An Outhouse DIY

 "How to build a Privy", that was one of my google searches when researching how to make certain important improvements to the farm before our first students arrive in less than a month! I paid a couple guys to dig the holes. Each one is about 10 feet deep! That should last us a long time. What I found online is that every outhouse is different. 

I was able to buy concrete platforms for the outhouses and a cement stool, but the holes were dug before I bought the bases, so the hole was too wide. Thankfully, we have some very hard wood on the property that is resistant to termites and to wood rot that we could use for a base underneath our base!

 Nick and Jesse came to help me get our first couple done. It was the first outhouse any of us have built.

 After setting and leveling our crossbeams we laid down boards.

After leaving room for the seat we laid down the platform, affixed the seat and presto!

 Ok, so there's not much too it. We will eventually build wooden wall, a roof, and a vent pipe. There are only 3 more holes to cover. Right now, our guard's family wrapped tarp around theirs with no roof yet. This is strategic in that during the rainy season it is a self-cleaning bathroom! Most outhouses we come across just use tarp for walls.

{T, Y and their sweet family... love them!)

 I also had the concrete guys deliver several pilas. It is a concrete sink that holds water in the middle and each side is shallow with a drain. On one side you wash clothes and on the other you wash dishes while drawing water out of the middle. Even in most of the developed areas of Guatemala water is only available for a couple of hours, so the tap is always left open so that the center area fills and holds water like a cistern. A Pila is a fixture found in every Guatemalan home.