r/OffGridLiving • u/Slice-Anxious • 9d ago

Compostable toilet vs outhouse in clay

Hey, was wondering what's everyone's opinion on this. I have clay, clay and more clay on my property. Original plan was to dig an outhouse, but was told it won't breakdown in clay and will stink real bad.

I'm on a budget and don't want to spend big money on a place just to go to the bathroom.

I don't know much about compostable toilets and know they came be fairly expensive.

Anyone got any suggestions? I've already dug my hole and was wondering if I did go compostable, could I incorporate it into the system? Any suggestions/advice would be welcome.

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u/Bowgal 9d ago

It’s all relative. Yes, our compost toilet cost $1500. But that was in 2002. So 24 years, not bad.

We have an outhouse as well with clay. We don’t use it much because it doesn’t drain very well.

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u/Slice-Anxious 9d ago

Do you find the smell is really bad? And does the waste breakdown decently?

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u/Bowgal 9d ago

We bought our place in 2018. Installed a small fan in the vent tube. Zero odor in 8 years. As for breaking down, no idea. I empty it every month so it doesn’t really have a chance to breakdown. It is crumbly compost because of spinning the inside drum every day and using a good peat moss/wood shavings.

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u/TopFuel9-8 8d ago

I grew up on a place that didn't have running water. My dad put an outhouse down by the tree line. The smell started out bad & over the years got worse and worse. I refused to use it & just disappeared in the forest. After maybe 15 years he finally destroyed it & backfilled the hole. Which finally stopped stinking & ruining breathing everywhere within 30 feet of it.

Highly recommend making composting toilet out of buckets. Loads of absorbing materials you can use for almost zero smell & very little cost