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Rickant
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2018 06:22
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When w took over the property in the fall we noticed that the outhouse was getting pretty full. So what do you normally do? Move the outhouse and dig a new hole or do you clean out the old hole (yuck).
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2018 07:15
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Quoting: Rickant Move the outhouse and dig a new hole
At least 20' from the old one. You can use the beginning dirt to cover the old one and plant a tree on it.
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KelVarnsen
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2018 08:29
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Quoting: Rickant clean out the old hole (yuck)
When I bought my cabin 3 years ago I asked the previous owner, who had the property for 50 years, how often they had moved the outhouse. Their answer was, surprisingly, never. It turns out there was a local septic company that would come and pump out the outhouse. Supposedly, the owners would pump a bunch of water into the hole just before pumping.
The hole was pretty full when I took possession of the cottage so I called to have it pumped. There was some confusion and they didn't give me a date so I wasn't able to fill it with water before the pumping. I was very disappointed with the results. I had no idea how deep the hole was and when they pumped it out it was only about 2 feet deep and it cost me $200.
I think that the hole was a lot deep previously, but the pumping isn't 100% efficient so the hole was probably getting shallower with each passing year. Most of my cabin lot is located pretty much on top of a chunk of Canadian Shield granite so it would've taken a lot of work to find a new location for the hole. Also I had other higher priority projects so I did the unthinkable. Put on some coveralls and rubber boots jumped in the existing hole and started digging. It was pretty disgusting and I wouldn't have done it if the hole hadn't just been pumped out of all the liquid and recent waste. It was almost a peat like composition but still wasn't very pleasant. I dug it down an additional 3 feet or so. Apparently the previous owners also used to throw some occasional garbage in there.
Anyhow, I figured that I've bough myself a few years before I have to deal with that project now. I've also now installed a Separett but would still like to keep an outhouse. I just thought I'd tell my little story to let you know that pumping might be an option and to share the misery of the experience.
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2018 09:19
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Luckily I lost my sense of smell a few years ago, so Kel and I are still friends despite the above story.
My last cottage I just dug a new one and moved the outhouse. Took a day of digging, and a day to move/repair the rot on the bottom, but I'm sure it has many years to go. Of course I sold that place shortly after so not a good choice on my part.
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Rickant
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2018 09:28
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How deep do you need to go ?
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beachman
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2018 09:30
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The last time I dug out the hole was about 20 years ago. As I recall, the hole was about 4 or 5 ft deep and the first 6 inches was pretty fresh, but after that, just compost and little if any smell. I now have to do this again and plan to do so early this spring before any heavy use (hopefully). We also have a Sunmar 2000 NE compost toilet at our main camp which works great, so the OH gets less use but is nice to have for the old camp.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 7 Jan 2018 09:48
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I bought a brand new Satellite Industries Tufway 150 and its a sealed plastic holding tank. Simple, and cheap if you consider all the hardware cost to build a compliant privy. Mine has the white roof, keeps it lit, fly tight, vent stack, nice locking door with occupied notice, urinal coat hook, toilet paper dispenser and spring loaded door to keep it closed. I have mine mounted on 8X8 treated timbers and added a nice little porch.
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