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I had been told that 'new' outhouses were illegal. But last summer one of our neighbors put in a new outhouse, fully up-to-code and inspected. The permit and inspection was $300.
Now Sub, do tell --
I'd heard the same thing. What 'code' applies here? Who inspects these things? Surely not Code Enforcement? Who issued the permit, and who was the fee paid to? This would be interesting...!!
Applied to LUPC, hired a septic engineer to evaluate the site, and paid a health inspector from another town to inspect it. A couple weeks after he showed me his new outhouse, I was at a Shrine dinner seated next to a Bangor Health Inspector so I asked him about it. He said that he approves maybe a dozen each year.
Applied to LUPC, hired a septic engineer to evaluate the site, and paid a health inspector from another town to inspect it. A couple weeks after he showed me his new outhouse, I was at a Shrine dinner seated next to a Bangor Health Inspector so I asked him about it. He said that he approves maybe a dozen each year.
Then I guess I have an uninspected, unapproved one!
I'd heard the same thing. What 'code' applies here? Who inspects these things? Surely not Code Enforcement? Who issued the permit, and who was the fee paid to? This would be interesting...!!
I would think if you run your outhouse into a legal septic system, it would be legal. The Amish around here do that.
I would think if you run your outhouse into a legal septic system, it would be legal. The Amish around here do that.
Diagram a pit latrine. Now diagram a septic system. Isn't it amazing how they're the same diagram?
A septic system spreads contaminated water evenly over a large area, while a pit latrine spreads the same amount unevenly over a smaller area. If the water was actually pathogenic, which do you think would be the preferable method? [Hint: the pit latrine] As usual, regs are a boondoggle meant to enrich the good lobbyists, their clients and usually the regulators too.
The neighbor with the new outhouse dug a 'pit' 2 foot deep. The septic engineer found that at 3 foot deep in that spot there is a water-bearing gravel vein. So the plans specified the pit could only be 2 foot deep. That is what the health inspector looked for.
Otherwise there is no requirement for any kind of septic tank or leech field.
Where I am it's about 500 feet to the water table! So worries about any contamination there.
Out my way it's a case of composting toilets are the way forward. You also don't need to pay $$$$ for a truck to come all the way out to suck it all out either. Composting toilets are the natural solution for the homesteader in the wilderness.
My wife & I want a 450-500Sf home but our research as showed us that building one is very expensive as opposed to one already built for you. Getting permits, getting it inspected all that adds up VERY quickly & can cost you more then you expect when all is said & done.
Where I am it's about 500 feet to the water table! So worries about any contamination there.
I am not sure if you can really draw any conclusions about depth of water-table and susceptibility to contamination.
If you were in a small valley with a 5,000 pig farm, sharing the same aquifer, then eventually their nitrates will reach it and show up in your well water. It may have to perc down through a dozen aquifers before it reaches yours, but eventually it will.
If you are out in the flat open, the water in your aquifer is coming from somewhere. You state hydro-whatever engineer could tell you about the flow and what direction you water comes from. That might be an interesting conversation. See who is upstream, and if there are any major polluters upstream of you.
There are natural contaminants that can happen everywhere. A vein of lead, mercury, arsenic, etc.
Plus now as more frakking is being done, they open cracks down deep so whatever can seep into aquifers. Leading to really ugly contaminates into well water.
Where I live there is a 200-mile pipeline cutting across my land. Put in by the Air Force in the 1950s for pumping jet fuel to a SAC base. Along it's path are a series of pumping stations. Each of those pumping stations leaked and contaminated the aquifers. One pumping station site in located in my township. It is downstream of us, but that put diesel and heavy detergents into the aquifer for farms in that area.
Quote:
... Out my way it's a case of composting toilets are the way forward. You also don't need to pay $$$$ for a truck to come all the way out to suck it all out either. Composting toilets are the natural solution for the homesteader in the wilderness.
A good septic system only needs to be pumped because people put stuff in it that can not break down. For example, brand name laundry detergents have 'fillers' [sand] which settles in the bottom of the septic tank. Be careful of what you put in your system and avoid additives. A septic system should be fine for 50 years.
But in our modern era, people do not pay attention. So they do clog their leech lines. With residential plots often 100 foot by 50 foot, each with a well and a septic system that places leechfields within 100 foot of each other. When one clogs it makes a mess for neighbors too. So municipalities have been making laws requiring all systems to be pumped every 3 years, to prevent stupid people from messing with their neighbors.
Don't blame the septic systems.
I like composting toilets. I know a number of people who use night-soil. I also have neighbors who have outhouses.
At my Grange hall we have a three-seat outhouse type facility inside the back of the building, still there from before plumbing was added in the 1950s. It is a bench seat with three holes cut in it, each hole has a hinged cover. There are no stalls or partitions. It is 'unisex' back then [1850s - 1950s] people happily sat next to each other to use the facility.
At my Grange hall we have a three-seat outhouse type facility inside the back of the building, still there from before plumbing was added in the 1950s. It is a bench seat with three holes cut in it, each hole has a hinged cover. There are no stalls or partitions. It is 'unisex' back then [1850s - 1950s] people happily sat next to each other to use the facility.
This is too funny. Today, everybody is up in arms about 'trans' people using bathrooms. Back in the day, you were one or the other, and were just in there to 'take care of business'!
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