Composting toilet

[Old Greenhorn]

Big project, nicely done! I hope he made it back OK, I see his hood is open in that last photo. No matter, you got the SGU's in your pocket. Looks like outhouses/deer blinds/bus shelters/sheds is turning into a fine little piece of your business!

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   Yeah that is important but of course I want him to get back safely so he can come back again. His hood was open because he ran a jumper cable to the battery on his winch as his winch battery was pretty flat when he got here. Things like that was why it took so long as the loading on to my trailer, towing with my new ATV then sliding it off on to his trailer were pretty straight forward affairs. Hard work but not rocket science. The guy who picked it up has a Cooks mill and we talked about it so he probably has sawdust available but I'll e-mail and offer some anyway.

   I guess the next step I will do is make another toilet seat/box for stock and to advertise at flea markets and such. They are pretty simple to make - just 4 scrap 16" 2X4's for legs, 3-36" long 1X4s with 2 along the top of the legs on the top at the front and back one along the back at the bottom as a stretcher, 4-20" 1X4's along the ends on top and bottom leaving a 16" tall X 20" deep X 38" wide frame with no bottom stretcher on the front. Then I make a 12" X 36" panel to close in the front that is just held with in place with 2 scrap boards that each rotate on a single screw attached at the corners of the front 1X4.  I don't worry about covering the ends or back as they are not exposed anyway. Then I make the top starting with a wide 1" board with the toilet hole marked and cut out with a jig saw. I've been using some 20" wide ash I had in stock. At some point I may have to make them out of 2-1X10s when I run out of wide stock. I  center this on the frame then fill in to cover the remaining top. I make the top 22" deep with 2" overhang on the back to bore the holes and attach toilet seat. A toilet seat/lid from Lowes or my local hardware cost about $11 and makes it all look more professional. You could just cut out the hole and hinge a wide board to fold down and cover it. I do lightly sand the top to improve the appearance and reduce the likelihood of splinters. Then I just buy a plastic tote from WalMart or the dollar store to fit the space under the box/seat and add a feed sack full of sawdust and you are ready for business. There may be a market for just the seats and let the customer provide his own shed - or not.

   The whole unit is free standing and easy to move around and service by removing the front panel or just tilting the whole box back if you are so inclined.

[doc henderson]

thanks for giving us the poop and scoop on your structure.  feel free to come-post anytime!  you are a gas!

[WV Sawmiller]

Doc,

  Thanks for the kind words. Maybe we can work out a business arrangement. During your exam after the finger wave you can tell your patients "Oh, I can see you may be interested in a composting toilet. I have a contact who can build you just the thing." We'll have to work out your fee and the 5% to the FF. I hope this business deal works out better than the last one where you and Lynn collaborated and I lost my shirt. :

[doc henderson]

.....for the record, I do occasionally think of things to say, that I choose not to say...  mark it on your calendar, it is a family site! :D

[WV Sawmiller]

  I made another toilet box and took it along to a couple of Flea Markets this weekend. Saturday was in Beckley WV. The crowd was not great and the other venders seemed to be bring a lot more junk and small crafts than the flea markets I usually visit. I did get several comments about the toilet and ultimately I sold 2 Red Oak Lichtenburg engraved benches which made it a decent day. I also sold several bird houses.
 
   Today I went to the Pence Springs Flea Market which is the one I usually go to. It has a more rural patronage and more and bigger crafts, some poultry and such.


 

 

One new idea I tried was putting a trash bag in the toilet for a liner and actually I think that will work very well. In the picture above you can see the toilet box/seat, the front panel is leaning on the box and you can barely see the plastic tote inside and can clearly see the trash bag as a liner extending down into the plastic tote. I got lots of favorable comments and planted lots of seeds and I'll see if I get sales in the near future. People really liked the liner idea.

  I told people all they had to do was insert the liner, use and keep adding sawdust till full then pull the tote out, tie the bag shut and go ahead and mail it to Washington DC. :D Many agreed that was a good disposal plan. ;D

  I sold a few birdhouses and planters and talked with several about future sawing jobs which I think will ultimately pay off even though today was mostly a bust. I did drop off a 30" and 36" RO bench top that I cut to length, sanded and bored the mortises in place with my friend there to do the Lichtenburg engraving. I'll pick them up next week.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I sent pictures of the "toilet liner" idea to the last customers who bought the composting toilets and sheds from me. The lady in Covington Va sent back pictures of her toilet at their barn and she was happy with it. The last guy replied and said he wanted another shed built. Both liked the liner idea.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I got another order for another composting toilet so I knocked this one out over the last couple of days. Boy have the parts I don't make gone up! The roof metal (Panels and drip edge) cost about $60. I use 2 galvalum panels 3'X75" and make a picture frame style roof to nail it to. I use five 4' long treated 2X6 for the floor. They were $9 each and all were about 1/4" short so I cut an 8' stock piece and cut three down for the inside "floor joists".

   I have a good stock of hinges and such I have accumulated from flea markets and such. I even had a $5 toilet ring I picked up there. Everything went up pretty well. I had a 16" wide ash board I used to put the toilet ring in. 


 

One of the harder tasks was figuring out a simple door latch because the door frame is 2X2 and the wall frames were 2X4. Usually I just make a simple board with a screw through the middle to spin and shut.

   Now the question is how long it will take the guy to come get it and will it fit in his high bay van? He wanted a shed the same size but decided they would not both fit. I used up most of my stock for this one and will have to cut some spruce logs I have by the mill and I to cut some poplar for 2X4s. I overengineer the buildings because they are disassembled in 6 pieces and could cut way down on framing and such if they were permanent structures.