We knew that we would have to alter the landscape of our land if we were to develop our camp. There’s no getting round it, toilets, showers, shelters etc need to be built and this is going to impact our environment. However the extent to which it impacts our environment was up to us. As such we’ve been plotting and planning how to make our buildings low impact.
The toilet and shower area has been a hotly debated topic. With all that water splashing around we needed to find a material, other than brick and cement, that would stand up over the test of time. Ideas were thrown around, the internet searched for inspiration until something on Pinterest jolted our brains.
So here we have it our very own gabion style toilet and showers. Using easily accessible materials we’ve made the walls of our toilets and showers out of rocks. Using just galvanised chainlink fencing and some smaller holed chicken wire we built a wall between eucalyptus poles which was then filled with aggregates. A few holes still need to be filled to keeping mischevous children from spying on each other, but otherwise we’ve ended up with some rather attractive and unique walls.
Not only are the rocks durable to the elements but the porous wall could make them in to “living” walls, growing different plants or even herbs up them.
The shower floor was another issue, again what to use instead of cement? We fell back on good old recycling. Using the PVC from an old billboard we lined the shower pan, a drain was set in this and then it will be covered in gravel. Gravel has softer edges than aggregate which we worried might tear the material. It’ll be finished off with a few stone slates to make it a comfier experience for your feet and there we have it. A low impact shower using recycled material.
This method of construction allows us the freedom to change our minds further down the line if we want them located in a different area. It’s easy to disassemble while keeping the materials intact and able to reuse. Not only that, but with minimal cement used, only for setting in the posts, there wouldn’t be a trace of the structures within a few months. Win win we see it, time shall tell how it holds up.
Follow our Facebook page over the next few weeks to see the final result!
kacheeracamp.com 