# Educate me about outhouses, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958 "2023-08-02T14:24:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/61 "2023-08-03T23:25:14Z")
I last used a pit a couple of weeks ago. It’s a _2-seater_, but, ummm, **no**! The weird thing is they built a new building _last_ year that has indoor plumbing but it still isn’t finished, as in there’s a toilet but no door yet. I’ve changed diapers. I was probably in the bathroom, standing there, when the kid was learning how to use the potty but I have never gone where someone else was sitting so close that we could touch outer thighs. This weekend, I used a [modern, temporary version](https://www.polyjohn.com/media/PJN3_in_a_row.jpg) at the festival I was at & in a couple of weeks I’ll have the opportunity to use a fancy pit - cinder block, 5 walls (single interior separating wall) & a roof; single M seat on the one side & single F seat on the other side in a rural state park ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/62 "2023-08-03T23:42:09Z")
My summer Boy Scout camp had a multi-seat outdoor latrine. The camp hosted several hundred boys throughout the summer. I assume it used composting. My biggest concern was dirt dauber and wasps. I’d see them flying in and out of the seat holes. It really makes a guy want to sit down and have his anus tickled by the dirt daubers. 😉 I never got stung, and I never crapped faster in my life. Did my business and got out. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2023, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/63 "2023-08-03T23:54:20Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > The second type is a composter type, which instead of a pit the pile is at or above ground level so air can get at it. This causes much faster breakdown and thus higher capacity. This type sometimes has multiple heads if capacity needs it. Some of these also contain urinals to redirect away pee away from the pile as that can block oxygen from it. Ideally these are made of 3 sections which the head (toilet) can be positioned over 1 of those 3 at a time. What happens is the waste piles up in section 1 till it’s full, then the head is moved to section 2, section 1 is left to decompose. When section 2 is full the head is moved to section 3, leaving 1 and 2 decomposing. When section 3 is filled section 1 is emptied into the forest floor and is pretty much benign compost with no resemblance to the original product, then the head is moved back to 1 and the process continues. I wanted to add a little to this. The place i vacation also has a composting outhouse, which is vastly less stinky than the pit ones. But it requires more maintenance. Every day, wood shavings are added, and it’s regularly “stirred”. There’s a fan, both for the benefit of the people and the benefit of the composting process. Ours does not have a rotation like that, but it has 8 stalls, and sometimes the most popular one or two are closed for composting. And yes, the decomposed compost is spread on the forest floor, where it is fairly benign. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/64 "2023-08-04T04:39:56Z")
My then-girlfriend’s family had an outhouse in the 80s, although this was rural Japan. Worse than any smell were the mosquitos, and I tried to not use it after dark. The family also had a wood fire for heating the bath water, which was fun for me, but I would imagine would get old. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/65 "2023-08-04T11:32:30Z")
At JazzFest in NOLA, they had 30 or so porta-potties lined up. People were in line for each of the 30, with a dozen or so people waiting in each line. There was one porta-potty with no line. Obviously there was a problem with that one. While waiting in line I saw an occasional brave woman run up to the porta-potty with no line. She’d open the door and immediately slam it shut, looking like she’d seen a ghost. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/66 "2023-08-04T11:54:12Z")
I recently travelled on a heritage steam train in Germany where there was just a downpipe and you could see the tracks and sleepers. Regular trains (of course) have some sort of airplane-like suction system into storage - for cleaning out at the destination or the depot, I assume. But I’m still unable to hear Dvorak’s Humoresque without remembering my family’s rather more explicit version of this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uyiMYI4oQTU/maxresdefault.jpg "1956 Oscar Brand - Humoresque (Passengers Will Please Refrain)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyiMYI4oQTU) ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/67 "2023-08-04T12:09:27Z")
Here’s what you need: ‘The Specialist’ by Charles Sale. > **[The Specialist: Amazon.co.uk: Charles Sale, William Kermode: 9780285632264:...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Specialist-Charles-Sale/dp/0285632264)** > > Buy The Specialist New edition by Charles Sale, William Kermode (ISBN: 9780285632264) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/68 "2023-08-04T14:53:19Z")
Went to an Oktoberfest celebration in a suburb of Chicago. They had Port-a-Potties for the women, but brought in a trailer with a trough for the men. They were obviously planning for the necessities of a beer-drinking event, that the beer had to come out. The “Mens Room” was set up as walk in one door; use the trough; walk out another door. Nice and efficient. Doors were propped open for airflow. This, of course, led to the more… exhibitionist of males to be tucking in and zipping up while walking out the door. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardFound](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@EdwardFound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardFound)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/69 "2023-08-04T16:37:31Z")
Radiolab had an interesting [episode](https://radiolab.org/podcast/91689-parasites/transcript) covering outhouses. Apparently they weren’t universal in the US South until after the Rockefeller Commission did a study on hookworm infections in 1908. They found that hookworm larvae can travel for up to 4’ through loose soil. If hookworm-infected poop isn’t buried 5’ or more the larvae reach the surface, ready to burrow into the first bare foot that steps on them. They had to educate folks that it wasn’t good enough to just do your business behind a tree or out in the field. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/70 "2023-08-04T16:44:26Z")
I read somewhere that it is common in some African communities. Oh - it might have been on that show Monsters Inside Me. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/71 "2023-08-04T17:54:52Z")
> The row houses in late Vicotrian England were allegedly built with an outhouse in the tiny back yard - usually brick, with I assume a pit that needed to be emptied every so often. I doubt they’d use a pit design in that period – the Victorians were very keen on sewers, and I think by the late period, towns and cities typically had extensive sewage systems. Certainly all the ones I’ve seen (late Victorian and early Edwardian) were flush toilets, and some of the fancier ones had a cold-water hand basin. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/72 "2023-08-04T18:50:52Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > But I’m still unable to hear Dvorak’s Humoresque without remembering my family’s rather more explicit version of this: Do you have a link to the whole album? On our way from Le Havre to Paris after disembarking from the QE2 we rode with a nice old lady who sang “Three Old Ladies Locked in the Lavatry” for us - to the tune of “Johnny’s Too Long at the Fair.” It would be fun to hear another version. “Oh dear, what could the matter be? Three Old Ladies locked in the Lavatory, They’ve been gone from to Coventry Nobody knew they were there.” ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/73 "2023-08-04T18:57:45Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Worse than any smell were the mosquitos, and I tried to not use it after dark. Appropriate inappropriate song - [https://YouTube](https://YouTube). com/watch?v=QMlIItNjm3c (remove the space between YouTube & Com) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/74 "2023-08-04T19:27:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > we rode with a nice old lady who sang “Three Old Ladies Locked in the Lavatry” I recall in the movie _A Boy Ten Feet Tall_ he starts to sing this to amuse himself while traversing the desert. It was a well-known song back in the day. I recall the version: _Dear, dear, what could the matter be? Three Old Ladies locked in the Lavatory, They were gone from Monday to Saturday Nobody knew they were there._ ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2023, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/75 "2023-08-05T07:09:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > It would be fun to hear another version. > > “Oh dear, what can the matter be? > Three Old Ladies locked in the Lavatory, > They were there from Monday to Saturday - > Nobody knew they were there.” I don’t know of any other verses. And sorry, I only looked on YouTube for the Humoresque, I didn’t follow up on any others in that series ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958/76 "2023-08-08T17:02:06Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > exhibitionist of males to be tucking in and zipping up while walking out the door. bah… for a real exhibitionist, no tucking and zipping is needed … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/educate-me-about-outhouses-please/987958.md?page=3)