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[Bevanron <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

I've seen and used Gene's outhouse and bucket toilets....both are a work 
of art and hardly deserve the term 'outhouse'.

Bev, a Heartwood visitor in 2001




> Catherine, I suspect that the reason people respond positively to our
> outhouse is because it is clean, well-ventilated, has some interesting
> reading material and has only a (brass) screened door, so if you use the
> north position you have a rather nice view to the east. Makes a morning sit
> quite pleasant.
>
> It sits on two layers of concrete blocks that are plastered on the outside
> to keep out bugs. Standard two-by-four construction, covered on outside by
> plywood, painted white, as is the inside. The two-seat bench is against the
> west wall, is short about eighteen inches of north and south walls, which
> space is used for the buckets of sawdust/wood shavings for covering
> deposits. There is a deep shelf on the south wall, now awaiting delivery of
> Vern's collection of New Yorkers.
>
> I cut a hole in the west wall below the seat platform, centered between the
> two seats, and installed a six-inch PVC pipe which ells outside and extends
> to well above the metal-covered shed roof. The top of that is screened.
> There is also a small screened window opening above the bench, just under
> the plate. There is a light and an outlet, which is used mostly for
> vacuuming before guests arrive but is handy for plugging in tools in that
> area, which is about a hundred feet from the house, under large white oak
> trees. The in-use toilet tissue roll waits in an old teapot fastened to the
> wall with one screw through its bottom. The floor is covered with carpet
> remnants I found in a dumpster behind a carpet warehouse.
>
> If I build another, I will make the floor high enough off the ground--three
> or four courses of concrete blocks--so materials can be removed from the
> outside. I would also build a tight-fitting, screened, hinged door on the
> south wall for this purpose and then make and fit an extra-long handle to
> an old shovel for compost removal. Would experiment with covering that door
> with glass in the winter, to provide solar warmth for the microorganisms at
> work.
>
> I have recently built two block-bucket toilets (Hillbilly Loo by Gene
> GeRue) for the house--one for our bathroom and one for the guest room, so
> the outhouse is now mostly used during parties and outside emergencies.
>
> Gene "Bumpy" GeRue
> Author: How To Find Your Ideal Country Home
> "I am gently mad myself and resolved to live cleanly."
> (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
>
>
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--
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm      NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W