In addition to being free, these methods are far more sustainable, provide usable compost, and don’t require massive quantities of water. The sawdust toilet does require a special compost pile for the turds to cook. I’m also pretty sure few government agencies officially condone these little methods or handling human waste so before trying this yourself be sure to check your local laws.

To learn more about sawdust toilets and gray water soil boxes get the Humanure Handbook. You can also read The Humanure Handbook online free but this is one book you might want a hard copy of in your library. It makes great toilet reading too… (pun intended). Photo credit to Jenkins Publishing.

1. It looks really cute without too much extra effort.
2. I should be stronger since the left wall stays short (about 4 feet).
3. Not much usable headroom is lost since a bench/bed will be along the short wall.
4. The loft will be a bit narrower but still 6 feet in depth.

My plan is to mock it up for real on my next work weekend to the farm. The weekends have still been a bit wet and I’ve not found time, but I suspect I’ll get a couple days in a row to get up there and get a start on this. If it seems like it’s not going to work I’ll go back to a more conventional pitched roof. Let me know what you think. Here’s the video:

Don’t worry the correct initial response is “WHAT IS HUMANURE!!!”. But after a little investigation I believe you might be overcome by the the idea… no no not the smell. You see there is an ebook you can download right now (yes for free) that explains exactly how to build yourself a $25 sawdust toilet.

The book is by a very funny guy by the name of Joseph Jenkins. I actually have never spoken to him but I have to say his book, The Humanure Handbook is actually a pretty funny read filled with great cartoons so I have to assume the guy behind it has a good sense of humor. I mean… what guy that writes poo books wouldn’t be funny… but I digress.

I haven’t told my wife yet but I think I may want to consider this for the tiny free house. I bet I can even build one of these little jobs for free. I mean its just a 5 gallon bucket, a wood box, a toilet seat, sawdust, and some poo right? There’s always a free toilet on craigslist but the idea of having a free composting toilet that is also great for the environment just seems like a great win-win (and you get to keep the poo!)

Well at least it’s worth some serious investigation as long as I wash my hands with warm soapy water right? Photo credit to Joseph Jenkins and Tom Griffin.

What do you think?

Update: Thanks Dave for the quick feedback. You’re right I did put the horizontal weakness back in. Here is an updated plan. If you look closely you’ll see I staggered the joints in the walls. This should be fairly easy to do by just cutting a few pallets in half.

Update: Added the wheel wells in the elevation plan. Also drew a dotted line showing where the siding might be cut around the wheels.

A few people have suggested that I just use the pallets without breaking them down. I discarded the idea at first because I didn’t think the house would be strong enough and that the pallets wouldn’t fit the trailer I’m using.

Then as I started to draw the pictures you see below and you’ll see how wrong I was. For the structure I’m going to try using the pallets and simply cut away the parts I don’t need. I can also add more screws and bolts to strengthen the pallets as I go. Plywood sheeting would also strengthen the whole thing.

The drawing is a bit complex so I’m going to show it to you one piece at a time. I started by drawing the outline of the trailer and the width and maximum height the house would have to fit into.

Then I added the floors. Notice that the pallets in the plan view on the trailer have been cut to match the trailer width, length, and wheel wells. Not pictured is the framing that would enclose the wheel wells.

Then I added the walls and cut the pallets off where the roof line would be. I may decide to stagger the pallets but that would require more cutting. I may just try it like it’s drawn here and see how strong it is after being bolted together.

Then I add the roof. Today I’m thinking a weird pitch like this might work better than a normal pitch due to the size of the pallets and added loft head room benefits. But I may go back to a pitched roof as I build if I can find a good way to do it.

Then I pop in the windows and door by cutting out holes and inserting window and door bucks.

Here’s the final drawing.

The entire thing would then get some kind of interior and exterior sheeting. I’m still considering using the lap jointed pallet boards I’ve made. I like they way they look. What do you think?

Anyway there are a lot of other benefits with simple framing being the first. I’ll have no complicated hips or valleys to frame and I think the house will still be pretty cute. Dormers would add a lot so I may decided to add them later but for now I’ll just plan on sticking to the simple single 12:12 pitch. I’ll need a few more longer 2x4s, there are over-sized pallets out there, I just need to find them. Here’s a drawing of what I think the front of the house will look like with this roof pitch.

I’m also still noodling through roof pitch alternatives. I like the idea of a simple symmetrical pitched roof because they look cute. But I’m not really happy with the limited headroom in the loft. I’ll do a couple quick drawings to explore other options. One reader suggested a flat sod roof and as much as I like the idea for house on a permanent foundation I’m afraid a tiny house that rolls down the highway from time to time might have a bit of trouble with a planted roof. Can you imagine being the guy behind me? ha ha