Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
No Matter How Tough or Skilled We Think We Are, When We Gotta Go… We Gotta Go
There are a lot of things in life that we take for granted, but there’s one in particular that we rarely think about. It’s the ease and convenience of a bathroom for a biological function that can occur several times a day and has the potential to be a bit messy. A simple flush and quick wash of the hands makes it so easy.
But in a time of crisis—whether natural or manmade—things like electricity, basic plumbing, and running water might not exist anymore. And the convenience of bathrooms and toilets would become a fond memory.
Your biggest consideration is the amount of time you estimate you’ll be without a toilet. Most natural disasters have relatively short durations from two weeks up to three months. One exception is Puerto Rico where many resources are still limited or non-existent more than a year after Hurricane Maria.
Man-made disasters from financial collapse to all-out war can last for years and years. In case that happens, or in case a natural disaster becomes truly catastrophic, you need to think long-term about basic sanitation and waste disposal.
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Even without electricity or running water, you can still get a toilet to flush. All you need to do is fill the tank with 2 to 3 gallons of water from any water source and flush away. The water doesn’t need to be purified when you consider what you’re adding to it before you flush.
But when water is scarce in your area, the toilet concept needs to be re-invented. It’s also possible that your toilet drain is stopped up or plugged, so alternatives are your only solution.
Toilet Options
There are ways to construct or assemble a working toilet, but you need to understand a few concepts and keep some key ideas in mind. Here’s a list of basic alternative toilet types and things you’ll need to consider. We’ll go into detail on all of these later.
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- A toilet seat on a 5-gallon plastic bucket
- An old-fashioned outhouse
- Improvised toilet location
- Disposal of waste
- Toilet paper and options
- Hand sanitation options
This toilet alternative is simplicity in itself. It’s a toilet seat on top of a 5-gallon bucket, but there’s a secret. You need to attach the toilet seat and the lid to the bucket so you can not only lift the seat but the cover as well.
For this reason, you’ll need to attach a support bracket to the back of the bucket. The reason you need to be able to lift both is so that you can easily insert a plastic bag to collect waste or fill the bucket with water which is then dumped.
Improvised Toilet 101
Materials Needed:
- 1 2×6 about 4 feet long (You’ll later cut this to a smaller size.)
- 5 wood screws about 1 1/2-inches long
- 5 large washers about 1-inch in diameter
- Furring strip about 1/4-inch thickness and 3 to 4 feet long (You’ll also cut this to size later)
- 5-gallon plastic bucket
- Toilet seat (If you have a toilet that’s not working you can salvage the seat and use it for your improvised toilet)
Tools Needed:
- Drill with screwdriver bit for screws
- Drill bit to drill pilot holes into wood
- Circular saw
- Jigsaw
- Pencil or permanent marker
- Measuring tape
- Extension cord
Directions:
- Lay the 2×6 flat on the ground and place the toilet seat hinges on the board. Make sure you have room to drill pilot holes for the toilet seat bolts plus enough room to cut a crescent in the board to attach it to the bucket. Mark the holes for the seat bolts lightly with a pencil. You’ll finalize the hole positions later in the assembly. This step is just to make sure you aren’t cutting the crescent too deep. Invert the bucket over the board and mark the crescent.
- Using the jigsaw, cut the wood on the crescent line.
- Using the circular saw, cut the large piece of wood on the lines 4 inches from the hinge holes lightly marked with the pencil.
- Place the curved piece of wood against the side of the bucket under the top ridge and mark 5 holes inside the bucket where the wood piece meets.
- Drill 5 pilot holes through the bucket where you’ve marked.
- Hold the piece of wood against the bucket and drill a screw with a washer into the wood through one of the pilot holes.
- Lay the bucket on its side and drill the screws with washers into the remaining holes.
- Once the 2×6 support bracket is attached, place the seat over the bucket and make sure the bottom of the seat is positioned properly on the rim and over the bucket. Mark the holes for the toilet seat bolts on the 2×6 with a permanent marker or repeated circles with a pencil.
- Measure the distance from the top of the wood piece to the rim and use a furring strip the length of the 2×6 and about 1/4-inch thick to fill the gap so the seat sits properly when the bolts are attached. You’re doing this because there is a rim on the bucket that will cause the support 2×6 to be below the level of the top of the bucket.
- Cut the furring strip to the length of the support board and glue the furring strip to the support 2×6 in order to level the wood with the top of the bucket rim. Replace the seat on top and mark the holes where the hinges go on the top of the wood attachments. Make sure the seat is centered over the bucket while marking the 2×6.
- Drill the holes to accommodate the seat attachment screws.
- Attach the seat by placing the bolts into the drilled holes and tighten, lower the bolt covers and click into place and you’re literally ready to go.
Waste Disposal Options
- You can fill the 5-gallon bucket with 2.5 gallons of water. You can easily place this improvised toilet in an existing bathroom for privacy.
The water will help prevent the bowel movement from giving off noxious odors. You could also add a splash of chlorine bleach or a splash of vinegar to the water to inhibit odors and bacteria.
The best option for disposal is to dig a hole in the ground, dump the water and the contents into it, and cover it up with wood ash and dirt.
In the past, I would have recommended dumping waste into the sewer, but as a couple of readers pointed out, what people think of as “sewers” in a street curb are actually storm drains that lead to a body of water. If you dump toilet waste into a storm drain it will introduce infectious materials into that water. And if people are collecting that water for drinking during a disaster, you could create a public health crisis.
- Another quick and easy way to dispose of any waste in an improvised toilet is to insert a small kitchen garbage bag into the bucket.
When done, the bag is knotted and disposed of. This is a less messy solution than a bucket filled with water, but it does have a downside.
Related: What To Do With Waste After The SHTF
Chances are good that if electricity and water aren’t functioning, you may not have your regular garbage service. An alternative is to bury the plastic bags, assuming you can find a place to dig a hole. In the city that can be a challenge, especially if you’re living in a condo or apartment building.
An Old-fashioned Outhouse
If you live in a home in the city and have a backyard you have the outhouse option. This begins with a relatively large and deep hole dug in the ground and an outer shed built and moved over the hole. You’ll need some lumber, or you can improvise with a tent but support over the hole is necessary, so you can sit comfortably without falling in. There are directions on the Internet for construction, but if you believe your situation is going to be relatively short-term the tent approach may be best.
Improvised Toilet Location
There are some basic considerations for any toilet location. One is privacy. The other is odor. This is especially true if you’re only using a plastic bag in an improvised toilet. Water contains and dilutes the exposed areas of any waste product, but a plastic bag leaves those waste products exposed to the open air.
A logical location for an improvised toilet indoors is the bathroom. If the toilet won’t flush, a bathroom still provides privacy and a space that can at least contain odors if the door is closed. An open window can also serve to vent odors, or you can add a splash of bleach or vinegar to the plastic bag to inhibit the odors until the bag is knotted and sealed.
Other locations could include a garage or basement if you have one, or even a large, walk-in closet. If you have a backyard in the city, you could use a tarp as a privacy screen, and any odors will simply be carried away by the next breeze.
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Toilet Paper and Other Options
Toilet paper can quickly become a long-forgotten luxury. Even if you’ve stockpiled toilet paper, you may eventually run out. Here are some options that might consider:
- Paper tissues, napkins or paper towels, unless you are flushing down an existing toilet with added water.
- Old newspapers
- Old books with pages made with a rag content from pulp rather than glossy pages
- Telephone book pages
Just be warned that many of these will clog an ordinary toilet.
Related: 15 Ways To Wipe Your Butt When The Toilet Paper Is Gone
If you are in a long-term disaster, you may need to take your options further. This includes wandering the neighborhoods to locate stacks of large, green leaves. (Dried leaves are a bad idea. They tend to crumble, and the pieces will adhere to the skin.)
You could also consider long, dried grasses wadded into a bundle. Rags cut from old clothes could work as well, but they too will only last so long.
Hand Sanitation Options
We wash our hands every time we use a bathroom at home, and things should be no different after using an improvised toilet. Simple solutions include a bucket of water with soap nearby. The water in the bucket can be poured into a cupped hand and rinsed away. This can be done over a sink if it still drains, over the toilet bucket, or outdoors even onto a balcony surface. After all, it’s only soap and water.
Related: 27 Hygiene Products You’ll Need After The SHTF
A towel may be a luxury, but just shaking your hands off can get your hands reasonably dry. You could also use a spare T-shirt or flannel shirt as a towel replacement. The important thing is to remember to wash your hands.
Another option is a gallon jug filled with 1/3 vinegar and 2/3 water. Use the hand you didn’t use to wipe to lift the jug and pour into a cupped hand and rub both hands together. Vinegar is a powerful, natural disinfectant. You can do the same with a cup of bleach added to a gallon of water, but you’ll want to have some extra water on hand to rinse off the residual bleach.
Failing that, a good rinse with water should at least be done.
The bottom line is that an improvised toilet is driven by common sense and a fundamental human need. Prepping for anything requires a certain amount of thought and anticipation of events. Take some time to think about the realities of this situation and figure out how you’re going to handle this basic call of nature.
I would like to state that I did a lot of research on bactericides at the beginning of the current silliness. Vinegar is not listed by any authority as a bactericide. It will inhibit mold but that is far different from being a bactericide. One half cup of 6% sodium hypochlorite (Clorox) to a gallon of water is an effective bactericide. 60% or greater of isopropyl alcohol, 130 proof or greater of ethanol are both effective bactericides. Both isopropanol and ethanol are hydrophilic and thus lose potency when opened. Therefore it is important to use those compounds in greater than the minimum percentage necessary. 130 proof drinking alcohol (ethanol) is actually 65% ethanol and is an effective bactericide. Most hand sanitizers are 63% IPA (isopropanol) and are effective bactericides. Hydrogen peroxide is a good bactericide. There are others and if you are interested, an on-line search for household bactericides will reveal the others. Clorox and IPA, ethanol and hydrogen peroxide are those most commonly found in households.
I should add that many states do not sell ethanol over 100 proof. If that is the case in your state it may be necessary to make a run to a nearby state to stock up on high proof ethanol. Some states sell EverClear which is 190 proof. That makes it 95% ethanol. It will kill bacteria.
My suggestion for covering excrement is to use kitty litter as a covering agent. Lacking that, wood ash is also very good.
Re-reading my post, I should correct my initial statement. Industrial strength vinegar, 10% or stronger will act as a bactericide. The only problem with vinegar that strong is that it is caustic and requires very careful handling to avoid acid burns. You can purchase it from industrial supply houses but I would advise against it. It is less caustic than hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid but why risk a caustic burn in an emergency situation when medical care may limited or non-existent?
I would think you could put a trash bag in the regular toilet with kitty litter or sawdust and just take it out and replace for as long as the trash bags were available. Then go to a bucket you can take out and dump in a hole and cover up.
If you have obese family members you’ll want to add braces to the seat. A 5 gallon bucket can accordion under a 350# person.
For me, doing this sort of thing will be an interesting experience. Something that I have never done before.
Check out the humanure handbook , don’t remember author’s name.
A great book and I also do not remember author but probably can be found at Mother Earth magazine.
For years we have used a two part flush commode in campers and tents. The bottom part holds the waste and the top holds the flush water (gray water from washing dishes or showers). Just go then flush with the hand pump. Never had any problems with odor. Just open two snaps and take the waste tank with closed valve to any campground or service station cr outhouse, place the attached drain hose in the commode and pull the release valve. No need to rinse the waste tank until the end of the season.
I watch shows about homes in Alaska having outhouses. If somebody left the door open then you have to deal with a frosty seat or encountering a bear. Always wondered why they didn’t use one of these in the warm indoors. Momma might be a little warmer to a guy who could save her that cold, scary walk.
A tiny amount of kitty litter without water is what we do when camping with a plastic bag. Changed daily not so bad. We do also have air freshener.
One thing to remember if going the outhouse route is the depth of the hole needed. Check online for concise directions, but hole needs to be at least 6 feet deep. This is to prevent pinworms from making it to the surface. Just a thought.
After searching on the Web, I can’t find any credible evidence that pinworms travel through soil in the manner you suggest. They are a human parasitic infection that is transmitted person-to-person, or possibly via an environmental surface. Once a person ingests pinworm eggs, it takes 4 to 8 weeks for the worms to mature inside and symptoms may appear. Some people are asymptomatic, and they’re the dangerous ones, as they may not practice good sanitation are more likely to spread the parasite. According to the Wikipedia article, “Pinworm infection”, “… infection cannot be totally prevented under most circumstances.” Even worse, “household detergents have little effect on the viability of pinworm eggs, and cleaning the bathroom with a damp cloth moistened with an antibacterial agent or bleach will merely spread the still-viable eggs.” The eggs are so small that they easily become airborne.
Garlic is a super effective pinworm repellent. Also wormwood.
Raw cabbage works well!
TOILET TRAINING – Flushed With Success, All Cisterns GO: Reduce the amount of flush with bricks or a plastic sandbag in the cistern, or bend down the float arm. Don’t flush the loo when urinating, so put a notice near the toilet:
“If it’s yellow, let it mellow; If it’s brown flush it down.”
Usual country SEPTIC systems need pumping out only every few years, & effluent is garden-good.
In case of emergency, two 6-packs weekly we stock up massively on toilet roles (acquired about 100 so far), that are also cheaper than tissues. Use unbleached (beige shade) loo paper, the coloured variety won’t biodegrade & white paper reputedly contains dioxin in the process, as do most tissues etc presumably. Weathered carbon print newspaper or phonebook doubles as loo paper, such toilet paper as tissues. Many Muslims wash their hands before toileting. Reject chemical colouring in cistern – it has little if any disinfectant value. When going out, avoid visiting the loo till you all reach public rest rooms – saves your loo rolls, water & soap. I hoard a few excess tissues in my pocket.
Waste bath or shower water is an excellent toilet flush but why not purchase or make a Composting toilet to recycle waste & save the land & rivers by disconnecting from the effluent society. Such is the early Clivus Multrum waterless composting toilet or vastly cheaper recycled plastic units, all of which save about 1/3rd household water use. You may have to con councils for permission despite their possibly using several composters themselves (as does our council), even though the Health Dept certifies their usage.
Chemical toilet effluent with Elsan (if that was the name) can be composted, buried near fruit trees. Urinate on kitchen scraps before burying, or pour diluted urine (1:5 water = “Chairman Mao special”) on compost heaps, or best around fruit trees & bushes in moderation. I could be wrong, but I noticed that female urine was best fertilizer. Many commercial & company public urinals are now virtually the water-free type. Emergency toilet = trash bag taped inside home bowl.
Initially in 1985, we dug holes where intended to plant food trees, placed 2 planks across the hole to squat on, & use each as a loo 2 weeks before planting.
SHTF Toilets: Likewise our simple hole or trench in the ground never failed us for 33 years; plant a food tree when full, & dig another hole, like Aztecs, Mayans & Incas who often used old remains as valuable crops fertilizer. You can do likewise by waiting some months, then using a double-hinged shovel hole-digger, extract the rich muck out for fertilizer – hence reuse same hole. We have a veranda emergency bucket rather than go bush at night.
The 1 to 2 meter-deep hole or trench dug manually or by a powered borer – was topped by a cylinder upon which was mounted half a tyre that had been cut in two around its tread circumference – a comfortable toilet seat, the cover for which was a bit of fibreboard. Or place a commercial folding toilet from Camping goods stores safely over the hole. Such simple convenience is open to the elements but surrounded with sugar cane privacy, & was dug in a few minutes, could last a couple for about 2 to 4 years, didn’t smell, no bugs or snakes as often found in sheds, sterilised by sun & rain, safe & hygienic with the best view in the house. This was only used for defecating – urination was treated as above. It would be decades before even a trace of resultant compacted compost would leak into nearby rivers – if ever.
Dinah’s effective invention using big bucket on veranda right is best quick porta-potty, as I proved 1st time today. Preferably poo only – urinate in bush or near food trees. Empty bucket & washout when near-full in bush, down a hole, or near food trees & gardens.
Food scraps dumped in the bush or big garden will feed wildlife & pets. In fact at any age, I have seen pet DOGS happily converted to vegetarian with cereals etc.
URINATION ASSIST: For anyone, particularly urination sufferers, for decades I found that having urinated, there can be near 50% more to easily expel as follows: firmly dig the 3 or 4 fingers of 1 hand in a horizontal line on the stomach center 1/3 way up from pubic bone to naval. Now, without scraping across skin, simply massage deeply inwards & down, then outward & return plenty of times & bingo. Keep going twice a second! I also found OK whilst still on the toilet. Such massage will work through light clothes, & in fact even after having defecated. Would any female kindly let’s know if & how it works for them, because a female friend was told how, but she forgot! Prostate & Diabetes etc sufferers will love it.
Composting save 35% of home water.
Wow. Thanks.
Seriously wen the SHTF the last thing to worry about is toilet comfort!
I live in a caravan and emptying the loo is part of life. Obviously I use chemicals to aid with smells etc but that’s not always. Sometimes you have to go au natural and suffer the inconvenience of smells etc.
So wen the SHTF my toilet routine will not be affected too much!
This article reminds me of the term used to describe ppl who claim to go camping but take all the luxuries of home. It’s called “glamping”… glamourous camping. The parallel to this article is not wen the SHTF but wen the SHT-LHTS… S**t Hits The Luxury Heated Toilet Seat!
All smiles until the weight of the toilet lid causes the bucket to topple over and your stuff runs all over the floor……
I have used a 5 gal bucket with a luggable loo seat and lid for the last 4 years and never once has the lid got so heavy it turned over the bucket. But some people do have their ideas about how something so simple can go wrong.
Long-term toilet needs are clearly described in a few military manuals, pee pipe soak away and poop chute outhouse, use the separate units as advised (a gallon of water and baking soda solution poured into the pee pipe prevents too much ammonia smells, and sprinkling wood ashes, lime powder as found in gardens or even kitty litter over poop will decrease odours and flies attracted to the stink)
It’s so aggravating (and I like to say how much I learned from the information that your site provides) that each time I open or tap on the articles that you send I get a pop up as from Goggle that no matter what I do I can’t bypass or get rid of, it’s just won’t go away unless I engage. In my opinion (and I can’t be the only one) your doing yourself more harm than good. Like I said – I’m so upset that I’m almost done with you.
Sorry about that. What do the popups say? The only ones I have are the ones asking if you want to join the newsletter, but if you tap the X in the corner it will go away and stop appearing. I don’t have any other popup ads, so it could be malware or something else causing it.
we are not getting pop ups either. So something is going on with your computer.
Time for you to use “Bravo” or “Duck Duck Go” as search engines. NO ADS OR POPUPS. Very nice & we don’t miss G**gle one bit!
Good job with the design. My only concern is in handling a bag of waste that includes 2 1/2 gallons of water tied at the top. That’s 20 pounds of water, not including urine and feces sloshing around just waiting for a disaster. Look into composting toilets for a possible solution and think outhouse rather than the bathroom. Inconvenient but far more pleasant – at least our forebears thought so.