smackiesmommy
Power Conserver
if someone wanted to go off the grid, how far away from your home are you supposed to put an outhouse? and how ofter are you supposed to move it?
outhouse....where to place them
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Beekissed
Mountain Sage
You don't want it uphill of your well or close enough to smell in the summer time. You move it when it's full and you just can't put no more in that hole.
Seven Hens Farm
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Does it depend on how high your water table is? Ours is about 50 yards from the house. We are not off grid, but it has been used in emergency situations. It is kind of a far walk. Especially in the dead of winter.
My Dad used to have an OLD hunting shack back when I was little. It had an outhouse. What he would do is have a toilet seat that we would hang on the wall in back of the wood stove. When you had to go, you would take the seat off the hanger and take it to the out house. Nice and toasty warm!
My Dad used to have an OLD hunting shack back when I was little. It had an outhouse. What he would do is have a toilet seat that we would hang on the wall in back of the wood stove. When you had to go, you would take the seat off the hanger and take it to the out house. Nice and toasty warm!
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
That's an excellent idea about the toilet seat! 
I'm not sure about the water table as ours is never as high as an outhouse hole....maybe you could check with some local old timers about that question.
I'm not sure about the water table as ours is never as high as an outhouse hole....maybe you could check with some local old timers about that question.animalfarm
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I grew up with an outhouse only.
My dad dug a 15' deep hole. He dug a new hole next to the old hole every summer and used the dirt to fill in the old hole. Our outhouse never smelled but it got further away from the house every year.
My dad was not stupid. He also located the outhouse so that the wood shed was between it and the house. No one was allowed to use it unless they chopped an arm load of wood and hauled it back to the house. No wood, no getting back in the house. Didn't matter if it was 40 below.
Our house was dug into the side of a hill overlooking a beaver pond. For some reason he also like his outhouse to hang off the hillside. He told us it would be harder for the bears to knock it over. ???? I hated going out there in the dead of night and imagining all the bears just waiting to knock the outhouse down the hill with me in it. Us kids never wasted anytime sitting out there and chopped that wood pretty darned quick too.
Our parents never had to nag to get some stove wood in the house although we did get pretty adept at holding our bladders in the winter.
My dad dug a 15' deep hole. He dug a new hole next to the old hole every summer and used the dirt to fill in the old hole. Our outhouse never smelled but it got further away from the house every year.
My dad was not stupid. He also located the outhouse so that the wood shed was between it and the house. No one was allowed to use it unless they chopped an arm load of wood and hauled it back to the house. No wood, no getting back in the house. Didn't matter if it was 40 below.
Our house was dug into the side of a hill overlooking a beaver pond. For some reason he also like his outhouse to hang off the hillside. He told us it would be harder for the bears to knock it over. ???? I hated going out there in the dead of night and imagining all the bears just waiting to knock the outhouse down the hill with me in it. Us kids never wasted anytime sitting out there and chopped that wood pretty darned quick too.
Our parents never had to nag to get some stove wood in the house although we did get pretty adept at holding our bladders in the winter.
What and where is your water source? That is one waste stream that you don't want to recycle. Other things are weather based. If you have a lot of hot still days you want it farther from the house, under a shade tree is nice. wind or breezy down wind for sure. winters cold or deep snow Close to the house you don't want to freeze to death or use snow shoes when nature calls. Moving it?I can't help because we had a brick outhouse and it was never moved. When the solids built up we would call the same guy that pumped out septic tanks for others. High pressure hose and a mucksucker pump handled our waste the same as a septic tank. If you do move it remember to check the old hole yearly be cause the fill will sink as the muck rots. Nothing but common sense!smackiesmommy said:
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
animalfarm said:
That was a great idea of your dad's....wish I had thought of something like that. Think so ? our wood shed was attached to the house and the way I remember it most peoples were. The woodshed was where punishment was delivered, Sort of a giant mud room/ secure storage space.Beekissed said:animalfarm said:
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Punishment was delivered right in our house....we didn't have a woodshed. Our outhouse was a goodly distance from the house and our wood was stacked right against the cabin.
Our outhouse was a goodly distance from the house and our wood was stacked right against the cabin.Surly you have heard the expression of taking someone to the woodshed. I don't know to this day how the girls got theirs but us boys it was bare bottom.Beekissed said:Punishment was delivered right in our house....we didn't have a woodshed.
