Kuivakäymäläsuunnitelma korjausrakennuskohteeseen

Abstract

Yksi tulevaisuuden ongelmista tulee fossiilisten polttoaineiden loppumisen ohella olemaan puhtaan juomaveden puute. Vaikka Suomessa tämä ei todennäköisesti muodostu ongelmaksi vielä hetkeen, monet yritykset, yhdistykset sekä yksityishenkilöt haluavat omalta osaltaan huolehtia luonnonsuojelusta ja luonnonvarojen turvaamisesta. Yksi näistä tahoista on Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys ry, joka halusi toimitiloihinsa vettä ja rahaa säästävän kuivakäymälän. Tämä opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli tehdä kattava suunnitelma kuivakäymäläjärjestelmän rakentamiseksi yhdistyksen toimitiloihin.

Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys ry vuokraa Tampereen kaupungilta yli satavuotiasta taloa Pispalassa ja remontoi siitä uusia toimitilojaan; Rakennuskulttuurikeskus Piirua. Opinnäytetyön tekeminen aloitettiin kartoittamalla yhdistyksen tarpeet ja toiveet sekä tutustumalla tarjolla oleviin kuivakäymäläratkaisuihin. Suunnittelutyö tehtiin tiiviissä yhteistyössä sekä yhdistyksen projektipäällikön että taloa remontoivien työmiesten ja arkkitehdin kanssa. Suunnittelutyön ohella etsittiin myös yhteistyökumppaneita yhdistykselle.

Neuvottelujen tuloksena yhdistys aloitti yhteistyöt kahden sanitaatioalalla toimivan yrityksen kanssa. Biolan Oy tulee toimittamaan kompostikäymälän Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistykselle ja vedettömän urinaalin lahjoittaa urinaaleja maahantuova Novosan Oy. Biolan Oy tulee myös tekemään tarvittavat muokkaukset kuivakäymälämalliinsa, jotta se toimisi tässä kohteessa. Kuivakäymäläsuunnitelmaan kuului myös selkeiden ohjeiden laatiminen kuivakäymälän huoltoon ja käyttöön.

Investoidessaan kuivakäymälään sekä vedettömään urinaaliin yhdistys pyrkii säästämään vesilaskussa sekä puutarhanhoitokuluissa. Kuivakäymäläjäte kompostoidaan lannoitteeksi ja maanparannusaineeksi, ja itse tehdyn lannoitteen käyttäminen tulee säästämään selvää rahaa. Yhdistys aloitti yhteistyön alallaan tunnettujen toimijoiden kesken. Yhdistyksen tilat tulevat toimimaan myös esittelytiloina kuivakäymälätekniikasta kiinnostuneille tahoille, joten yhteistyöstä hyötyvät kaikki osapuolet.

Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulun tutkintosäännön mukaan opiskelukielen ollessa englanti ja opinnäytetyön raportin kuitenkin ollessa suomeksi, on raporttiin liitettävä laajennettu englanninkielinen tiivistelmä. Laajennettu tiivistelmä on liitteessä 1.

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION & METHODS

The purpose of this thesis was to plan the process of acquiring and installing a dry toilet system. The thesis was requested by an organisation promoting renovation and preservation of old houses in Tampere Region. The organisation, Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys, has an old house that they are renovating to become their headquarters and also to become a place for people to learn about renovating. The house is called Rakennuskulttuurikeskus Piiru.

The dry toilet plan was made according to the Finnish standards both for accessibility and public restroom areas. In addition to these, plans and instructions for composting the dry toilet waste were also made. The report includes cost analysis of using the dry toilet systems and those costs are compared with costs of standard wc-systems. A part of the thesis was also to find sponsors for the renovation project.

This thesis was started in spring 2015 with preliminary meetings at the renovation site. Interviews and discussions were conducted with the project manager and also with the architect and workforce at the house. The project manager of the organisation laid out a foundation for the needs and wishes of the organisation and those were used as a guideline for the work.

DRY TOILET PLAN

Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys operates with values that promote sustainability. Piiru is over a hundred years old and largely has the original logs inform from 1892. The renovation project demands a great deal of professionalism and also materials that honour the history of the house.

A part of the plan was to find sponsors and partners for the future of the project. After research and negotiations, two successful companies, Biolan Ltd. and Novosan Ltd. joined the project. Biolan will provide the organisation with a composting dry toilet and Novosan will donate a waterless urinal for the bathroom.

Special characteristics of the project

Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys plans to use the building not only for their office, but also for residents’ evenings and workshops. The whole building will serve as a learning environment for renovation and also serves as a demonstration space. The organisation’s people will demonstrate closely different renovation solutions for people interested in dry toilets or other projects. The most important features of the dry toilet system were determined in a meeting with the project manager and the architect. The organisation wanted the bathroom area to look very similar to a modern bathroom with a wc. They also requested solutions that are easily transformed and changed if a situation demands it. However, the most important feature was usability since the bathroom is going to be in normal office use along with the demo use.

The use rate of the dry toilet will be uneven, there will be residents’ evening a few times a week and that will be shown as an increase in the use rate and also in the amount of the liquid waste. It is estimated that most of the dry toilet waste will be urine and this was also considered in the dry toilet plan. The house has a waste water connection and that will facilitate the handling of the urine waste. Although the bathroom area will have a urinal, it is important that the dry toilet is still operational in these kinds of special situations.

The chosen dry toilet model & urinal

At the end of negotiations and meetings, the dry toilet model that was ultimately chosen was the Biolan composting dry toilet. The composting dry toilet separates solid dry toilet waste from urine and composts solid waste. Urine and leachate will be directed straight into the sewage system. The dry toilet will be situated below the floor level and it will be emptied through a hatch in the foundation. The whole area under the bathroom floor level will be dug to a certain height, so that is it easy to conduct maintenance under the floor. The composting dry toilet will be emptied a few shovelfuls at a time and transferred to the garden compost. After the compost in the garden is full, it will resume the composting process and after a year the compost is ready to be used as soil.

Novosan provided Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys with a waterless urinal, that will be installed in the bathroom. The urinal works with a bacterial filter, that holds off any odor. The urinal does not need any water and in busy places it can save thousands of liters of water annually.

DISCUSSION

When working in old buildings, nothing can be taken for granted. Also in this project much has happened and the renovation saw a few setbacks, as well. Meetings and interviews conducted in 2015 made it possible to set guidelines for the whole project. As a result, Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys received a comprehensive plan for their dry toilet project. The plan also includes instructions for the user, for maintenance and solutions for possible problems when maintaining the dry toilet. Since the renovation project is not ready when this thesis is completed, some of the details can still change. However, this report and plan works as it is. The organisation received two new partners; Biolan and Novosan. Both companies are well known and successful in their respective fields and the collaboration will be valuable for all parties.

Dry toilets are still not widely used in households and one of the reasons why that is has to be about people’s prejudice. People might be afraid that dry toilets will smell and are unhygienic. However, modern dry toilet solutions are easy to use and look very much like common toilet seats. It will be interesting to see how customers react to the fact that dry toilet is the only option in the bathroom.

As to the economic benefits, dry toilets and waterless urinals do not use any water and when compared with the amount of flush water public toilets use, one can save a significant sum of money. Dehydrate is rather expensive, but the costs are roughly the same when using common water flushed toilets. However, with a dry toilets system the organisation gets free organic soil and fertilizers and that will help them save a lot of money. When using composted dry toilet waste as a fertiliser and also as soil material, Pirkanmaan rakennuskulttuuriyhdistys will make their part in preserving the Finnish nature and natural waters. From the point of view of the environment the choice of not using drinkable water for flushing toilets is the best kind of choice an organisation or a company can make.