My previous house had to be sold uncompleted when my partner split the
scene. This is my new house. I built the garage in Nov/Dec 2002 before
going to USA for Christmas with friends of mine. Then Elli and I returned
in mid January, and had the house to lock-up stage by mid March. I was
quite surprised while still in America to get a phone call from another
friend who said he wanted to come out to Tasmania to help us build the
house. And he (Bob) was here just when we were lifting the bits for the
second floor into place - very welcome help. Still a bit to do inside -
but quite comfortable (August 2004)
Has a composting toilet, so no water wasted there - which is handy
because we are on tank water collected from the roof (in a dry-ish area).
Also using solar power (no mains electricity connected), and a wind
generator as well. Wood heater for warmth, instant gas hot water, and gas
stove. For backup in case of long periods of sunless windless days we have
an LPG generator to produce 240V which runs 3 battery chargers.
This is a steel kit house - steel frame, steel cladding, steel roof.
The internal layout is to our design. Building it was interesting, because
of not having any electricity connected. I bought an Inverter (a small
black box that produces 240V AC when connected to a 12V car battery) and
used that to run the various power tools that we used. This usually meant
running the car motor for some hours a day to prevent it from going flat.
Running a 1200 watt power saw would draw 100 amps from the battery, an
angle grinder a similar current.
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| Friend Bob (the builder) from USA |
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Now if anyone has got this far and wondering about the composting toilet, here are some pictures and information.
We installed the toilet early in 2003 (it is currently Sept 2007) -
it came with two bins. When the first one is getting full you pull it out
in the sun and replace it with an empty one. When the second one is full,
in theory the first one will have finished composting and can be dug into
your garden. We found this not so. After a bit of research and talking
with the supplier we decided that the colder weather in Tasmania was slowing
the composting process - so we ordered a third bin. This has solved the
problem - when we need an empty one there is one ready to dig in.
Great looking compost (April 2007)
A
Silver Birch (about the only non-native plant on the property)
Emptying the bin
The
tree 5 months later (Sept 2007)
I hear you ask how often we have a bin ready dig into the garden. This is only the second one since early 2003 (it is currently Sept 2007). But there is another one on the verge of being ready to use - we plan to dig it in in January 2008. We are away a fair bit on kayaking trips, outback driving trips, and time in the USA so the bins fill slowly in our case.
Since the early days we have now started adding a small cupfull of fine woodchips (from a pet food store) to aid the composting, and make it a looser mixture. Also when a bin is taken out of service we let it stand for 6 months or so and then use a fork and dig mushroom compost into it - a messy job maybe but I feel it aids the composting. I also get composting worms and put them in as well. Right from the start we have had a small computer fan running 24 hours a day bringing air from the lounge to the toilet room (through a 100mm/4 inch insulated pipe). If you look at the photo above, of the back of the house, you will notice a white pipe up the left hand side - this is a 100mm/4 inch pipe with another computer fan inside it running 24 hours a day. This fan drags air down through the bin from the toilet room and up the pipe - so there is absolutely no smell in the toilet room. During the winter the lounge is kept warm by the wood heater, and therefore the air being sucked into the toilet room and down through the bin is warmer, and so helps the composting process.
Interior photos for my friend Tenna.