Ebbe Hoff later told my mother, boys will be boys, and someone had the theory that methane gas in the large outhouse pit would make a neat explosion if we dropped a match or two down the hole.
We had been studying camping and woodlore, including a class guaranteed to be popular with boys: how to build a small fire using as few matches as possible. Some of us were pretty good at fires, so we had a few wooden kitchen matches left over.
One afternoon, just after our incarceration in our cabin for rest period, four of us well-rested Blackfeet crept down to Oklahoma to see what we could do with some matches. I'm not sure but I think it was my buddy Granger Ancarrow (2nd from left) who first dropped a lit match down an outhouse hole in Oklahoma.
There was a sudden woosh! as a methane gas cloud exploded. (See SEPTIC METHANE GAS.)
We thought this was wonderfully exciting. Quickly more lit matches followed the first one into the outhouse pit.
We had already exploded the immediately available methane gas, but there was quite a bit of dry toilet paper scattered in the large outhouse pit, and now it caught fire. That too, seemed exciting at first. But the fire grew, and very soon we got worried about burning down the whole outhouse structure - something that camp director Mac Pitt would not be very happy about.
Quoting from Camp Virginia's modern website about "Building Character"
Building character comes through teamwork, trying new things, patriotism, faith, sportsmanship, intergenerational friendships and great role models. All is easier in such a beautiful, inspiring and fun community.
Thinking fast, and exhibiting teamwork, we recruited more campers (the rest of the Blackfeet and some of the Mohicans) and we all took our turns peeing onto the fire in the outhouse pit below. The pee, combined with a few buckets of water tossed in by our role models, camp counselors DeWitt and Emerson, saved Oklahoma from destruction.
But that was not the end of it.
Watch out: don't throw matches into the outhouse pit, and never pee into a fire except in the most dire emergency. Methane explosions can be dangerous. And the stench of hot burned urine was unimaginable to anyone who had never peed onto a fire before. Which was all of us.
For the rest of the summer, acrid stinking Oklahoma was completely unusable. We all had to crowd into Arizona.
Considering recent Arizona stop-suspicious-looking-people legislation, it's lucky that none of us at the time looked like a genuine Blackfoot, or we'd surely have been arrested for improper peeing. - POETRY & SHORT FICTION by Daniel Friedman
Outhouse Location - where to put the outhouse
As we noted earlier, the traditional location for an outhouse was close to the building it serves.
In urban settings "outhouses" or dunnies or thunderboxes were constructed abutting an exterior building wall where the dunny collected waste in a container that was collected by night soil collectors for disposal out of the city.
When locating a new outhouse, be sure that your outhouse is located where it won't contaminate a nearby well, stream, or lake. We give clearance distances between onsite waste treatment systems and other site features at SEPTIC CLEARANCES.
Our outhouse photo at left shows a very old wood-shingled outhouse in Cooperstown, NY. This outhouse was located more than 100 feet from any nearby pond or stream.
Outhouse Pit Depth - how big and how deep?
In freezing climates, it's a good idea to make the outhouse pit extend below the frost line. Otherwise in winter the waste may simply freeze and decomposition won't occur. Digging the pit to an eight-foot depth is common practice.
Watch out: while it seems unlikely that a child would deliberately enter an outhouse pit, make sure that your outhouse and its seats or seat openings are secure against a child falling into the pit. Falling into a pit or septic tank can be quickly fatal. See SEPTIC & CESSPOOL SAFETY for details.
Traditional Outhouse Compared with Composting Toilet Type Outhouses
It's useful to understand the difference between a traditional pit-outhouse and a more complex composting outhouse. A pit outhouse is simply a protective structure built over a hole or pit that receives the human waste. Good design includes privacy doors, vents so that the outhouse does not become too hot in summer, and a vertical vent stack to conduct gases and odors out of the pit up through the outhouse roof. The pit-type outhouse was moved every few years or longer, depending on how rapidly the pit filled.
A composting outhouse is a more complex system that speeds the decomposition of the sewage waste and produces an end product that can be spread on plants.
The most popular text we have found on this topic is the Humanure Handbook.
Traditional Outhouse Compared with Portable Toilets, Port-A-Johns or Porta Potty restrooms and chemical toilets - Portable Loos
Our photo of a portable toilet or "porta-potty" - a temporary or portable chemical toilet being checked out by our granddaughter Sophie Gieseke illustrates an alternative to outhouses suitable for short term use.
RV-type chemical toilet additives are often used in portable toilets & restrooms (chemical toilets for hire) such as the unit shown, in order to keep odors down between emptying and washing of the unit.
Watch out: small children should never be left alone in an outhouse or portable toilet because of the risk of a child falling into the pit or reservoir.
Because waste is stored temporarily in chemical & portable toilets between emptying and cleaning of the units, chemicals are used to deodorize the holding tank. Typically the Anotec liquid deodorant is colored with a blue dye. Examples of chemical products used in portable loose or rental toilets & restrooms include
Bio-Blue toilet deodorant packages
Walex Porta-Pak holding tank deodorizer
Currently bio-degradable chemical toilet deodorants are typically enzyme-activated nitrate based products formulated to work as biological agents rather than preservatives such as the previously but no longer used chemical toilet and portable john disinfectants formaldehyde or bleach.
List of Types of Latrines & Basics of Latrine Construction
The military use improvised latrines for human waste disposal during field exercises or missions when chemical latrines are not available.
Details about each of the latrine types listed below can be found along with sketches and conditions of use at Latrine Types & Construction.
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Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.
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Camp Virginia, PO Box 10, Goshen, Virginia 24439, Email:info@campvirginia.com, Winter Contact Information: Director Emeritus - Betty Pitt, 8122 Greystone Circle East, Richmond, Virginia 23229, 804 282 2339 or Winter Contact Information:
Camp Director - Shepherd 'Shep' Lewis, 345 Lexington Road, Richmond, Virginia 23226, 804 513 9236
Quoting from the camp's website: Camp Virginia was founded in 1928 by Directors Coach and Mrs. Malcolm Pitt of Richmond, Virginia. The spirit they developed has been continuously nurtured by campers, counselors, alumni and the Honor Council. All phases of camp life, from the activities to the cabins, stress integrity, unselfishness, and gratitude, and these values are enhanced by daily devotions and prayers. Here in the midst of these beautiful Allegheny Mountains and the Maury River, the founders’ goals of reaching each boy, building character, and developing well-rounded campers will always be pursued.
Camp Virginia has been in the Pitt Family for three generations. Their love and guidance of the Camp Virginia campers and counselors for over eighty years has been their trademark in building a diverse, loving, and extensive Camp Virginia Family.
"Water Efficiency Technology Fact Sheet: Composting Toilets [on file as /septic/EPA_Composting_Toilets.pdf ] - " U.S. EPA, Web Search 07/01/2010, original source: http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/comp.pdf )
The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, Joseph C. Jenkins, # Joseph Jenkins, Inc.; 3 edition (September 1, 2005),
ISBN-10: 0964425831,
ISBN-13: 978-0964425835 The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure, 3rd Ed., Joseph C. Jenkins. Quoting part of an Amazon review: The Humanure Handbook provides a wealth of thoroughly researched, hands-on experience and scientific data that demonstrates that after a natural process called "thermophilic" bacterial digestion, which occurs in a compost bin and where all pathogens are killed, excreta is then converted to a valuable nutrient for agriculture and thereby completing a full-circle life cycle. Most importantly, effluent can then be kept out of our drinking water and not treated or referred to as an undesirable "waste product".
The information is conveyed in a humorous, folksy, down-to-earth easy to understand style along with drawings, charts, tables, photos and a wealth of resource info for further research. Jenkins' website has a forum for sharing more info, experiences and to answer any and all questions in the process of humanuring and constructed wetland gray water treatment.
Green Latrine, Pro-Planet Industrial Supply,
1615 Monrovia Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92627-4404 map
Orange County, CA Metro Area
(949) 645-4582
Pro-Planet.com
U.S. Army Field Manual 21-10, Field Hygiene and Sanitation, 1988, web search 07/02/2010, original source: http://www.enlisted.info/field-manuals/fm-21-10-field-hygiene-and-sanitation.shtml The purpose of this manual is to assist individual soldiers, unit commanders, leaders and field sanitation teams in preventing disease and environmental injuries. The manual provides information on preventive medicine measures (PMM) to the individual soldier as well as essential information for the unit commander, unit leaders, and the unit field sanitation team on applying unit level PMM.
"Field Facilities for Human Waste Disposal", Army Study Guide, (U.S. Army Field Manuals), web search 07/02/2010, original source: http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics
/field_sanitation/field-facilities-for-huma.shtml
Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow, calculating required septic tank size, calculating septic tank volume from size measurements
Septic Tank/Soil-Absorption Systems: How to Operate & Maintain [ copy on file as /septic/Septic_Operation_USDA.pdf ] - , Equipment Tips, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 8271 1302, 7100 Engineering, 2300 Recreation, September 1982, web search 08/28/2010, original source: http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfimage/82711302.pdf.
Pennsylvania State Fact Sheets relating to domestic wastewater treatment systems include
Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-161, Septic System Failure: Diagnosis and Treatment
Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-162, The Soil Media and the Percolation Test
Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-l64, Mound Systems for Wastewater Treatment
Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-165, Septic Tank-Soil Absorption Systems
Document Sources used for this web page include but are not limited to: Agricultural Fact Sheet #SW-161 "Septic Tank Pumping," by Paul D. Robillard and
Kelli S. Martin. Penn State College of Agriculture - Cooperative Extension, edited and annotated by
Dan Friedman (Thanks: to Bob Mackey for proofreading the original source material.)
Advanced Onsite Wastewater Systems Technologies, Anish R. Jantrania, Mark A. Gross. Anish Jantrania, Ph.D., P.E., M.B.A., is a Consulting Engineer, in Mechanicsville VA, 804-550-0389
(2006), Advanced Onsite Wastewater Systems Technologies.
Outstanding technical reference especially on alternative septic system design alternatives. Written for designers and engineers, this book is not at all easy going
for homeowners but is a text we recommend for professionals--DF.
Builder's Guide to Wells and Septic Systems, Woodson, R. Dodge: $ 24.95; MCGRAW HILL B; TP;
Quoting from Amazon's description: For the homebuilder, one mistake in estimating or installing wells and septic systems can cost thousands of dollars. This comprehensive guide filled with case studies can prevent that. Master plumber R. Dodge Woodson packs this reader-friendly guide with guidance and information, including details on new techniques and materials that can economize and expedite jobs and advice on how to avoid mistakes in both estimating and construction. Chapters cover virtually every aspect of wells and septic systems, including on-site evaluations; site limitations; bidding; soil studies, septic designs, and code-related issues; drilled and dug wells, gravel and pipe, chamber-type, and gravity septic systems; pump stations; common problems with well installation; and remedies for poor septic situations. Woodson also discusses ways to increase profits by avoiding cost overruns.
Country Plumbing: Living with a Septic System, Hartigan, Gerry: $ 9.95; ALAN C HOOD & TP;
Quoting an Amazon reviewer's comment, with which we agree--DF:This book is informative as far as it goes and might be most useful for someone with an older system. But it was written in the early 1980s. A lot has changed since then. In particular, the book doesn't cover any of the newer systems that are used more and more nowadays in some parts of the country -- sand mounds, aeration systems, lagoons, etc.
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
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Plumbing Diagnosis & Repair: Water supply, drainage, septic systems, water testing, water contamination, defective plumbing materials & products.
The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 2010, $69.00 U.S., is available from Carson Dunlop. The Home Reference Book is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. InspectAPedia.com ® author/editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume.