Toilet in shop

[bobj49f2]

I have insulated and heated the pole building that came with the house. I am going to use it for my business which means I'll occasionally have customers in the shop, sometimes for an entire day or two when they are testing out the projects I build. I am sure at times they will need to use the facilities. The shop is about 30 feet from the back door of my attached garage. There is a half bath on the bottom floor of the house and in order for someone to use it they would have to go through my garage, through an entrance hall then through the kitchen and then finally down a short hallway. Not really all that much of a trip but it's still not something most strangers would want to do, to use someone else's toilet in their house.

What alternatives are out there? I can't conveniently connect to the house's septic system, there's a garden pond and other landscaping in the way. Anyone use a chemical toilet or one of those incinerator type or something else?

 

[denis4x4]

Check out composting toilets. They’re about $2000, but worth every every cent. No hook ups, and easy to install.

 

[dcg9381]

For now, we've got a chemical toilet on site at the shop. It's serviced 2x month, relatively low use. Cost down here is about $130/mo.

 

[fitter30]

Theres toilets with a pump heres one brand
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009R95NIE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[OccupantRJ]

Liberty waste pump system. I have one on my shop. It pumps through a 2” line, uphill if need be to your existing septic tank or main drain line. Mine has a trouble indicator alarm that mounts on the wall in the bath to indicate a fault situation. The unit solved several issues for me. I cut a hole through the concrete floor and then tunneled from outside to do the pipe install. One pic is of partial install with drain around corner coming from a laundry sink in the shop. Other long line is the output going 90 feet to septic tank. Frost line is only 12” here. Data tag of mine in picture. I love it. One possible supplier in link.
https://www.sumppumpsdirect.com/Lib...MI7PCs6pn-5QIVD5SzCh11cgllEAQYAyABEgIma_D_BwE

 

[bobj49f2]

When I first started my company I started on a shoe string budget, $2000. I rented a building from a person I knew for $300/month. It was an old feed mill with only running water in another room which ran brown. I had a portable toilet service drop off and service a unit outside, behind the building. That worked fine until winter came. Not very pleasant sitting in below 0 temps. I remember one customer being in the shop one day testing out his project when he needed to relieve himself. He looked around my shop and asked where the facilities were. I told him outside behind the building. He left and came back in a few minutes later, all he said was, "Uh, you don't pay much for this place, do you?".

My situation isn't nearly as bad as that. I just don't think people will enjoy going through my private residence to use the toilet and I don't really want people going through my house either. My business is the type that most of the time I don't have anyone but myself in the shop but occasionally I will have someone here for a number of hours. I'm in a somewhat residential/agricultural area. It's not like someone can take a drive down the block to use a gas stations restroom if they didn't feel comfortable using mine.

I like the toilet with a pump, I might be able to use something like that.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I have tried many options for a shop restroom in the past, and the pump system was the ticket to taking the pressure off, pun intended. I had a helper dig the hole and long trenches, and we had it in operation that day. Partial pic during install. Frost line is 12” here.

 

[bobj49f2]

I like the Liberty unit. I'll have to measure the distance from my shop to the septic system. I am assuming I can run the waste into the primary tank. Their website says the drain can run 150' horizontally through a 1" discharge pipe.

This is the lay of my property. I also have to find out the frost line in my area. I think it's a little deeper than 12" here.

View media item 98516

 

[Stuart in MN]

Personally, I'd rather walk to the house than have to use a chemical toilet...how you describe your existing situation doesn't sound all that bad to me.

 

[bobj49f2]

Personally, I'd rather walk to the house than have to use a chemical toilet...how you describe your existing situation doesn't sound all that bad to me.

Yeah, I agree but I just wanted to see if there were alternatives. I also tend to get pretty grimy while working out in the shop and my wife isn't a big fan of me waltzing through the house in dirty clothes. I also tend to wait until I can't any longer before taking a break from a project especially if I just need to add one more wire or weld another six inches. By then my situation turns into a small emergency and it would be nice not to have to run across the yard in a rush to find the facilities in use. Like some mention I do have a wooded area to the east of the shop but during the fall and winter there is visibility to the neighbors' houses

 

[doctordirt]

Toilets need water as well, did not here mention of running water line from the house. Maybe easier to run one trench for water and pipe from liberty pump. In mid Michigan most places frost level is 42 inches.

 

[larry4406]

I like the Liberty unit. I'll have to measure the distance from my shop to the septic system. I am assuming I can run the waste into the primary tank. Their website says the drain can run 150' horizontally through a 1" discharge pipe.

This is the lay of my property. I also have to find out the frost line in my area. I think it's a little deeper than 12" here.

View media item 98516

I'm no septic expert but I did manage the installation of a pumped system similar to the liberty trying into an existing septic system.

We had to cut the inlet to the septic primary tank, install a 4" wye, and extend the 4" piping nearly 15' and then connect the force main (ours was 2" from an E-One pump system). The purpose of this was to create a stilling zone where the force main could depressurize and start gravity flow so as to not create swirl in the septic tank and cause issues with solids settling and creating subsequent solids carryover to the field. This all per the health department permit.

 

[Falcon67]

Hadn't thought about the pump - decent idea for sure. Would work for us here since it's a tad uphill to the main house drain, about 50~60' run I'd think. My wife has panic attacks about "retirement" (yea, right) and not making the house payment, then moving into to shop. Since the shop and lot under it is fully paid for.

 

[sberry]

Having a laundry sink and a place to go makes it soooo much easier. Its worth what it takes. I don't need a shower, have some cover cloths for grimy work but a stool and a urinal is worth it.

 

[OccupantRJ]

My pump system has paid for itself for sure, especially with friends visiting at the shop for a bit. It keeps the activity away from the house so as not to impose on my wife’s privacy.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I snapped a picture of my sewage pump alarm that is mounted on the wall of the toilet room. It is powered by 120 volts and has a low voltage circuit run to the pump unit to alert for issues of possible pumping failure. The pump unit has an easily removeable float switch tree for servicing without removing the whole top of the reservoir. I can just hear my unit fire up and run from inside the room due to a slight piping hum while it is running.

 

[Innovate1]

Here I am considering just a sink and need to check if I can use a drywell for that. I also have a condensing furnace drain and running the condensate line into a drywell would eliminate issues with that in freezing weather. Would be nice to have a toilet and it's downhill to the septic but the sewer line would cross a water line and that is frowned on but may be ok if it is done with certain details like sewer below water, just cross and not parallel, etc.

I recently stayed at an airbnb cabin that had a composting toilet. It worked but not nearly as nice as a regular toilet. And it has to be emptied.

 

[NUTTSGT]

You could put in a holding tank but that would need to be ocassionaly pumped.

 

[mike93lx]

You could put in a holding tank but that would need to be ocassionaly pumped.

A 1000 gallon holding tank would probably last a year with infrequent use and around here, costs around $200 to pump out.

 

[rustyshakelford]

On the liberty pump does it have a holding tank and when it gets full the pump starts or does the bathroom piping just run to the pump and it’s on demand? This might work for me as we don’t have much elevation gain but the there is some and it’s about s 220’ run to our homes septic system.

Brett

 

[OccupantRJ]

It has a 41 gallon holding tank. Look at the link I provided in an earlier post in this thread.