We had planned to go out to the land this weekend, just for another day trip. But in all honesty, it's just so hard to do a three hour one way trip twice in the same day with five little kids. I think I'm still recovering from the last trip. Plus, the next phase in the shabin habitibility plan is to paint the downstairs walls and floor with a coat of vapor barrier.
Picture this; five kids + small enclosed space + wet paint. Yeah, not gonna happen.
So, we've decided to postpone the trip until next weekend. I'll be taking the kids to a far away friends house for a baby birthday party and Rob will be going to the land to paint and wait for the bush hog tractor driver. He's hoping to get started on the stairs to the loft and reinforcing the plywood floor of the loft with an additional sheet.
We've been working on some simple plans for the shabin to run electric through the walls before we insulate and drywall. We found some Romex and additional electrical supplies just hanging out in our current shed from a long ago project. We'll be utilizing these in the shabin now.
For now, we've decided to use a sawdust toilet. What's a sawdust toilet you ask? Well, very simply it's a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat attached -unbelievebly they make special ones just for this purpose- and a bucket of sawdust. I can get 5 gallon buckets with lids from Firehouse Subs* for $2 a piece. When you're done you either dump out the contents in a hole in the ground or dispose of the entire bucket. Fun stuff!
Once the vapor barrier is completed, the sawdust toilet installed and the stairs complete we can plan on our first overnight trip! We'll plan a time where we'll be up there during the week at which time we will submit our barn plans.
Things are happening, though very, very slowly.
*I wonder if we went to Firehouse if they'd be interested in just giving us buckets if we tell them what we're using them for. Maybe if we give them a plug on the site?
Showing posts with label toilets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toilets. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
House Plans and Pottys
A few months ago we announced that we had purchased house plans. Well...true to just about everything we do, we think we changed our minds. A friend at church directed us to some easy to build homes utilizing a dry stack block method of building.
Since we're doing this on our own (no mortgage, no contractors, no laborers other than ourselves) it makes sense to do this efficiently both in cost and time. A dry stack house can be done by one person or two and you can leave off without worry about weather damage to what you have gotten built. Sounds good, now we just need a new houseplan!
The other order or business is doing our business. We've been planning on heading up to the shabin for a few weeks now but there is only one problem: How to potty? With five little ones (3.75 of which are potty trained) we need a way for them to go to the bathroom without having to trek across almost the entire property in the middle of the night to the privacy of the woods. I'm not really quite scrappy enough to chance the darkness and the animals for this kind of adventure. At least not yet. Also, we don't want to risk contaminating our land with human waste either by just randomly digging holes.
A composting toilet was our first thought but the only size we'd be able to use in the shabin won't be functional in our regular house. At a price tag over $1500, it's not an option to throw that money away on a short term potty solution. Though I do like the overall idea of a waterless composting toilet for the house's long term solution.
Last week, while I was perusing Hobby Farm Home magazine at Girl Scouts, I saw an ad for an incinerating toilet. Hmmm, could this work?
The price tag is about the same for the electric model as the seasonal use composting toilet and it would be able to be moved and used in the main house without any changes. The only issue we have is the safety factor during a burn cycle and the cost of the specialized liners it requires. Overall, this seems the best bet and we've been doing a lot of research into it. The price tag is steep for something that just is for one specific function but if we can't go up to stay to build, no building will get done.
Other than that, we're itching to go back up and start working on the shabin to make it livable for building. I long for that peaceful surrender that overtakes me when we visit our own little slice of Earth.
Since we're doing this on our own (no mortgage, no contractors, no laborers other than ourselves) it makes sense to do this efficiently both in cost and time. A dry stack house can be done by one person or two and you can leave off without worry about weather damage to what you have gotten built. Sounds good, now we just need a new houseplan!
The other order or business is doing our business. We've been planning on heading up to the shabin for a few weeks now but there is only one problem: How to potty? With five little ones (3.75 of which are potty trained) we need a way for them to go to the bathroom without having to trek across almost the entire property in the middle of the night to the privacy of the woods. I'm not really quite scrappy enough to chance the darkness and the animals for this kind of adventure. At least not yet. Also, we don't want to risk contaminating our land with human waste either by just randomly digging holes.
A composting toilet was our first thought but the only size we'd be able to use in the shabin won't be functional in our regular house. At a price tag over $1500, it's not an option to throw that money away on a short term potty solution. Though I do like the overall idea of a waterless composting toilet for the house's long term solution.
Last week, while I was perusing Hobby Farm Home magazine at Girl Scouts, I saw an ad for an incinerating toilet. Hmmm, could this work?
The price tag is about the same for the electric model as the seasonal use composting toilet and it would be able to be moved and used in the main house without any changes. The only issue we have is the safety factor during a burn cycle and the cost of the specialized liners it requires. Overall, this seems the best bet and we've been doing a lot of research into it. The price tag is steep for something that just is for one specific function but if we can't go up to stay to build, no building will get done.
Other than that, we're itching to go back up and start working on the shabin to make it livable for building. I long for that peaceful surrender that overtakes me when we visit our own little slice of Earth.
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