Tiny Free House

Initially when I conceived the original requirements for my tiny free house I was thinking I’d build it as a ‘park model’ house which simply means it would have a normal flush toilet, water and electric hookups. Then someone posted a comment on my tiny pallet house blog suggesting I look into humanure.

Don’t worry the correct initial response is “WTF 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.

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Not long after I got started down this path, Steven Kurutz, a reporter from the New York Times contacted me about this project. We talked a few times on the phone and they sent out a couple photographers to take pictures of me working in the tiny free house. The article is in the paper today!

Photo credit New York Times

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Just a quick lesson in pallet quality. Julia spotted four pallets today while we were running errands. We swung around, asked if we could have them, tossed them in the back of the truck, and were off. When I unloaded them I noticed one of them wasn’t so good. The 2×4s were a bit too worn and there were lots of stains. I’ll probably take this one apart and see if any of the slats are usable. I think the 2×4 might be toast but once I get the slats off I’ll know for sure. Mostly I’m looking for rot or serious damage. The wood is definitely hardwood and the pallet is very heavy. Here’s the ‘bad’ pallet:

Below is an example of a very usable pallet from the same load. It’s a standard 40′ by 48′ pallet, sturdy, unstained, not too weathered, and fairly light weight. I suspect the wood is fir. This is the kind of pallet that makes building easy. Soft wood is much easier to work with and when the pallets are in good condition and a standard size they need very little preparation before they can become part of a wall, floor, or roof.

I’ll just screw 2×4s onto the open ends of this one and it will be good to go. I plan to do a lot of this kind of work this week so I can arrive at the farm the next time with a full load of prepared pallets. It will make the construction go much faster.

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