Do-it-yourself toilet for a summer residence: step by step instructions

The first building that appears on any lot is the toilet. We can somehow do without a house and a soul, but without this building – in any way. For many, a do-it-yourself toilet for a summer residence is the first building experience. It’s good that the structure is uncomplicated, so even without experience it’s easy to handle.

Although the country toilet is not the most complex building, there are many features. A clear action plan is indispensable. Let’s write down the steps on how to build a toilet in the country:

1. Choose the type of toilet.
2. Determine the location on the construction site.
3. Decide on the size and materials for construction.
4. Start building.

Now about each point in more detail.

Read about the types, designs of houses for a country toilet here (with diagrams and sizes).

What kind of toilet to make in the country

Before starting construction, you need to choose the type of country toilet. This is not about the house, but about its internal structure. According to the type of device, they can be divided into two large groups: with or without a cesspool. If the groundwater level in the area is high – higher than 3,5 meters – your choice is limited only to toilets without a cesspool, otherwise the remains of waste products will inevitably end up in the water. Similar restrictions are imposed on areas at the base of which there are natural cracks, as well as on shale rocks. On other soils with deeper aquifers, you can install a booth of any design.

With cesspool

When choosing this option, you need to take into account that the depth of the pit should be 1 meter less than the highest groundwater level (usually spring). Its volume is selected depending on the frequency of visits and the number of people. For example, in houses of permanent residence for 2-3 people, a volume of 1,5 cubic meters is enough. For dachas visited mainly on weekends, the cesspool for the toilet may be smaller.

The shape of the container is any, but more often they make it square, sometimes round. The walls are laid out of brick, concrete, rubble masonry, tarred wood. You can make a container from concrete rings. Only in this case it will be necessary to worry about the tightness of the joints and the bottom.

To ensure tightness, a layer of rammed clay (clay castle) with a thickness of 20-30 cm is made under the masonry and on the sides.

A cesspool toilet for a summer residence must be equipped with a ventilation system. A pipe of large diameter (at least 100 mm) is built into the pit, the second end of which rises at least 50-70 cm above the roof of the house (or house). Also, a ventilation window is made in the house itself. It can be on the door or on one of the side walls.

When filling more than 2/3 of the volume, the contents of the pit are pumped out by the machine with a sewer. When planning a toilet for a summer residence with your own hands, keep in mind that a car should drive up to the pit.

There are two types of cesspool organization:

• Normal – under the house.
• Backlash closet – the pit is located to the side. With such a structure, the toilet bowl can stand in the house, and sewage through pipes laid at a certain slope enter the container.

Building a backlash closet in a country house is a very expensive undertaking, unless you decide to make an extension anyway or your dacha is a full-fledged residential building in which a lot of time is spent. You will need a complete ventilation system, water for flushing, and pipes will need to be laid below the freezing depth of the soil. And since they must go at an angle, the cesspool also descends to a decent depth.

When installing a toilet of this type, it is important to withstand the slope of the pipe – it should be 2-3 cm per meter. No need to do more or less – just in this range. If you make the slope less, there is a risk that the content will stagnate. If you do more, then the water will run away, and solid and heavier inclusions will remain in the pipe and will spread “aromas”.

Read about methods for eliminating odors in an outdoor toilet with a pit latrine.

Without cesspool

For the most part, pitless toilets are built much easier and faster. In them, waste is collected in a sealed container, which is usually placed directly under the toilet seat. The difference lies in how the waste is recycled and the odor is neutralized. There are the following types:

• Powder closet. Another container with peat, ash, sawdust, earth or a mixture of these components is placed in the booth. After visiting the toilet, the waste is covered with a layer of this powder – powdered. Hence the name.
• Peat toilet. This is a kind of closet powder. But only crushed peat is used for powdering. Peat toilets are also industrially made. They are very similar to the usual apartment toilets with a tank. But in the tank is not water, but a crumb of peat. After visiting the toilet, you need to turn the handle on the tank several times, from where peat will fall.
  

• Bio toilet. Waste enters a container filled with a solution containing microorganisms that process them. These stalls are often seen as outdoor toilets in cities. Dry closets are sold both together with plastic booths, and separately – only a toilet bowl with a container.
• Chemical toilet. The principle of processing is the same as in a dry closet, only they use not microorganisms, but chemicals. They usually come in the form of powders or tablets. The waste processed in this way cannot be used as fertilizer. They periodically need to be drained into the sewer.

The advantages of country toilets without a cesspool (also called dry) are significant:

• you do not need to dig a hole and fiddle with its sealing;
• no need to call a sewer (pay for it) and organize an entrance for the car;
• built quickly;
• recycled waste can be used as fertilizer.
  

The cons are big too:

• Factory-made toilets are not that cheap.
• It is necessary to change the container periodically.
• It is necessary to monitor the availability of means of neutralization.

How to make an inexpensive, but beautiful path to the toilet, read here. 

Norms for installing a toilet on the site

Most of the restrictions apply to pit latrines: possible contamination must be limited. The rules are:

• To the source of water – lakes, rivers, wells, wells, etc. – must be at least 25 meters. This also applies to sources located in neighboring areas.
• To the basement or cellar at least 12 meters.
• The nearest inhabited building – a shower, baths – is at least 8 meters away.
• To buildings where animals are kept at least 4 meters.
• The nearest trees should be 4 meters away, bushes 1 meter away.
  

The rest of the rules are valid for all types of toilets:

• There must be at least 1 meter to the boundary of the site.
• Doors should not open towards the adjacent area.
• When choosing a location, the prevailing wind direction must be taken into account.

When choosing a place where you will build a toilet for a summer cottage with your own hands, pay attention not only to your own buildings and objects, but also to your neighbors. This will help to avoid friction with them and with the sanitation station.

If you are going to build a toilet with a cesspool, you must also add to all the listed requirements – the organization of an entrance for a sewage truck.

The construction of a country shower is described in this article.

How to make a toilet in the country with your own hands

You have already gone through the first two steps: you have chosen the type of toilet and the place to install it. The next step is choosing the dimensions. It’s not that hard to figure them out. They told how to choose the volume of the cesspool – 2 cubic meters is enough for 3-1,5 people, now about what size the toilet house should be. It all depends on your own desire and on the dimensions of the owners. In the standard version, toilets are made in the following sizes:

• height – 220 cm;
• width — 150 cm;
• depth – 100 cm.

These dimensions are convenient for people with an average build. You can change them the way you like. There are no standards.

Houses for toilets are most often made of wood. But this is not the rule. It can be made of sheet material such as fiberboard, GVL, flat slate, brick and any other building materials, profiled sheet metal, even plastic.

The most favorite roofing material for a country toilet is slate. The device of a soft roof from the built-up materials is inexpensive. In general, you can use any available. It is attached to a solid crate, so there is not much difference.

Building a village toilet

The last stage is the actual construction. The procedure is determined by what type of toilet you will build. If with a cesspool, they make it first.

Cesspool for toilet

The procedure for construction is as follows:

• A pit is dug in the chosen place. Its dimensions are 30-40 cm larger than the planned dimensions of the cesspool.
• At the bottom, 20-30 cm of clay diluted to a pasty state are laid and rammed: they make a clay castle that will prevent sewage from penetrating into the soil. Therefore, lay the layers without voids.
• The bottom and walls of the pit are laid out of brick, buta, a thick resin-impregnated board. The main thing is that the walls do not allow moisture to pass through: it should not enter either inside or from the inside. Therefore, waterproofing measures are necessary. Therefore, it is desirable to plaster the walls of the cesspool, and then coat with hydrophobic impregnation. Only one that can withstand aggressive environments.
  

• The gap between the erected walls and the ground is laid with soaked clay – and here they make a clay castle. This is waterproofing from the outside.
• A cover is laid on top of the pit. Usually it is made of boards (at least 40 mm thick). There should be two holes in the ceiling – one for installing a toilet seat, the second for organizing a hatch. The pumping hatch is usually made double – so that unpleasant odors do not penetrate.
• Install the ventilation pipe.

Next, proceed to the construction of the toilet house.

In order not to mess with masonry and waterproofing, you can install a special plastic container – a septic tank. They come in different sizes and designs – with one or two necks.

The pit is dug a little larger than the size of the selected septic tank, the container is installed, covered with previously excavated soil. The device of such a cesspool is many times faster and more reliable.

Cabin for country toilet

Any toilet for a summer residence is installed in a small cabin-house. With your own hands, the easiest way is to make a rectangular structure with a shed roof: a minimum of time, cost and materials.

First of all, you need to take care of the presence of the floor. It needs to be raised some distance above the ground. It is more convenient to do this with the help of columns folded in the corners of the building. It is hardly worth burying them to the depth of freezing of the soil, but it is necessary to bury them in the soil 20-30 cm below the fertile layer. They are usually built from bricks, rubble stone, they can be poured from concrete, etc. On this basis, during heaving, the booth will rise, but usually this does not lead to any serious damage: the structure is small.

• The flooring is laid on the prepared posts. It is usually wooden. It is desirable to smear wood with protective impregnations: the environment is aggressive, and even the impact of climatic factors.
• Install vertical racks from a bar of 100 * 100 mm or a larger section. The height is chosen depending on the height of the “visitors”, but is rarely below 2,2 m. The front pillars are made a few centimeters (10-15 cm) longer – to ensure the slope of the roof. They are attached to the podium with metal plates or support bars. Previously, they used mainly long nails, now more and more often – self-tapping screws.
• The upper part is tied around the perimeter with the same beam.
  

• From a bar of the same section or lesser thickness (50 * 100 mm), a doorway is made out. Its width depends on the width of the existing door.
• If the winds are strong in the region, you can install additional braces – inclined beams between the vertical ones.
• They sheathe the frame.
• They make a continuous crate on the roof – the boards are nailed close or they put a piece of plywood, fiberboard, GVL.
• Lay and fix roofing material.
• Hanging doors.

As it turned out, it’s not so difficult to build a toilet for a summer residence with your own hands. Little time and cost is required. But in the process you will gain useful skills.