April, come she will

Okay – who remembers that Simon & Garfunkel song! But April has come and gone,as well as warm weather and a lot of rain and mud. It has been a busy month and I want to catch up - what better time than mud season to build an outhouse, deliver sheets of material (thank you Steve and Vanessa!), and clad the interior with siding (thank you Larry!).

The cabin has survived nicely. The footings have cracked through frost heave, but the cabin itself is standing firm – everything is as level as when I first built the place (I think). I have a company that will dig deeper and better post holes for me, but I am still on the fence as to whether or not I will do it. If you have had any experience with this, I would love to hear your opinion.

First I decided to build the outhouse – this one closer to the cabin so guests don’t have to go as far as they did. Like the first one; this is a Moldering Privy with plans from the Appalachian Trail Conference. http://atfiles.org/files/pdf/atcsanitation.pdf .

The 6 by 6 laid in and tied together with rebar, hence the sledge hammer.

Screened in with both hardware cloth (AKA ¼ “ chicken wire) and window screen so no bugs, varmints, or snakes can enter.

Framed out with 2 by 3’s. We will see how long they last!

Covered with the extra T-111 plywood from the cabin.

Roofed over with ¾” flooring OSB and roofing paper, also left over from the cabin build.

Treads laid in. The interior and the door have yet to be installed.

I’m glad I built this before all the bushes bud out. I’m hopeful that as they do the surroundings will hide the outhouse more. For the first outhouse, I used a privy shelter.

This has been up year round for two winters and is standing up to the elements just fine. I am hoping that that the wooden structure will be more spacious and comfortable – it took a lot longer to build!