In preparation for working on our farm site, we are building an outhouse. It seemed like a good infrastructure project, because there is currently no convenient way at the site to take care of those needs. Also, our youngest offspring has decided to become a carpenter after high school and wants to have a project he can build himself. He wants to use it as an example on his carpenter’s union application. I drew up plans for him to follow and have shown him how to use the tools he wasn’t familiar with, but I left it for him to do almost everything else.
We started out by cutting out all the frame pieces on the compound miter saw. They are all 90-degree cuts so it wasn’t too challenging. The base is 4’x4’ because I had four salvaged 4’x8’ plywood sheets to use for the walls. He cut the base frame pieces out of 2”x4” lumber and put them together with the framing nailer. He hadn’t used these tools before but did pretty well with them.
The walls are framed with 2”x3” lumber to save weight (and cost). To avoid losing interior volume in such a small building, the walls are face-framed. I had some Phillips-head screws to use up and he hadn’t used that kind before so I give him those to start with. After the first side frame was finished I gave him some Star drive screws and he was quite grateful.
The front wall of the outhouse has a door, which made the framing more complicated, but he figured it out and did it well. We’ll worry about the door after the rest of the structure is done.
You can’t imagine how many times I try to assemble, in my mind, those frames into an outhouse! I’m eager to see them raised. When will that happen?