When designing an off-grid home, one of the more awkward things to consider is how you're going to tackle the toilet problem.
Without access to a municipal sewage connection, you might have to get a little old school when figuring out how your "business" will be dealt with.
That's exactly what one Redditor did, creating a composting toilet using plans devised by the United States Forest Service.
The original poster noted that the build took them seven months to complete, with the structure needing a little more sturdiness to deal with typically high winds in the area where they live. It covers an area of eight feet by eight feet, which is more than enough for a comfortable, private space.
"This is a moldering privy so everything is above ground level and open to atmosphere," they detailed. "That way it stays aerobic. The crib below the shed is open and has hardware cloth and bug screening to address rodents and insects."
If you're willing to brave Mother Nature when nature calls, an outhouse is a smart solution for tiny home living. A toilet room typically isn't used a lot during the day, so keeping that separate from the main structure maximizes the living space. When you don't have a lot of square footage, every inch counts.
But that's what plenty love about off-grid living. That minimal floor space means you only keep the items you really need, requiring the homeowner to embrace minimalism. This makes cleaning a lot easier, and it also helps to clear the mind, reducing stress and increasing clarity of thought.
Also, with storage space at a premium, you're discouraged from buying things, which saves money and ends a cycle of consumerism that typically ends with items heading to polluting landfills.
As this Redditor knows all too well, being disconnected from typical utility services also means no access to the energy grid — which might be the intention, as it still heavily relies on dirty fuels to create electricity. Off-gridders will likely have renewable energy technology such as solar panels or a wind turbine to generate clean, free power.
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Totally 💯 Commenters were impressed with the build quality, with one saying, "You have made an outhouse into an outhome."
"Awesome outhouse, you got there!" another added.
"OP built a luxury toilet in the boonies," a third said. "Amazing!"
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