Basic composting toilets; Part 1-The toilet

Image from www.thecompositingtoilet.net

Spend anytime on the tiny house and off-grid facebook groups or forums and eventually the discussion will center around toilets. In fact, it is usually one of the first questions asked of tiny house folk by those in conventional homes. We have become accustom to doing our "business" in a white porcelain throne and evacuating the "mess" with gallons of fresh water. However, there is another way and it is ecologically better for the environment and cheaper for the homeowner. Introducing the composting toilet. 

The most basic composting toilet consists of a 5 gallon bucket, some form of composting media and a toilet lid. Heck, you could even forego the toilet lid and just use a 5 gallon bucket lid to cap the bucket at the end of your "duty". 

Shown to the right is my first composting toilet in my tiny house. It is a bucket I found by the side of the road and a lid I removed from a discarded toilet. Cost: ZERO. I did not have access to running water so I used a plastic bag to line my bucket. Some single men will keep the simple bucket but most "civilized folk" will choose to enclose the bucket in some sort of cabinet, like shown above (this unit is marketed by www.thecompostingtoilet.net). Typically, these basic composting toilets will cost $300 or less; most much less. As the construction on my tiny home progressed, so did the "fancyness" of my toilet enclosure.

There is also a slew of commercial composting toilets that range in price from approximately $500 to over $2000. I am unable to review these units because I have no experience with them. However, Ariel in tiny house Fy Nyth has reviewed her Nature's Head; follow this link. Macy of Minimotives has also reviewed her composting toilet, the Separett; follow this link.  To be honest, I would like to have a Nature's Head composting toilet. However, at the current time, I have other uses for $1000.

Nature's Head Composting Toilet

I will not go into the science, theory and description of composting toilets; that has been covered very well by Joseph Jenkins in the Humanure Handbook. Most of us shelled out roughly $10 to purchase this book but it is now available free at this link. Most of the actual composting happens in a compost pile. Bucket toilets hold the "stuff" till dumped but the commercial units actually dry out the "stuff" and start the composting process a bit. It is best to separate the urine from the poo; unless you have lost your sense of smell and no one ever visits your domain. Covered poo without urine does not smell; other than a slight smell of earth or sawdust. Dump your 5 gallon bucket when it is nearly full (honestly, you need a bit of room between the bottom of your "bottom" and the top of the "business" in the toilet.  In the next installment of this series, we will discuss composting media.

TV, movies and free shipping

 

We all need a bit of rest from the pressures of everyday life. TV and movies provide entertainment and relief. Many of us that live off-grid also live away from intown conveniences; such as big box hardware stores, specialty stores such as cooking supplies, or even common stores. Most of us are close enough to civilization to have internet (DSL, cable or satellite) and package delivery.

For the past seven years, I have not had cable television and have not been a subscriber of any of the paid services, such as Hulu, Netflix, etc. However, I have been an Amazon Prime member. This membership provides me free "two-day" shipping on all items directly sold by Amazon. This is an large savings because of the volume of packages I order each year.

Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Amazon Prime membership also provides all my TV and movie entertainment. Granted, new releases or current shows are not part of the membership package but many of the shows I love are part of this membership. 

They also have a discounted membership for students. As a graduate student, I have qualified for this discount; they have put no restrictions on my account because of this discount. If you have not given Amazon Prime a try, it might be worth the effort to do a free trial membership.

Order a couple items during the trial to see how you like getting free two-day shipping; watch a few movies and maybe a couple TV shows. I am a fan of the TV series Justified, NYPD Blue and Sopranos; all are available for my enjoyment with no additional fees.  I believe they also have a music service but I have not tried it. 

Some shows are only available on a pay-per-watch basis. I have never watched any of these shows. Living on a tight budget, I enjoy my Prime membership but do not take part in the other non-prime aspects. All are welcome to ask questions about my experiences. Thanks, I hope this has been helpful for those that wish to give Amazon Prime a try.

Temporary Indoor Shower

 

I built my tiny home paycheck to paycheck. In order to effectively use every dime, I moved into my tiny home long before it was complete. However, because I worked on the build each day after my regular work day, I wanted a way to get clean without running to some bathing facility away from my build site.

Therefore, one of the first items I installed was my bathtub and plumbing for the bathtub drain. I did not install the tub walls till much later. In order to protect the existing walls, I obtained vinyl shower curtains and tacked them to the walls. I also have a front curtain to keep the water in the tub.

I had not installed my water plumbing or my hot water tank. I live off-grid and planned an internal tank, see this article.  Before installing my internal tank, I used water totes to hold water. I used a garden sprayer to hold two gallons of water for my shower. The wand and nozzle was removable and made it much easier to use for my shower.

I would fill the sprayer tank with 3/4 of a gallon boiling water and 1 gallon of cold water. I used an electric water pot for heating the water. Because I was building my home, I was frequently using the generator so I had plenty of energy to run the water pot. Water could also be heated in a tea pot over a camp propane stove.

The same garden sprayer can be painted black and placed outside in the sunshine. The sun will heat the bottle so you have hot shower water. However, I live in an extremely cold region and I was building during the winter.

I used this system to take showers for six months. Even after I completed the basic plumbing of my home, I needed to use this system because I had not installed a water heater. I now have a shower head with an on/off switch and it is a water saving head, however it still uses more water than my former garden sprayer. I find I miss my sprayer. It was so easy to conserve water because the sprayer output was not excessive.

Maybe I will bring the sprayer back and use it. Life is good off-grid and it feels good to conserve water. 

Tools for construction of a tiny house

Image downloaded from the internet at http://naturalpapa.com

I have read somewhere that one can build a tiny house with only 14 tools; it may indeed be possible but life will be much better with a bit more conveniences. How would one complete electrical work without a screwdriver? The image above shows four power tools, a miter saw, jig saw, circular saw and a drill. In the construction of a tiny house, these four power tools will certainly get a workout. I would add a couple extras; an impact driver, a small table saw and maybe a router. Of course getting an air compressor and pneumatic nailers will greatly simplify your life and ease the burden on your arms. It is possible to rent these tools but for the duration of time needed for most of these tools, it would be better to purchase and then sell upon completion.

I would use the impact driver for the thousands of screws and bolts that will need to be driven; I would use the table saw for cutting long angles across grain or cutting drip edges into the bottom of window sills and I would use the router for rounding over edges of wood for the ladder, edge of the tongue-and-groove boards on the loft and other areas. Andrew Morrison showed how to use a router to cut out window and door openings in his video series "Building a Tiny House"; this is really quick and easy. Sure, you can round over with a file but a router does such a beautiful job. You can buy the tools used on craigslist, use them for the construction, then sell them for approximately the same price at the end of construction.

Personally, I set my tool budget at $1500 with plans to sell the un-needed tools upon completion. I figure I can sell the power tools upon completion to recover some of my investment. As stated above, if you purchase the tools used and sell used, you could spend much less. So, here is the list of power tools and their costs I have obtained for my tiny house. The power tools occupy over half of my tool budget.

Craftsman sliding compound miter saw ($190)

19.2 volt drill and impact drill combo set ($110)

Refurbished Skil router ($49)

Porter Cable jig saw ($60)

Craftsman circular saw ($70)

Porter Cable air compressor ($110)

Husky brad and finish nailer set ($70)

Table saw ($200)

You can get a compound miter saw and table saw for $100 each but I wanted the extra capacity of the sliding compound miter and I wanted the slightly better quality of the more expensive table saw. I plan to build my own cabinets and interior furnishings. My past experience with building showed me that an increase in quality helps my end product. You can drive all your nails with a hammer but install tongue-and-groove interior siding is much easier with a finish nailer.

In my next blog post, I will discuss the "non-power" tools we can add to this list to make life a bit more comfortable.

The foundation

Tiny houses can be built on foundations or trailers with wheels. For the purposes of this blog, I will define a tiny house as less than 250 square feet; that is about the maximum amount of square footage that can be contained on a road-legal (without special permits) mobile tiny home. Typically, for this size home on wheels, car hauler trailers are used as a foundation.

There are two options for obtaining a car hauler trailer; purchase used or new. I have read numerous accounts of builders that purchased a trailer used but then spent days or weeks sanding, painting and modifying the used trailer for their tiny home. That is certainly an option and you might be able to save a few thousand dollars going the used route.

If you purchase new, you have a couple other options. You can purchase a ready-made commercial trailer, a tiny house trailer or have a trailer custom made for you. Commercial trailers are marketed in nearly every large city because they are used for construction, hauling, farming and other applications. With a fist-full of money, you can go in and purchase a trailer from the lot. Most likely, modifications will need to made this this trailer to adapt it for a tiny house. You could purchase a trailer constructed for a tiny home, such as a tumbleweed trailer or a tiny house builder's trailer. Both are good options for a semi-custom trailer but typically, they are more expensive and they are constructed to what these builders consider "custom". Plan to spend at least $500-1000 more for one of these trailers than you would spend if you ordered your own custom trailer. The third choice is to have a custom trailer constructed specifically for your use.

I admit, having a custom trailer constructed is time consuming but you will obtain a trailer to the specifications you choose. I chose to have my trailer custom built by Kaufman Trailers in North Carolina. Kaufman was very good to work with, they are experienced with custom trailers for tiny homes and they had an established delivery contractor that was much cheaper than the other manufacturers.

I ordered a custom Kaufman trailer the first week of August 2014 with the following options: 20 foot deck, 10,000 capacity, no dovetail, no wood boards on deck, crossbeams welded even with top deck, no ramps, no tie downs or other attachments on the side, and front trailer jack near front of tongue. Ordering from Kaufman saved me over $1200 if I had purchased a "tiny home trailer"; delivery of my trailer is scheduled for mid-September 2015. One option I was unable to get from Kaufman is "side extensions" that extend the trailer bed from 82" width to 96" width. Kaufman was able to do side extensions of 102". I will have side extensions added once the trailer arrives.

 My custom trailer will be similar to this without the dovetail (sloped rear deck), wood decking, tie downs or the front rail. Overall price of this custom trailer; less than $3000 and delivery to upper Michigan was only $700.

The beginning and a continuation of past

I have lived in small apartments, tents and sailboats. I have also lived in MacMansions. Living in a small space is more comfortable for me. This starts the adventure and creation of MooseVilla, my tiny house on wheels that will be my home and research facility. 

I am currently a second year PhD student at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan studying Moose Ecology. Once I complete my degree, my home and I will be located somewhere in the frozen north working and studying moose. I invite you all to follow the journey as we construct my home and research platform. Prior to returning to school, I was a self-employed laboratory scientist and a professional wildlife photographer. It was my work with wildlife that encouraged me to return to school to pursue my passion for moose. I am not young like most students but my passion has not died with my advancing age. I am currently 58 years old. 

Come with me as we study moose and build my home.

 Bull moose in Jasper, Alberta Canada; photograph copyright Moose Henderson