[AT] Shop bathrooms (was)Radiant heat (more rambling)

[Indiana Robinson]

On 22 Oct 2005 at 19:09, ivan wrote:

  Gotta get it
> working , the addition included a bathroom so you dont 
have
> to keep running into the house .  



	I still want a "potty" in the shop... The harder it is 
raining the more trips are required.   :-)   There are a 
lot of cheaper options like sawdust toilets etc. but a 
flusher would be nice. The trouble here is that the local 
health department is very fussy about any "discharge" of 
black water. I could put in a small septic system very easy 
and cheaply but the permit process here makes you jump 
through so many silly unnecessary hoops that it cost a 
fortune to put one in and they would require that it be big 
enough for a house where someone lives full time. I may 
just install a small system very quietly... (sssshhhhh) I 
know of several of those systems... Another option I have 
is to install a 1/2 bath and have it go into a large 
plastic sump with a "sewage" pump (less than $200) which 
will grind solids and pump them through a much smaller 
plastic pipe to the crawl space of my house and into the 
line to my septic tank. It is down hill from my shop to my 
house.Their jurisdiction (according to local code, varies 
by location) really only begins where it is discharged from 
the house. I already have room in one of the conduits which 
runs underground from the house to the shop.
	The sawdust units I spoke of are commonly made using a 
plastic bucket in a wooden box (hinged top) with a seat on 
the top. A large container of dry sawdust is kept close and 
each use is covered by a layer of sawdust each time. A vent 
pipe is normally included to keep it well vented to the 
outside. Somewhere "out back" a row of covered barrels are 
set up where the contents of the bucket are dumped (then 
the buckets rinsed out). When one barrel is filled you move 
to the next and the first is then ignored for about a year 
(depending on climate). Some folks I know of that use them 
full time in their house have a dozen or more barrels lined 
up. Over time the contents of the barrels compost away to 
about a bucket or two of, then said to be safe to use, 
compost. It is important to have a clean bucket or two on 
hand at the "box" for handy changes.
	I want to make one of these for a building I have over in 
the next county. It would probably never need to be emptied 
unless I was working on the building for a week or two 
which is also unlikely. Since it is in the center of a 
small village going behind a tree is rather risky.   :-)    
Still when you gotta go, you gotta go...  I can vent it out 
up under the edge of the roof and sit it in a corner of the 
building with an old shower curtain around it for privacy. 
If I ever decide to rent that building out as a store I 
could install the kind of grinder pump system I mentioned 
earlier and run it underground to the house we own next 
door to that building and into the septic tank there. I 
would also bury a conduit there so I could run a fresh 
water line one way and a "used" water line back.   :-)   I 
really love the concept of burying a conduit so I can run 
stuff later as needed without digging. I just run unslotted 
corrugated plastic field tile.  4" is about $20 for 100'.
	I recall one fellow talking about his woodshop on a 
woodworking list where his answer was to use a large potted 
plant as a urinal in the shop... Weeeeell.... I don't think 
so... I can see that smelling pretty bad after a while...
	To save shop space I may put my unit (which ever I decide 
on) up in the loft. I have good stairs to get to it.

	Another system I am looking at for "seasonal events" which 
we have now and then and maybe also for some of the horse 
boarding folks is taking a small old upright travel trailer 
(maybe as short as 16') and stripping it out and installing 
several underfloor holding tanks much like the 40 gallon 
tank in my travel trailer and then just pulling it to a 
regular dumping station to empty it when it starts getting 
full. I might even build my own "private" dumping station 
(used only by moonlight). What are they going to do, ask to 
see a receipt from a dumping station...   ;-)   Many 
interstate truck stops now have free camper dump stations.

-- 
"farmer"
Hewick Midwest

The master in the art of living makes little distinction 
between his 
work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and 
his body, 
his information and his recreation, his love and his 
religion. He 
hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision 
of 
excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide 
whether he 
is working or playing. To him he's always doing both. 
 ~ James A. Michener, attributed

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net