Mother's $10-per-square-foot (or less!) Earth Sheltered House: Part III

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You see, we were determined to install a watersaving toilet—one that would use far less than do the current crop of "3-1/2 gallon per flush" so-called watersavers—but we knew we'd be unlikely to find such an item at our local salvage yard. Furthermore, commercial composting toilets proved to be prohibitively expensive, and all the homemade designs that our health inspector would approve required at least a crawl space to accept their bulk. Worse still, most "less than one gallon per flush" toilets we checked into required an auxiliary source of compressed air and/or were—again—too dung costly. Luck was with us, though, and we got a phone call from some folks in Vermont who build a low-volume flush toilet called the Seiche One. At leas than one gallon per use—and with a retail price of $199—it was the answer we' d been looking for!

The Seiche One sports two major water-conservation features: Its flush valve is progressive, allowing the user to determine exactly how much water is needed for effective cleansing . . . and the S-trap, which holds (and wastes) a significant amount of H 2 O in the conventional commode, is replaced by a closed-cell foam flapper valve. As a result of these changes, the average Seiche One flush requires only one quart of water, according to the water closet's manufacturer, Patrick Creek Corporation (Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 135, Hinesburg, Vermont 05461).

Installing the ABS plastic unit is actually somewhat easier than putting in a conventional vitreous china commode, since the assembly is considerably lighter. According to the company, the Seiche One has been in production in various forms for 25 years, and for more than 10 in the current plastic configuration, with virtually no warranty returns. As we put some "miles" on the conservative flusher, we'll be able to judge its longevity for ourselves, and report our findings to you.

ELECTRICAL

As we suggested back in the first article of this series, we designed our building with 12-volt electrical service in mind. This rating-as opposed to the conventional 120-volt setup—is compatible with a wide range of alternative-energy systems and will allow us to use appliances created for the diverse recreational-vehicle market. What's more, though 12-volt wiring can handle 120 volts, the reverse isn't necessarily true . .. so deciding to switch to low voltage—which could entail major rewiring— after a house is finished could be an expensive and frustrating mistake.

We used 12-gauge copper wire for all the standard service laterals in the building, but we put no more than a pair of receptacles on any one circuit. In some cases, though, two such receptacles and a light fixture are served by the same wire, since most lights require only minimal power. Interestingly enough, this arrangement was more than adequate to satisfy our building inspector . . . though he did require that we add both a 230-volt receptacle for a dryer and a weatherproof outside receptacle.

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