@ the 2 systems I tried earlier were laptops so the cart must not like the pads. I went to a desktop with the scroll wheel and all was good. Very well done plans.
1:45 I grew up on outhouses and they do start to rebel on you after a point. The solution both of my grandfathers used was to dig a fresh pit, move the outhouse over the new pit, then backfill the old pit and let nature take its course. This is why we had a separate bathhouse. The bathhouse was permanent. You can add years to the life of your pit if you put some of your wood ash in there as you go. Just layer it up with the dung. It helps the microbes break things down in a healthy way. We'd give some ash to the pit every week. Over some time, the old pit sites become some of the most fertile spots on the property. It's really nice to wait a year or two after moving the pit then plant berry bushes or fruit trees in a circle around the old pit. One of my grandfathers had been on his land so long that he had a mature orchard where the pits used to be. I always loved that the ugliest and most unpleasant aspects of life became the most bucolic places on earth. One benefit to pit moving is that you've got a lovely orchard to walk through to get to the toilet. And we used a 'chamber pot' for indoor #1. Nobody wants to stomp through the snow at 2AM to do their business. And it doesn't have to be fancy. The last chamber I ever used was an old metal coffee can we kept under my bed. The plastic lid sealed it well enough so no smells came out and it was relatively safe from spills. Edit: I do appreciate the fan. That's exactly what I'd do. And if you already haven't, probably a good idea to put a screen over it. My uncle got a nasty black widow bite on his butt. Buggies adore pit homes. lol!
In truth, id store a blanket or 2, first aid kit, and some long store rations in there. If something happens an the van heater fails mid winter. Being able to quickly escape there and hold out for a day or 2, even if its sleeping on the floor could be a lifesaver. Add in a good first aid kit, and its yours fallback safety shelter
@Snowstead hope for the best plan for the worst. There have been blizzards where police and tow could not travel for hours.. inexperienced people have died in their cars because they risked travel, and didn't have any safety plan. Not even blankets and backup heat in the car. So that bathroom is the perfect emergency shelter. Even with a house built id still keep it stocked as an emergency backup.
Looks great. The only thing I would’ve done is pitch the roof the other way so you’re not walking in the snowfall. Also, you did the right thing by using spray foam. Air ceiling is much more important than R value
That is what I was wondering. How is the cistern tank replenished? I would welcome suggestions, as I am desiring to do something similar on my property.
Someone else mentioned this but I will again…put in a smoke and CO detector… your pit will put out gases and so does that diesel burner and if you have a small electrical short…just a suggestion…I’d also put in an ABC fire extinguisher…as a former firefighter/paramedic … and ED nurse and emergency nurse practitioner student now…I think it would be smart. I’d love to do an off grid system like this…unfortunately I need to be close to my employer for on call…sigh…maybe when I retire….
It’s good to have an extra bathroom even after you get your home built. Will come in handy when outdoors doing chores or if you are having outdoor activities with friends and they don’t want to track inside the house.
This is the best example of having one, and a reason to think about in the design. For my area, winter time you have muddy snow gear on, and taking on and off that gear to use the toilet is a bother. So if you're out milling wood or shoveling snow or what have you and nature calls, it's a lot less hassle to make with the business.
Not necessarily. If he installs an air intake (he already uses an exhaust) and utilizes biological waste enzymes flushing with water monthly during warmer months, and getting it sucked out occasionally, there is no reason this system should not last indefinitely. My outdoor outhouse blew down before it filled up (the neighbor thought that was hilarious). My only concern would be his steel drum rusting out. That is a definite must.
Love it! The only thing I would do differently, because we have 3 kids and 2 bathrooms (one with a shower and the other a powder room) would be to set it up so the shower side can be used independently from the toilet side. It would add cost but save the life of one of my children who takes a long time on the toilet and in the shower! 😂
The bad part about a pit outhouse when the pit gets full you have to move it than you have to fill it up with dirt and dig a new pit. Myself I would have used a in ground holding tank with a leach pipe. And wit h the shower and sink just leaching pipes about a foot deep or more to a bed to dissipate the water. Other than that it’s pretty good.
That's what I was wondering. Cleaning it out, when it is full. I would think it would be a mess to do. Me I would go with a simple compost toilet. A little more work, but never a large mess clean up for a pit one.
No, he said there is a French drain for a leech field so it should not fill up too bad. With out houses you also add 500ml of biological enzyme waste eater once a month to eat the solid waste, which then is moved to the leach field by the liquid waste.
This is a great project. Some questions. For the water supply, how do you get water into the cistern? Could you fill with rainwater from roof? What about in winter? And for the heating, where do you keep the diesel tank? If outside in the cold, you'd have problems with the fuel turning into gel, so I assume you keep the diesel tank inside?
When I look at the video, I would say the roof drains into the eaves troughs (Which us why it is pitched to the south - for the snow to melt in the sunshine), to the down spout, to the in ground/buried cistern.
A great project. A great build. Thank you for sharing. Only problem -- that is a pre pandemic price you are quoting. Most of us don't have spare solar batteries or a diesel heater lying around. In today's dollars (and the prices at my local "Habitat for Humanity Restore" have skyrocketed) you are probably now looking at $6 Grand (January 2025). Still affordable for the "do it yourselfer".
This is post pandemic prices, it’s all about what you’re picking and choosing on and if you want to budget or not. It’s totally possible. I drove far for the rough sawn lumber to save extra cash, the windows and doors were habitat, and I could have saved $800 on the spray foam which if I had to do again, I wouldn’t do spray foam because it wasn’t worth it. Maybe prices in your area are different
Tyvek house wrap doesn’t have a long life. I would add 30# felt paper on top off it-cheap & easy- regardless of any further trim. You have great ideas. Thanks for posting.
So jealous when I see your land. I can't believe you have so much soil that you can dig down in. Our property sits on bedrock. I hope you respect and cherish your soil. ❤
Thank you for this, I will buy the plans when I get paid, Christmas is biting hard this last couple of weeks till payday (I went overboard with some post Christmas horse equipment that we lost in a fire 18 months ago too). This bathroom looks perfect and I had also been looking at these 80L wood fired water heaters for showers so I am probably looking to make a structure like yours in the next year.
Liked-Subscribed-Notified. Thank You - great video, great design. (I am #4 in the thumbs up). Anxious to hear how it worked out over the coming winter. I think that you did the right thing with spray foam to seal the building up. I'm going to buy the plans - just because you put them together, made them affordable, and all of the thought and care that you put in. I have property in rural Michigan - and am building a house there - so having a nice shower to use while I'm building the house is a great thing to have. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You - I just purchased and downloaded the planset - everything went through flawlessly - the plans are very well done (and I'm a mechanical engineer - so you know that I'm picky about plan sets). Well Done David and Ms Logan!
Thank you so much for the feedback, it’s a huge compliment so I appreciate it! It will definitely come in handy for your build, made everything so comfortable for us during incredibly dirty building days and when things fell behind it meant we were secure to stay comfortable all winter long! Thanks so much for the support!
I will definitely keep this in mind building off-grid property in Oklahoma I need a place to take a shower. It's too cold to do it outside now. Thank you so much much cheaper to just make this then buy a building and finish it.
That’s exactly what happened to us, we did it outside then it was super cold and realized we needed something better. Good luck on your adventure on the property!
It sounds like a neat idea at first but how do you prevent ground water contamination? That's why septic systems were invented and often required by code. Your well and all your neighbors wells can produce unsafe drinking water from just one pit toilet. If you can figure out a way around that then it's a great idea.
Our well is deep, the ground water is a huge system of millions upon millions of gallons, a 4ft pit isn’t going to do anything. There is bacteria, parasites, fecal matter, and whatever else you can think of all over the top of the soil from countless animals, and like anything it is filtered by the earth in just a matter of inches 👍🏻
Brilliant! I'm considering constructing exactly this concept at the end of an old garage on my large city property in order to rent parking and hookups for a van or RV lifer! Intimidated by the costs of renovation I've put it off until I saw this! There is one BIG expense you left out which is the underground cistern. For me though, that won't be necessary because my "wash house" would only be 50 feet from the house so I can tap into municipal water. I'm thrilled though, to see that you achieved such a beautiful and functional 'bathroom' at a reasonable cost. I love scavenging for materials to repurpose !!!! I'm off to see your more detailed plans :)
Convert a shed. Make sure it's built on a skid (a couple of 4x6s underneath so it slides into place) so you can slide it over to the next pit location.
Very nice! I do have a question. I have a pit toilet as well and am dealing with condensation on the top of the toilet. What do you do to remedy that, or is yours the same?
@@cathiphillips4167the earth below and all the microscopic organisms know exactly how to deal with the human poops. I’m also curious if it ever needs any sort of maintenance.
@@sunnyfrank5391 Really? Actually the process to decompose human waste is much longer than typical compost, in order to destroy all of the pathogens. Ecoli, in previously pristine waterways, is one example if such. So, no, not as simple as you make it sound.
Kudos on doing a great job on The OFF-GRID OUTHOUSE !!! A wife/Gf shouldn't have to suffer w/o a hot shower !! Too many off gridders don't come this close to having something this nice...reckon they like to suffer. lolol
The bathroom is a well designed and fully functional build...I like it...However, I was wondering about a possible build for laundry services...Perhaps only a washer and clothes can be hung out to dry. Ideas?
I am assuming that the underground cistern is filled via the rain gutters on the building. Are you using any type of filter system to minimize debris getting into the water ? Also do you have an overflow outlet in case the cistern fills completely ? Fabulous design. I will use some of your ideas at my cabin. Thank you
I thought for pit toilets the general rule was it lasts for 1 year for every 1' of depth, then you have to fill the hole with dirt and move the whole outhouse over a new pit. 4 years is going to go by fast...
Do you have to remove a lot of snow off the solar panels on a flat roof like you have? Is the cistern placement affected by the toilet pit being so close?
Yes when it snows I brush it off quickly with a special tool I have, and no the cistern is not affected, it could be 1ft away and be fine because it is it’s own self contained system
What a chad - including virtually "free" plans, this is such a great idea, I'm thinking of living full time in an RV, but my bathroom sucks in it, not to mention showering and doing my business in an RV is painful - this is such a wonderful idea, thank you sir!
I always thought the best thing about living off grid in outhouse land, is the shitter is separate from the shower. Composting toilets without water are nice that way. Not good for piss, tho. Urine is so high in nitrogen, nearly sterile, unlike poo solids, so good for the compost pile.
Mine has a compost toilet. I would never do a pit toilet. 😂 As I am vegan and grow my own food, the toilet compost goes out to the compost pile and is used 6 months later.
Love the design. The only question is the pit toilet. I thought out houses need to be moved when it becomes full. Does the pit toilet require being moved or does "the stuff" (lol) degrade quickly enough? Awkward question but plan on going off grid next year as well. Knowledge is power, eh.
It breaks down super quick in the warmer months but slower in the winter months. We have had ours full-time for 3 years with 2 adults working from home and lots of guests and we are just now at the point of emptying it. Weekend or cottage use will pretty much never need to be emptied, but if you’re like us you will have to after some years depending on your depth, some septic companies will empty pit toilets, some wont so you have to shop around, good luck on your offgrid journey!
This is awesome! What do you do for laundry, for off grid living? We are a family of 5, full time and family of 8 part time, so this would be a necessity
In the time we lived offgrid we drove to the laundromat about a half hour away each week , although it seems like it takes a lot of time the machines are fast and do a better job than hand washing and hang drying. Now after 4+ years we have a laundry machine which is a wild difference.
I use an RV heater that is completely inside my home with no external exhaust. The only negative consequence is that I have to allow some air from outside to enter my home so that I don't run out of oxygen from the combustion eliminating it. Since propane burns extremely clean, I don't put any extra effort into carbon monoxide countermeasures. Instead, I just have a detector and a low O2 sensor. If the O2 level gets too low, a fan will open a flap on a soffit "vent" and pump fresh air into my home. Except for that "vent", my home is practically air tight. I've never noticed the vent fan functioning and never had a carbon monoxide alarm. That could be due to the infrequency and short periods of heater operation due to the level of insulation. A dome is the most economical structure shape, a cylinder the most economical while allowing standing, and a square the most practical while maintaining a high level of frugality. The greater the difference between wall lengths in a rectangular structure, the less efficient it is to build or to maintain the interior climate. I'm, in no way, suggesting you tear it down and start over. That would be like spending $1500 to buy a new miserly fridge to replace your fully functional antique one when the same money or less can build a system to power the old one for a lifetime.
@Snowstead thanks alot. ,,its always a good thing to learn ,especially things like this,,I have property but looking to go off grid ,especially after a major hurricane
hey bro i just found your page by accident lol but im glad i did the first video was this one i just finished and the bathhouse looks amazing like really good...just a few questions since u have a water holder under the ground do u have a sensor to let u know when u might be running low? the pit toilet i would assume would be full in a few years so how do u empty it if u do? are you going to build ur off grid home right beside the bathhouse since it gets so cold in the winter of where you are or just build the home maybe around it? thanks hope to hear from you and look forward to hopefully seeing many more interesting videos from you...lastly 10 dollars for u going to so much trouble with 3d step by step instructions etc is a steal. You seem like a damn good dude....cheers man
Welcome! - I don’t have a sensor, but I got used to knowing when it would roughly need it (about 2 weeks of full-time use). - for us we will be getting it pumped for the first time this summer as it just got full - we built our tiny home right next door (about 40ft away) and used the offgrid washroom for the first year as we hadn’t finished the tiny home washroom until recently. - we actually recently attach power to the property to power our home, but the offgrid washroom is fully disconnected and still creates all it’s own power. Right now we use it for friends and family when they stay over when the tiny home washroom is in use, it helps a lot. Thanks for the kind words!
@@Snowstead thanks for the reply my man, im watching some videos backwards so i would have known that if i would have just watched u talk about ur stove first thats in ur home about the home/bathroom question haha
OBSERVATION...i luv living off grid, but i will never get used to using a pit toilet or cassette. After using a toilet with indoor plumbing for many years, theres nothing like releasing liquid and solid waste and it's gone. Im incorporating a septic system, bc modernizing my toilet plumbing system is a must. After using indooors, no matter what anyone says, you can smell a sheetz pit or casette or outhouse or outdoor poop pile. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.....and that one darn fly that seems to live from scavenging off that stuff. Awesome vid and build.
I wonder how many years when that 4ft hole Is full ...along with bacteria and fly larva etc. I hope there's something I'm missing for their sake. Unless they have a pump come out and clean it out.
Yes of course, it is naturally composting but to help it for the first year we used peat moss and lime to speed up the process. Most people wouldn’t need to ever empty it because most wouldn’t use it full-time like we did. Also the deeper you dig, the more it can take 👍🏻
Do you collect rain water into the IBC tote from the small roof of the building? Really interested in taking your design and trying to modify into a self-sustaining bathroom. I have a camp in Upstate NY I use 3 seasons. It's doesn't get as cold in the winter, so could heat electrically and maybe even do solar hot water and then I could use year round. Thanks for sharing!
I personally fill the tote from our well, but I would be filling from the roof if we didn’t have that option, it would work great because there’s lots of square footage for the eavestrough. Sounds like it would be a great option! Have fun! You can find the plans to the washroom linked on my channel page!
IMO, his is way overkill 😂. Mine is inside a 8x10 greenhouse. A small stock tank sunk in the ground is used to catch the shower water and the stock tank has a wooden slat floor so the shower water goes straight thru. A small sump pump usually costs about $80. Mine pumps out to the fruit trees. Even on a 30 degree day, it’s 80 inside and I put up shade cloth in the summer. I have a compost toilet…easy to maintain. Use your imagination…..do whatever works for you. 😊
A little bit of sawdust is way better than relying on a fan for you pit toilet. Not sure why you would be against composting toilet if you’re off grid.
This is maintenance free, I don’t have to sprinkle lime dust, peat moss or anything with a full-time fan. I’m not looking for fertilizer from this, we have plenty from our animals
With our setup it can just be pumped out easily by a local company, but after 3 years of full-time use by us and many guests it’s still not full. Which is why it’s great for a cottage or property because you’ll never need to empty it!
Traditionally the outhouse would be moved, you’ll find a whole line of privies sometimes, but in cities they would be dug back out. I sometimes dig old privies for bottles. Fancy ones might be brick lined but most of the time it’s boards. You still find kind of intact boards sometimes. I would design this with enough head room to get in there with some post hole diggers and clean it out. It wouldn’t take long. Obviously you’d want to give it a week or two to rot down before you cleaned it.
I have two port o potties I cut the bottoms out of and put over a hole i dug about 3-4‘ deep. It has not had any signs of filling up and I been using it for close to 20 years. Works flawlessly.
I live in the desert on my own 5 acre property and i add unique brand enzymes and bacteria to my black tank. I flush the tank for 8 minutesa day through a sewer solution that breaks the waste into microscopic pieces. it then goes to my compost pile of fresh dried leaves, where the sun the wind and the rain can turn it into 100 percent pure healthy organic soil. We let the growing oleander drop fresh leaves giving it a fresh supply of leaves every month. This may not be legal, but it's 100 percent safe but i realize some would be offended by it, but it does not smell at all. If we all could do this we would never need city sewage treatment. maybe the native Americans would not have had to move as much if they did this my way.
Unless you have really short legs do the back of your knees hit your toilet. Should be more then enough space and your never going to miss with that surface area to land on.
I created plans that help you build this washroom step by step, make sure to check the description for the link!
How r u able to have a honey pot? Everywhere I've checked with planning and zoning says they're illegal
Having problems with the plan buy page. Tried on 2 computers, and n Edge and Chrome there are no scroll bars to see details, or buy.
@tondelo1800 just checked and it seems to be working fine with others, scroll down with your mouse, scroll bars just aren’t visible in your case
@ the 2 systems I tried earlier were laptops so the cart must not like the pads. I went to a desktop with the scroll wheel and all was good. Very well done plans.
@@TampasHotwheels Sucks for you.
1:45 I grew up on outhouses and they do start to rebel on you after a point. The solution both of my grandfathers used was to dig a fresh pit, move the outhouse over the new pit, then backfill the old pit and let nature take its course. This is why we had a separate bathhouse. The bathhouse was permanent.
You can add years to the life of your pit if you put some of your wood ash in there as you go. Just layer it up with the dung. It helps the microbes break things down in a healthy way. We'd give some ash to the pit every week.
Over some time, the old pit sites become some of the most fertile spots on the property. It's really nice to wait a year or two after moving the pit then plant berry bushes or fruit trees in a circle around the old pit. One of my grandfathers had been on his land so long that he had a mature orchard where the pits used to be. I always loved that the ugliest and most unpleasant aspects of life became the most bucolic places on earth. One benefit to pit moving is that you've got a lovely orchard to walk through to get to the toilet.
And we used a 'chamber pot' for indoor #1. Nobody wants to stomp through the snow at 2AM to do their business. And it doesn't have to be fancy. The last chamber I ever used was an old metal coffee can we kept under my bed. The plastic lid sealed it well enough so no smells came out and it was relatively safe from spills.
Edit: I do appreciate the fan. That's exactly what I'd do. And if you already haven't, probably a good idea to put a screen over it. My uncle got a nasty black widow bite on his butt. Buggies adore pit homes. lol!
One man's dung, is another Dung Beetles livelihood.
Old timers just kept a bucket of lime in the outhouse and every once in a while put a scoop of lime in the toilet hole and that kept the smell fine.
I made mine inside a greenhouse. Grey water pumps out to the garden. Even on a 30 degree day, it’s 80 inside. Summer, the shadecloth goes up.
Sounds great!!!!!! ❤
Not very off grid. But it's a good idea
@@danielkomorowski7966 are you referring to me…..because mine is off grid.
@@danielkomorowski7966 It's EXTREMELY OFF-GRID!
@@danielkomorowski7966how would a greenhouse not be off grid?
I admire you so much for coming up with all of this. It's great.
@@catinahottinvan5012 thank you!
In truth, id store a blanket or 2, first aid kit, and some long store rations in there. If something happens an the van heater fails mid winter. Being able to quickly escape there and hold out for a day or 2, even if its sleeping on the floor could be a lifesaver. Add in a good first aid kit, and its yours fallback safety shelter
This actually happened to us on a -40 night!
@Snowstead hope for the best plan for the worst. There have been blizzards where police and tow could not travel for hours.. inexperienced people have died in their cars because they risked travel, and didn't have any safety plan. Not even blankets and backup heat in the car.
So that bathroom is the perfect emergency shelter. Even with a house built id still keep it stocked as an emergency backup.
Looks great. The only thing I would’ve done is pitch the roof the other way so you’re not walking in the snowfall. Also, you did the right thing by using spray foam. Air ceiling is much more important than R value
How is your cistern water replenished? (What a beautiful design! Well done!!!)
That is what I was wondering. How is the cistern tank replenished? I would welcome suggestions, as I am desiring to do something similar on my property.
Yes please share how to refill the water tank?
When I look at the video, I would say the roof drains into the eaves troughs, to the down spout, to the in ground/buried cistern.
This came out beautiful! I just want to point out just in case you forget to turn on that fan, carbon monoxide is odorless
Yes, there needs to be a detector too.
Tyvek tape, wrap is only good for about 90 days then gets brittle. It varies, so maybe cover the tyvek wrap up with some paneling or cement board etc.
Someone else mentioned this but I will again…put in a smoke and CO detector… your pit will put out gases and so does that diesel burner and if you have a small electrical short…just a suggestion…I’d also put in an ABC fire extinguisher…as a former firefighter/paramedic … and ED nurse and emergency nurse practitioner student now…I think it would be smart. I’d love to do an off grid system like this…unfortunately I need to be close to my employer for on call…sigh…maybe when I retire….
It’s good to have an extra bathroom even after you get your home built. Will come in handy when outdoors doing chores or if you are having outdoor activities with friends and they don’t want to track inside the house.
This is the best example of having one, and a reason to think about in the design.
For my area, winter time you have muddy snow gear on, and taking on and off that gear to use the toilet is a bother. So if you're out milling wood or shoveling snow or what have you and nature calls, it's a lot less hassle to make with the business.
@ Also if you have someone working outdoors for you they can use the outdoor bathroom instead of tracking inside.
Trees are great bathrooms
So how long can you use a pit toilet before you have to either re-dig it or move it? Eventually will it not just fill up?
Not necessarily. If he installs an air intake (he already uses an exhaust) and utilizes biological waste enzymes flushing with water monthly during warmer months, and getting it sucked out occasionally, there is no reason this system should not last indefinitely. My outdoor outhouse blew down before it filled up (the neighbor thought that was hilarious). My only concern would be his steel drum rusting out. That is a definite must.
Yup, a negative pressure on the poo box is a good move. Composting toilets need exhausts big or small.
Most glorious outhouse that I've seen. Well done.
Love it! The only thing I would do differently, because we have 3 kids and 2 bathrooms (one with a shower and the other a powder room) would be to set it up so the shower side can be used independently from the toilet side. It would add cost but save the life of one of my children who takes a long time on the toilet and in the shower! 😂
Smart! And totally doable!
The bad part about a pit outhouse when the pit gets full you have to move it than you have to fill it up with dirt and dig a new pit. Myself I would have used a in ground holding tank with a leach pipe. And wit h the shower and sink just leaching pipes about a foot deep or more to a bed to dissipate the water. Other than that it’s pretty good.
Smart! In this case because I surrounded it with a drum it can just be vacced out easily 👍🏻
@@Snowstead Do you need a professional to come in and vac it out? If not how would you do this? thanks...u did a good job!
No, he has a leach field.
@ oh ok ty...
What happens when the pit gets full? How long before it fills up? Nice job.
That's what I was wondering. Cleaning it out, when it is full. I would think it would be a mess to do. Me I would go with a simple compost toilet. A little more work, but never a large mess clean up for a pit one.
No, he said there is a French drain for a leech field so it should not fill up too bad. With out houses you also add 500ml of biological enzyme waste eater once a month to eat the solid waste, which then is moved to the leach field by the liquid waste.
This is a great project. Some questions. For the water supply, how do you get water into the cistern? Could you fill with rainwater from roof? What about in winter? And for the heating, where do you keep the diesel tank? If outside in the cold, you'd have problems with the fuel turning into gel, so I assume you keep the diesel tank inside?
When I look at the video, I would say the roof drains into the eaves troughs (Which us why it is pitched to the south - for the snow to melt in the sunshine), to the down spout, to the in ground/buried cistern.
A great project. A great build. Thank you for sharing. Only problem -- that is a pre pandemic price you are quoting. Most of us don't have spare solar batteries or a diesel heater lying around. In today's dollars (and the prices at my local "Habitat for Humanity Restore" have skyrocketed) you are probably now looking at $6 Grand (January 2025). Still affordable for the "do it yourselfer".
This is post pandemic prices, it’s all about what you’re picking and choosing on and if you want to budget or not. It’s totally possible. I drove far for the rough sawn lumber to save extra cash, the windows and doors were habitat, and I could have saved $800 on the spray foam which if I had to do again, I wouldn’t do spray foam because it wasn’t worth it. Maybe prices in your area are different
I'm reminded of my Grandad's freezing cold toilet seat in the add on bathroom to his old house. I would arrange a heated seat.😊
Wow! I was thinking 5- 8 thousand to build! You did great job & it's refreshing to see a video from Canada.
this is a wonderful bathroom, the winter must be worm also
Thanks! It’s soooo warm in there with the diesel heater, you can set it to any temperature you want!
LOVE THE GREAT OUTHOUSE!!!!!!!! BEAUTIFULLY, DONE!!!!!!
Thanks! 😊
Great idea. ....last century the settlersbin Africa used pit toulets...dug very deep more then 15feet and never came out....lasted years
Great design
Tyvek house wrap doesn’t have a long life. I would add 30# felt paper on top off it-cheap & easy- regardless of any further trim. You have great ideas. Thanks for posting.
Cool, good job. I was looking at diesel heaters....I imagine that is why TH-cam sent me here. tHanks for the video
Glad to have you here!
Wow you did a great job . Really nice.
So jealous when I see your land. I can't believe you have so much soil that you can dig down in. Our property sits on bedrock. I hope you respect and cherish your soil. ❤
That is lots of cash to be saved when doing the foundations
Thank you for this, I will buy the plans when I get paid, Christmas is biting hard this last couple of weeks till payday (I went overboard with some post Christmas horse equipment that we lost in a fire 18 months ago too). This bathroom looks perfect and I had also been looking at these 80L wood fired water heaters for showers so I am probably looking to make a structure like yours in the next year.
Liked-Subscribed-Notified. Thank You - great video, great design. (I am #4 in the thumbs up). Anxious to hear how it worked out over the coming winter. I think that you did the right thing with spray foam to seal the building up. I'm going to buy the plans - just because you put them together, made them affordable, and all of the thought and care that you put in. I have property in rural Michigan - and am building a house there - so having a nice shower to use while I'm building the house is a great thing to have. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You
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I just purchased and downloaded the planset - everything went through flawlessly - the plans are very well done (and I'm a mechanical engineer - so you know that I'm picky about plan sets).
Well Done David and Ms Logan!
Thank you so much for the feedback, it’s a huge compliment so I appreciate it! It will definitely come in handy for your build, made everything so comfortable for us during incredibly dirty building days and when things fell behind it meant we were secure to stay comfortable all winter long! Thanks so much for the support!
I will definitely keep this in mind building off-grid property in Oklahoma I need a place to take a shower. It's too cold to do it outside now. Thank you so much much cheaper to just make this then buy a building and finish it.
That’s exactly what happened to us, we did it outside then it was super cold and realized we needed something better. Good luck on your adventure on the property!
Nice ❤❤❤
It sounds like a neat idea at first but how do you prevent ground water contamination? That's why septic systems were invented and often required by code. Your well and all your neighbors wells can produce unsafe drinking water from just one pit toilet. If you can figure out a way around that then it's a great idea.
Our well is deep, the ground water is a huge system of millions upon millions of gallons, a 4ft pit isn’t going to do anything. There is bacteria, parasites, fecal matter, and whatever else you can think of all over the top of the soil from countless animals, and like anything it is filtered by the earth in just a matter of inches 👍🏻
Very nice!!
How do you refill the water tank?
Brilliant! I'm considering constructing exactly this concept at the end of an old garage on my large city property in order to rent parking and hookups for a van or RV lifer! Intimidated by the costs of renovation I've put it off until I saw this! There is one BIG expense you left out which is the underground cistern. For me though, that won't be necessary because my "wash house" would only be 50 feet from the house so I can tap into municipal water. I'm thrilled though, to see that you achieved such a beautiful and functional 'bathroom' at a reasonable cost. I love scavenging for materials to repurpose !!!! I'm off to see your more detailed plans :)
Man if only they sold outhouse kits just like this. This is awesome and I need 2
Glad you like it and I agree! Super useful for so many scenarios
Seems like you could easily buy the plans and hire out whatever you don't want to do.
Convert a shed. Make sure it's built on a skid (a couple of 4x6s underneath so it slides into place) so you can slide it over to the next pit location.
Very nice! I do have a question. I have a pit toilet as well and am dealing with condensation on the top of the toilet. What do you do to remedy that, or is yours the same?
Wow very creative project which is so functional too, great job 👏 😊
I used a pallet as a base and built my outhouse around it. 3 walls and a door. I have a piece of acrylic for roof and light.
Awesome! Don’t need anything more than that in certain climates!
Does the hole in the ground never get full? If so how do you empty it?
At only 4 feet, getting full And contaminating soil and ground water??
@@cathiphillips4167the earth below and all the microscopic organisms know exactly how to deal with the human poops.
I’m also curious if it ever needs any sort of maintenance.
You can get a shitter company to come out and empty it.
@@sunnyfrank5391 Really? Actually the process to decompose human waste is much longer than typical compost, in order to destroy all of the pathogens. Ecoli, in previously pristine waterways, is one example if such. So, no, not as simple as you make it sound.
Kudos on doing a great job on The OFF-GRID OUTHOUSE !!! A wife/Gf shouldn't have to suffer w/o a hot shower !! Too many off gridders don't come this close to having something this nice...reckon they like to suffer. lolol
NOBODY SHOULD....
The bathroom is a well designed and fully functional build...I like it...However, I was wondering about a possible build for laundry services...Perhaps only a washer and clothes can be hung out to dry. Ideas?
I am assuming that the underground cistern is filled via the rain gutters on the building. Are you using any type of filter system to minimize debris getting into the water ? Also do you have an overflow outlet in case the cistern fills completely ? Fabulous design. I will use some of your ideas at my cabin. Thank you
I have the same questions?!!
I thought for pit toilets the general rule was it lasts for 1 year for every 1' of depth, then you have to fill the hole with dirt and move the whole outhouse over a new pit. 4 years is going to go by fast...
Ventilation planned ahead is key. Especially for an off grid toilet / composting toilet & shower.
Do you have to remove a lot of snow off the solar panels on a flat roof like you have? Is the cistern placement affected by the toilet pit being so close?
Yes when it snows I brush it off quickly with a special tool I have, and no the cistern is not affected, it could be 1ft away and be fine because it is it’s own self contained system
Awesome awesome bro
What a chad - including virtually "free" plans, this is such a great idea, I'm thinking of living full time in an RV, but my bathroom sucks in it, not to mention showering and doing my business in an RV is painful - this is such a wonderful idea, thank you sir!
I always thought the best thing about living off grid in outhouse land, is the shitter is separate from the shower. Composting toilets without water are nice that way. Not good for piss, tho. Urine is so high in nitrogen, nearly sterile, unlike poo solids, so good for the compost pile.
Mine has a compost toilet. I would never do a pit toilet. 😂 As I am vegan and grow my own food, the toilet compost goes out to the compost pile and is used 6 months later.
Love the design. The only question is the pit toilet. I thought out houses need to be moved when it becomes full. Does the pit toilet require being moved or does "the stuff" (lol) degrade quickly enough? Awkward question but plan on going off grid next year as well. Knowledge is power, eh.
It breaks down super quick in the warmer months but slower in the winter months. We have had ours full-time for 3 years with 2 adults working from home and lots of guests and we are just now at the point of emptying it. Weekend or cottage use will pretty much never need to be emptied, but if you’re like us you will have to after some years depending on your depth, some septic companies will empty pit toilets, some wont so you have to shop around, good luck on your offgrid journey!
You should have put a washer and dryer in there That's what's really important too
Toilet behind door and stand up shower.
Such a great design!😀 Do ya'll have a washing machine?
How do you clean out the pit?
This is awesome! What do you do for laundry, for off grid living? We are a family of 5, full time and family of 8 part time, so this would be a necessity
In the time we lived offgrid we drove to the laundromat about a half hour away each week , although it seems like it takes a lot of time the machines are fast and do a better job than hand washing and hang drying. Now after 4+ years we have a laundry machine which is a wild difference.
Good job!
Thanks!
Great job. Thank you for sharing!
So during the winter it is heated constantly?
Yup, keeps at a warm 25 degrees 24/7 from Oct-Apr
Good job, I didn't do that, lol. just building shower now.
Nice design!
Thanks!
I use an RV heater that is completely inside my home with no external exhaust. The only negative consequence is that I have to allow some air from outside to enter my home so that I don't run out of oxygen from the combustion eliminating it. Since propane burns extremely clean, I don't put any extra effort into carbon monoxide countermeasures. Instead, I just have a detector and a low O2 sensor. If the O2 level gets too low, a fan will open a flap on a soffit "vent" and pump fresh air into my home. Except for that "vent", my home is practically air tight. I've never noticed the vent fan functioning and never had a carbon monoxide alarm. That could be due to the infrequency and short periods of heater operation due to the level of insulation. A dome is the most economical structure shape, a cylinder the most economical while allowing standing, and a square the most practical while maintaining a high level of frugality. The greater the difference between wall lengths in a rectangular structure, the less efficient it is to build or to maintain the interior climate. I'm, in no way, suggesting you tear it down and start over. That would be like spending $1500 to buy a new miserly fridge to replace your fully functional antique one when the same money or less can build a system to power the old one for a lifetime.
I need to build one myself. So glad I found you. Thanks!!!!
No problem, I have the plans linked in the description if you want to build it yourself!
@ do you need to run the diesel heater full time in winter then to not freeze the water heater?
You didn't mention it but I assume the cistern is on the opposite side from the pit.
Yes, but it wouldn’t matter, the cistern is a self contained unit, it could be right beside the pit and you would never have cross contamination
You never mentioned anything about the solor Watts panel , how many watts you have on the roof
270W panel feeds the washroom, the other 300W panel feeds other equipment 👍🏻
@Snowstead thanks alot. ,,its always a good thing to learn ,especially things like this,,I have property but looking to go off grid ,especially after a major hurricane
Well done!! Amazing price❤
How do you refill your water supply?
what about the pit filling up and do you P in it
I think I would have built the house on to the bathroom
hey bro i just found your page by accident lol but im glad i did the first video was this one i just finished and the bathhouse looks amazing like really good...just a few questions since u have a water holder under the ground do u have a sensor to let u know when u might be running low? the pit toilet i would assume would be full in a few years so how do u empty it if u do? are you going to build ur off grid home right beside the bathhouse since it gets so cold in the winter of where you are or just build the home maybe around it? thanks hope to hear from you and look forward to hopefully seeing many more interesting videos from you...lastly 10 dollars for u going to so much trouble with 3d step by step instructions etc is a steal. You seem like a damn good dude....cheers man
Welcome! - I don’t have a sensor, but I got used to knowing when it would roughly need it (about 2 weeks of full-time use). - for us we will be getting it pumped for the first time this summer as it just got full - we built our tiny home right next door (about 40ft away) and used the offgrid washroom for the first year as we hadn’t finished the tiny home washroom until recently. - we actually recently attach power to the property to power our home, but the offgrid washroom is fully disconnected and still creates all it’s own power. Right now we use it for friends and family when they stay over when the tiny home washroom is in use, it helps a lot. Thanks for the kind words!
@@Snowstead thanks for the reply my man, im watching some videos backwards so i would have known that if i would have just watched u talk about ur stove first thats in ur home about the home/bathroom question haha
You should have added a laundry in there. A compost toilet would have been better.
awesome set up, but never put the power under the sink. if there is a leak, you will have problems.
Thanks! There’s nothing to worry about, it’s all low voltage battery she can get soaked and be fine!
Brilliant - inside and Out. XO
very clever!
Cool beans.
How do you fill your cistern?
Good job
OBSERVATION...i luv living off grid, but i will never get used to using a pit toilet or cassette. After using a toilet with indoor plumbing for many years, theres nothing like releasing liquid and solid waste and it's gone. Im incorporating a septic system, bc modernizing my toilet plumbing system is a must. After using indooors, no matter what anyone says, you can smell a sheetz pit or casette or outhouse or outdoor poop pile. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.....and that one darn fly that seems to live from scavenging off that stuff.
Awesome vid and build.
We have compost toilets….never has a smell. 😊
I wonder how many years when that 4ft hole Is full ...along with bacteria and fly larva etc. I hope there's something I'm missing for their sake. Unless they have a pump come out and clean it out.
@ yes….not to mention it’s an ecological nightmare, it migrates into the ecosystem and the water table….its why they were outlawed.
I love it! Do you have plans so I could build one?
Of course! I linked it in the description!
where is it located, looks great.
Very nice! Thank you!
Can't you make the pit composting? So that hopefully it doesn't need to be cleaned out or if it does then it's rarer.
Yes of course, it is naturally composting but to help it for the first year we used peat moss and lime to speed up the process. Most people wouldn’t need to ever empty it because most wouldn’t use it full-time like we did. Also the deeper you dig, the more it can take 👍🏻
@@Snowstead How do you deal with the toilet paper part of it, and how do you prevent groundwater contamination?
What part of Canada are you in?
Do you collect rain water into the IBC tote from the small roof of the building? Really interested in taking your design and trying to modify into a self-sustaining bathroom. I have a camp in Upstate NY I use 3 seasons. It's doesn't get as cold in the winter, so could heat electrically and maybe even do solar hot water and then I could use year round. Thanks for sharing!
I personally fill the tote from our well, but I would be filling from the roof if we didn’t have that option, it would work great because there’s lots of square footage for the eavestrough. Sounds like it would be a great option! Have fun! You can find the plans to the washroom linked on my channel page!
Awesome setup had to share!!!
Nice setup. I have a question: How much Diesel do you go through with the 5 kw heater?
About 20L every 2 weeks, I set the rate to be lower to be a bit more efficient cause the inside was well insulated
@Snowstead thank you!
Can you give a link to what pump and bladder you used
@RyanKelly-y9t you can find links to everything in the description of the video! Enjoy! 😊
Could you make this from a little prefab shed?
IMO, his is way overkill 😂. Mine is inside a 8x10 greenhouse. A small stock tank sunk in the ground is used to catch the shower water and the stock tank has a wooden slat floor so the shower water goes straight thru.
A small sump pump usually costs about $80. Mine pumps out to the fruit trees.
Even on a 30 degree day, it’s 80 inside and I put up shade cloth in the summer.
I have a compost toilet…easy to maintain.
Use your imagination…..do whatever works for you. 😊
I think he may have to deal with even colder temps, but I agree do whatever works for you.
Nice we did same but not as well done
I’ll bet you did a great job. Don’t sell yourself short. Just because yours is different, doesn’t make theirs better. ❤
1:29 does your hot water heater heat cold water as well? 😆
Yup, and my water tub holds liquid! 🤪
You had me at no smell.
A little bit of sawdust is way better than relying on a fan for you pit toilet. Not sure why you would be against composting toilet if you’re off grid.
This is maintenance free, I don’t have to sprinkle lime dust, peat moss or anything with a full-time fan. I’m not looking for fertilizer from this, we have plenty from our animals
You can’t do this in TN. You have to have septic.
What about a compost toilet? You still need a septic? Like a cassette compost toilet.
What do you do when the pit fills up?
With our setup it can just be pumped out easily by a local company, but after 3 years of full-time use by us and many guests it’s still not full. Which is why it’s great for a cottage or property because you’ll never need to empty it!
If it's a must,call a Porta John company to come suck it out,but rural may cost ya..
Traditionally the outhouse would be moved, you’ll find a whole line of privies sometimes, but in cities they would be dug back out. I sometimes dig old privies for bottles. Fancy ones might be brick lined but most of the time it’s boards. You still find kind of intact boards sometimes. I would design this with enough head room to get in there with some post hole diggers and clean it out. It wouldn’t take long. Obviously you’d want to give it a week or two to rot down before you cleaned it.
I have two port o potties I cut the bottoms out of and put over a hole i dug about 3-4‘ deep. It has not had any signs of filling up and I been using it for close to 20 years. Works flawlessly.
@@jacelandadventures1523Thanks for sharing.
Nice!
I live in the desert on my own 5 acre property and i add unique brand enzymes and bacteria to my black tank. I flush the tank for 8 minutesa day through a sewer solution that breaks the waste into microscopic pieces. it then goes to my compost pile of fresh dried leaves, where the sun the wind and the rain can turn it into 100 percent pure healthy organic soil. We let the growing oleander drop fresh leaves
giving it a fresh supply of leaves every month. This may not be legal, but it's 100 percent safe but i realize some would be offended
by it, but it does not smell at all. If we all could do this we would never need city sewage treatment. maybe the native Americans would
not have had to move as much if they did this my way.
How comfortable is the toilet seat. I ask because sitting on a normal toilet doesn't include the additional six inches you have in the front.
Unless you have really short legs do the back of your knees hit your toilet. Should be more then enough space and your never going to miss with that surface area to land on.
Subbed for the shitter bro. Very nice.
Appreciate it! Welcome! 🙌🏻