If all construction contractors were like John Sylvestre, it would be a whole lot harder for portable restroom operators to make a living at building sites. When Sylvestre needed a temporary bathroom solution during a remodeling project at his lakeside Wisconsin cottage, he didn’t place a call to his local pumper … No, he went old-school sanitation and built his own outhouse.
But this wasn’t just any simple one-holer in the woods. Sylvestre used his design and building skills to erect an outhouse for the ages — an elegant structure that won a regional architecture award … and the admiration of many male friends who continue to use his primitive facilities even though there are three newly remodeled bathrooms at his retreat.
BACKWOODS SANITATION
From the regal throne, outhouse visitors peer out of nine windows and see a beautiful wooded vista and the small lake near Danbury in northwestern Wisconsin. If they get bored with the view, Sylvestre provides reading material, everything from the Sears & Roebuck catalog to a prized Principles of Accounting textbook to the topical What’s Your Poo Telling You?
It’s a practical backwoods sanitation system and a “sculpture in the woods’’ — as Sylvestre calls it — all at the same time.
“I bought the cabin and it needed a lot of work,’’ says Sylvestre, who runs a home-remodeling business in Minneapolis. “Part of the fun of having a cabin is doing things completely different than you would in your normal life, and an outhouse is one of those things. People have an idea about outhouses as nasty, snaky, bug-infested and stinky little holes with no light. But they don’t have to be that way.’’
So Sylvestre set out to change the negative perceptions people have about outhouses just like a pumper changes negative perceptions about portable restrooms … one satisfied user at a time.
Following outhouse construction guidelines from the University of Minnesota Extension Service, Sylvestre plotted the inner workings of this self-contained bathroom and mini-septic system. Like a portable restroom manufacturer, he employed effective venting designs to limit odor and made interior surfaces non-porous to improve sanitary conditions. Like an onsite system installer, he made sure his soil conditions promoted proper drainage and sited the pit a proper distance from the well, groundwater table, the lake and his cabin.
OUTHOUSE ONSITE RULES
The siting standards call for the bottom of the pit to be at least 3 feet above the water table, at least 100 feet from a domestic water supply or the lake and provide at least 50 cubic feet of capacity. If those standards can’t be met, the guidelines require a holding tank and occasional pumping.
Sylvestre used a mini-excavator to dig the pit 3 by 4 feet, and 5 feet deep. To prevent erosion in the sandy soil, he built walls from 2-by-6 treated lumber and left soil at the bottom for drainage.
The guidelines call for ventilation through screened holes on the exterior walls on both sides of the seat board, as well as topside vents along the roof lines to let gases escape, just like the vents built into portable restrooms. Also like portable restrooms, the guidelines call for a vent pipe extending from below the seat board to above the roofline. He ran interior vents around all four walls and added additional ventilation through windows that open. Dual vent stacks were placed on either side of the seat, using PVC pipe to extend below the seat and decorative copper pipe extending through the roof.
To protect the outhouse structure from splashing, Sylvestre added a stainless steel shield that extends into the tank from below the seat. Also following guidelines, the seat and lid lay flat on the seat board to minimize odors coming in from the pit when the outhouse isn’t being used.
Once all construction guidelines were met, Sylvestre added several elements to give the outhouse an architectural flair, including a seamless copper roof, a glass door, pine interior paneling and a whimsical paint scheme with green cedar clapboards and siding, red window frames and a yellow door and frame.
A framed sign, an outhouse-warming present from Sylvestre’s daughter, adds a finishing touch. It reads: “In this house so cute and small, we don’t have to flush at all.”
IT’S A MAN THING
It all makes for a pleasant bathroom experience … at least for the men. Sylvestre says the outhouse makes going to the bathroom a great adventure in nature, but it’s an adventure his wife and female visitors never go on.
“It sure is much more pleasant that sitting on a cold porcelain stool in a windowless room. When we’re up there, none of the boys go in the indoor bathrooms,’’ Sylvestre says. “Women have a different take on this than men do. It’s not as fun for women for some reason.’’
