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Small Scale Engineering offers you the following services:

Engineering, fitting & turning on once-off and short run pieces
All types of welding including bespoke, metal furniture manufacture
Prototype manufacture
Home maintenance, restoration, repairs and renovations
General handyman

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Small Scale Engineering is also building a house out of shipping containers. Follow the project on our blog:

The Latest From the Container House Project

- How to Grout Tiles
  21st Oct 2020DIYCindy and I spent a large percentage of the past weekend crouching awkwardly and teetering on ladders while we grouted the tiles in the south container of the container house project. It seemed a good opportunity to write a DIY on how to grout tiles. It’s probably the easiest part of tiling, but as always, it’s nice to have a few tips to get best results. You don’t want your grout cracking and falling out as time passes. Prep Work As with any job, there’s some preparation work required. Before the tile glue has completely cured, the gaps between the tiles need to be cleaned out. If you wait too long, it’ll be hard work getting the gaps clean. But, you also can’t complete this work too soon as you might accidentally move your perfectly laid tile. We usually use an old screwdriver or something similar to clean out the gaps. We then vacuum out any dust and loose pieces with a vacuum cleaner. If you decide to vacuum out your gaps too, we suggest you use an old vacuum cleaner that you don’t feel sorry for, as this isn’t the best way to treat your appliances. (Read more on tiling fibre cement boards here, and on best results for tiling with marble design tiles here) Once the tile glue has cured enough after a couple of days, you can gather your tools and get to work. Tools and Materials Required You won’t need much in the way of tools and materials: Grout, in the colour of your choice to match your tilesWaterYou may require a product such as Tylon’s Bond-It if you are tiling a high-water area such as a showerA grouting toolSomething in which to mix the grout (we use old ice-cream tubs)A spongeGloves (a wise choice) You’ll note on the pictures below, that we use an old expired credit card or plastic loyalty card for grouting. There are grouting tools on the market but we use this because it does not cost us anything and works remarkably well. Credit cards have the perfect amount of flexibility in them making it an ideal grouting tool. It also gives old cards a second life before we throw them away. It is wise to wear gloves when grouting as the cement is corrosive and quite drying. However, I usually find the abrasive nature of grout usually ends up tearing the gloves before I’ve completed the work. Ones that are tough enough are often not water proof. Finding the perfect pair of gloves for grouting has proved to be difficult. If you are grouting an area that is affected by water, it’s wise to use a product such as Bond-It. Replacing the water with a bonding agent makes the end product more water-resistant. You’ll want to mix your grout with either water or with the bonding agent to make a paste with a medium consistency. It needs to be loose enough to penetrate well into all the gaps, but not so loose that it runs out the gaps between the tiles. How To Grout Tiles With firm pressure, squish the grout into the gaps. You want to get as much in there as possible to firmly seal the gap. If your hands aren’t cramping within a few minutes, you’re not doing it properly. When the grout is just beginning to dry, use a damp sponge to clean off the excess grout around the joins. You’ll need to rinse off the sponge quite often. While the grout is still damp from the sponge, run your finger along the grout line. This seals it nicely and gives it a good finish The sponge will not remove all the excess grout from your tiles. As it dries you’ll notice a fine film of dust remains. As soon as the grout is dry enough, buff the tiles with a dry cloth. This will remove the last of the grout from off the tiles themselves. If you’re using a bonding agent, don’t wait too long as the longer it has cured, the harder it will be to buff it off the tiles. Admiring Your Work The best bit? Admiring the fruits of your labour the next day....
- Tips For Tiling With Marble Design Tiles
  14th Oct 2020DIYChances are that if you can afford to install real marble tiles in your house, you’ll be paying someone else to do the hard work. Therefore, the concept for this article was based on installing standard ceramic/porcelain, digitally printed, marble design tiles. However, actual marble is such an interesting material (I recently discovered) and quite tricky to work with, so we decided to include some information on real marble tiles, just because. The Difficulties of Real Marble It’s not often you’ll see real marble tiles installed anywhere as there are many superior products on the market such as Caeserstone and granite. However, despite this, marble still does give off an aura of luxury that’s hard to ignore. If you do decide to use real marble, you might want to take the following points into consideration: Marble tiles are expensiveBecause of the colour variation in the same box of tiles, you’ll need to buy much more than you would do ordinarily. Just one box of tiles can vary from light grey to black (not taking into consideration any other colours marble may be available in). Therefore, you would need to purchase enough to either make a pattern with the colours you end up with, or to tile in a gradient (ie, the lighter tiles in the darkest part of the room, moving to the darkest tiles in the lightest part of the room)They stain easily. Therefore, speciality tile cement is required, adding to your expenses.They stain easily. Don’t cut yourself. (You don’t want blood stains permanently marking your tiles)They are fragile and require a specialised stone cutter to cut the tiles to sizeThey scratch easily. After installation, marble tiles should be sealed to prevent damage and (you guessed it!), staining. Below is a photo of a piece of marble tile that was recently removed and replaced. The tile piece is from an SSE job site, and has been reduced to nothing more than building rubble (expensive building rubble, but rubble nonetheless). You can see how it has scratched while lying in a pile of rubble. Real marble. Expensive rubble The Difficulties of Digitally Printed Marble-Look Tiles In comparison to real marble, digitally printed tiles are much easier to use. Some cheaper marble design tiles are sold in boxes where every tile has exactly the same print on it. This is not something I find aesthetically pleasing. If you are in agreement with me, we suggest going for a tile that has several matching prints in the set. Tiles with matching (but different!) prints The next step, before you start tiling, would be to sort out all the prints. This way, it’ll be easier to choose a tile before cementing it in place. The goal is to avoid placing two tiles with the same print next to each other. That way you can create the illusion of the digitally printed tiles being more like real marble and more random, even though, in reality, it is not. Other than that, tile as you would any other tile and enjoy watching your project come to life! In conclusion, herewith a sneak peak of the tiling for the north side container bathroom. (For more tiling tips, click here.) Sneak peak!...
- Surprisingly Useful Tools
  7th Oct 2020DIYWe would not have been able to get anywhere as far with The Container House Project without some useful tools. Thankfully, Louis and Kevin have collected some brilliant tools over the last few decades and these are some of Kevin’s favourite ones. Many of the tools we use are electric, but some are not. I asked Kevin a hypothetical question: If he was only allowed one electrical tool with which to build our house and the rest had to be hand tools, what tool would he choose? The look of horror and the silence that followed says it all. Our electrical tools have been invaluable. Kevin did eventually choose a tool. The tool we could not live without would have to be the battery drill, but Kevin did ask for an additional power tool for the hypothetical situation: his grinder. The ever valuable battery drill and grinder Here are some other useful tools we have been using: Useful Tools Shear We use the shear for cutting long strips of metal. It works like an extra-heavy duty pair of scissors. We are using aluminium angle around the windows to help make them watertight. In some sections, a standard aluminium angle has been a little too wide. The shear has worked amazingly well for trimming off the excess material. We have also used it to help fabricate flashings, for areas where we need rain water directed elsewhere. Kevin with the shear. Note the long handle for leverage. Cut-Off Saw and Compound Mitre Saw The cut-off saw has been used to cut lengths of steel to the correct size. The grinder type blade makes short work of steel beams, angles, tube, etc. This has made preparing steel for the house a quick and easy job. We use the compound mitre saw in a similar manner to the cut-off saw, but for lengths of wood. The compound mitre saw can be adjusted and set to make cuts of different angles. This is very useful for corners where you want an angled cut. We can also use this saw for cutting aluminium; all it needs is a blade change. We cannot use this machine for steel as the blade spins too fast for steel. As it is not designed to cut steel, the machine would also be damaged by the flying sparks from cutting steel. Cut-off saw on the left. Compound mitre saw on the right Lock Mortise Attachment for a Drill New doors do not arrive with the section cut out where the lock is to fit. If you’re fitting one door, it’s okay to create the cavity with a hammer and a set of chisels. If you’re fitting several doors, this contraption makes light work of fitting locks. A drill fits into the lock mortise attachment, which is then bolted to the door. The drill quickly hollows out the cavity for the door lock and handle set, saving us much time and energy. Of course, there are always more tools that could be purchased and used (see our post on our concrete mixer). We wouldn’t have to think too hard to put together a wish list of other tools that we don’t have that would be very useful to have around! PS: Despite appearances, this is not a sponsored post, but here is Bosch’s website, should you wish to see their other tools on the market....
- Fitting a Close Coupled Toilet (Guest Bathroom)
  23rd Sep 2020InteriorKevin says that plumbing is a thankless job. If you do it correctly, it’ll all be covered up and no one will ever appreciate your flawless joins and straight pipes. He’s right. Plumbing is one of those things you don’t want to think about it. Thinking about it usually means there’s a problem such as a water leak. But despite this, Kevin and Louis have been hard at work on the plumbing for the guest bathroom including fitting a close coupled toilet. This particular toilet is new, as we don’t currently have access to another second hand one. We decided to get a standard close coupled toilet. (I drew the line at one of those toilet systems with a plastic cistern). The cistern on this one is thankfully manufactured with ceramic and although the handle is quite cheap and made from plastic, we can always replace it at some stage, giving it a bit of an upgrade. So, I’m quite happy with the purchase. (We bought the strangely named “Neon” toilet from Build It) Installing the Close Coupled Toilet Of course, building with containers means its not so easy to hide plumbing pipes behind the concrete and tiles. Our installation was similar to the concealed cistern toilet installation, but this time, at least, we didn’t have to worry about the weight of the toilet hanging on the brackets. So, the toilet does not require much for installation all. We hereby announce that this toilet is working! Kevin decided to build a wall out on which to mount the toilet. All the plumbing pipes can hide behind this wall, and will provide some access should anything go wrong. It’s going to add to the design and style of the bathroom too. The plan is to continue this step out, in the wall, along where the basin will be mounted, which will create a little shelf for things like hand soap. Making this step was easy. Kevin welded in some angle iron on which we mounted fibre cement board. We will then tile the fibre cement boards. This way of mounting the toilet has been a great idea. We are easily able to hide all the water pipes to and from geysers, basins, showers, baths, etc. It’s going to be quite busy behind there, but it’ll all be in one area before branching off to various fittings. We have also put in a water valve which we will be able to access from under the basin. If we do spring a leak, it’ll be easy to close off the water in just this section for repairs, rather than the whole house at the main water supply. Behind the toilet The Plan for Flooring I may have mentioned that the original flooring in this particular container is quite beautiful hardwood, so we are going to sand it smooth and finish it, likely with resin, for our bathroom floor. I’m extremely excited about this as I just know it is going to look stunning. (You might want to sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss out on that blog post!) That does mean, however, that we’ll have to cast concrete for the shower floors. In preparation for this, Kevin has cut out a sections of the boards for this next step. We haven’t seen this patch of ground for a while! Cutting out the shipping container floor also gave us an opportunity to see how damp the ground was under the containers. It’s dry, despite all the rain! The bathroom is far from finished, but our newly installed toilet is actually usable, which is awesome. I am very much looking forward to progress on our guest bathroom. The space has turned out to have such a warm and welcoming vibe to it, even as it is, with all the dust and cobwebs....
- Cladding Gaps Between The Shipping Containers
  16th Sep 2020Main Structure and RoofMost of our weekends lately have been wet. Therefore, cladding on the North side of the container house project has been a bit slow. It’s not safe to be standing on “slippery when wet” scaffolding while moving weighty and fragile boards into place. The wet weather did give us some time to consider another problem; cladding gaps between the shipping containers. The Problem The north side of the container house is the side we have a double storey. This top section will eventually be our guest rooms, but chances are that Kevin and I will move into one of the rooms while we await our east wing to be completed. When we started cladding this side we encountered a problem. The containers sit atop each other on the corner castings, leaving quite a bit gap between them. There is nothing for us to attach the fibre-cement cladding boards to! Our problem area The Solution For Cladding Gaps In the end, our solution was quite simple. The cladding boards above and below this strip are securely attached to the container. Therefore, we could attach the problem boards to those above and below, instead of to the shipping container. To begin, we skipped a board This is how we did it. After sticking the foil insulation into place, we carefully measured the gap so we could skip a board and attach the next one up (PS: Our new favourite foil insulation brand is this one by the BMI Group, previously known as Monier Coverland)For extra security we used paintable silicon on the overlap before holding it in placeThen with short screws, we secured this board to the other two boards, both top and bottom Paintable silicon just in case We used more hardware than we did on the other boards, because we want to be doubly sure that it is not going to fall out. We can currently see some of the hardware, whereas you normally wouldn’t as it would be hidden under the overlap. However, this is not a problem because it is quite high up and people don’t usually look up, and also because it’ll all be hidden under paint. With the cladding gaps problem solved, we could finish a full section of cladding on this side of our house. And Another Window is Installed Which also leads me to announce that we have our first window installed in our top container. We are one step closer to being able to invite guests to stay over (in comfort). Progress!...
- Cleaning a Second Hand Bath
  9th Sep 2020Interior / Prep WorkI wanted to call this article “a restoration of an old bath”, but decided that was false advertising. In the end, we just gave it a really good scrub. It’s amazing what just cleaning a second hand bath can do for it! As mentioned in our post on our plans for our retro guest bathroom, we have a few old second hand baths in our yard. We got them from a DIY Aquaponics kit that Small Scale Engineering dismantled on behalf of a customer. We are planning on setting up the set for our own vegetable garden, but cannot do so yet as it requires moving a shed and building a fish pond. So, for the last year, we stored the baths, stacked up out in the sun, while they gathered dust and rain water. They take up too much space for us to store them anywhere indoors. Lots of dirt to be found in the various baths! Actually, storing them outside was to our advantage because we could use some of that not-intentionally stored rain water to cast concrete at our social distancing concrete party. Win! These baths had previously been used to hold stones and plants, so they were quite damaged. Were any of them in a good enough condition to be used in a bathroom once again? Checking for Damage The first thing we did was look for the bath in the best condition. We had a few to choose from. Many had quite severe cracks in the fibreglass due to the fact that they were 1) second hand to begin with before 2) stones were thrown in for the growing of plants. The bath we really wanted to use, was sadly cracked. It had the nicest backrest and had a corrugated section on the bottom of the bath making it a bit safer to use. But we did find one that had a few scratches but no cracks! We took out the drain fittings to make sure it wasn’t cracked around there and are very happy to report that it was in surprisingly good condition. Could we get it clean? Cleaning Out A Second Hand Bath We were not sure if we would be able to get all the marks out of the bath. Obviously, as it had been used in an outdoor environment for quite some time, the marks were quite severe and orange in colour around the edges, where the water level had been sitting. A bit of time spent scrubbing out with Handy Andy, and it is looking much better! Much more acceptable! Kevin has also spent some time polishing the bath with a buffing machine and some good quality car polish. However, there are still a few scratches that cannot be removed. We could not get out all the stains and there are a few light ones left. I am sure we would eventually get the stains out if the bath is used. The last step; buffing Should We Use The Bath – What Do You Think? We would be very happy to be able to use this bath in our retro bathroom. We would have once again reached our goal of using something second-hand. However, some deeper scratches remain, so we are in two minds. What do you think? Do you think we should use this bath as a bath? Or should we put it back with the Aquaponics kit and find something else? Only problem; it’s impossible to take photos of the scratches so we can’t show you the extent of the damage. They are easier to feel than to see....
- Our 90’s Retro Bathroom Challenge
  2nd Sep 2020InteriorGood news: We have a brand new, good quality, Cobra bath mixer. Bad news: It is probably from around the 1990s and very dated. I think we have just set ourselves up for a new challenge: A 90’s Retro Bathroom Challenge! Despite being quite old-fashioned, Kevin is really excited about the Cobra mixer. He tells me that Cobra taps from “back then” were of excellent quality. They are made from plated solid brass. They are heavy. I don’t think there are too many people living in South Africa who haven’t seen this particular design, especially as this design (the Carina) is still available or sale today! This design has proved to be very popular, and many bathrooms still have these taps fitted and working. A bit dusty from years of storage but totally brand new! It was always a possibility to use the set on the container house project, as it is brand new. But, to make a smart bathroom, you want all your fittings to match. We had the mixer for the bath, and a partial mixer set for the basin, but bits had been removed for other plumbing repairs over the years (the main reason why the set was bought in the first place). We also did not have a set of anything for a shower. So, in short, we didn’t have a full matching set. Unexpectedly, Louis managed to find the bits and pieces he needed to repair the mixer for the basin at a really good price. We now had both the bath and basin mixer. New handles purchased for the in-pieces basin mixer. How long has the handle been sitting on a shop shelf? The price has yellowed! Guest Bathroom Because each wing of the container house is composed of private space, we have a larger central area that we will all use for entertaining. We decided to include a guest bathroom in the final plan so that our guests didn’t have to walk through our private space. This will also make it easier for when we have our guest rooms up and running for overnight visitors. For our guest bathroom, we’re putting in both a shower and a bath. The guest bathroom will also work as a backup bathroom for ourselves and will probably be used quite a bit by us before our other private bathrooms are functional. We also decided to include a bath as not all of our private bathrooms are having baths fitted. This gives us the option to bath on those occasions when we just really need a bath for the state of our emotional health. Because of the above reasons, we would like to get this bathroom finished sooner rather than later. Do we have everything? Well, we now had the fittings for the bath and basin that we require. That’s a good start! Since the shower is a little more hidden, Louis found a set of ISCA taps for the shower, that have a very similar design to the Cobra Carina. A very reflective ISCA (left) versus Cobra (right) We also have a couple of older shower panels to choose from. We bought a new, standard toilet (nothing fancy). We have a few old baths which we we may go through to see if any are salvageable. We should have enough second hand tiles for the walls. (We have the most awesome plan for this bathroom’s floor, so watch this space!) The 90’s Retro Bathroom Challenge So, with all these old bits and pieces, we have to come up with a plan to make a nice bathroom for our guests. The bathroom will probably have a strong retro vibe to it, but hopefully doesn’t feel too dated. Do you think we are up to the challenge? What About the Basin? We have two older style, second-hand basins. But they take the standard kind of tap, rather than the mixer type. So, can we use them? We might be able to, although they are not ideal for what we currently have. We’re going to have another scratch in our bin of old plumbing things and maybe we can still use one of them. In the meantime, just in case, let us know which basin you prefer for our retro bathroom. Second hand basin, number one Second hand basin, number two...
- Types of Water Pipe. What to Use When
  19th Aug 2020DIYI have been helping Kevin fit water pipes for the north wing of our container house. In doing so I realised that there are actually so many different types of water pipe one can use for the plumbing in one’s house. How does one know what to use when? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type of pipe? I asked Kevin for some insight into the world of plumbing pipes. The first thing that Kevin said that I needed to know is that each type of pipe has a variety of classes. What class you use would depend on the application. Wow! Plumbing pipes are actually a lot more complicated than you’d think. So, herewith a very basic summary of the most common types of household pipe found in South African homes, and some of their advantages and disadvantages. Types of Water Pipe Galvanised Steel Galvanised steel pipes are not used much in anymore in modern houses. However, this is something you are quite likely to find in an older house. Copper pipes have mostly replaced the galvanised steel ones as galvanised steel will eventually rust. Interestingly, if they are used alongside copper pipes, you have the added risk of galvanic corrosion, (I mentioned galvanic corrosion too, in our article on fitting windows) especially if your water flow is from copper pipes to steel. The reaction is so fast that you’ll be replacing your pipes in a matter of months. However, if your water flow is from the galvanised steel to copper, the situation won’t be ideal, but is better and can be used. Copper Pipes Copper pipes have since replaced galvanised steel. A downside of this type of pipe is the price. It’s one of the pricier pipes on the market, but you can expect an extremely long life span for copper pipes. They are also easy to fix, should something to go wrong. Strangely enough, copper pipes can react to the chemicals found in concrete and the pipes can corrode. To prevent this from happening, it’s best to wrap the pipes in something such as paper, if they are to be embedded in concrete. Compression ring type fittings are usually used to join this type of pipe. (You can read more about compression fittings on our article on repairing damaged water pipes) Polycop Pipe Outdoor tap fitted with polycop pipe This red plastic type pipe is a cheap option. It’s very good for running long distances for cold water only. If the incorrect fittings are used, or it is used for hot water, expect problems. Compression ring type fittings are usually used to join Polycop pipe. If polycop is used for hot water, the continual expansion and contraction of the line will cause the fittings to loosen, which will result in leaks. Polycop pipe can also be welded together. This is a cheap method of joining sections, that has excellent results. Multi-Layer Pipe (aka MLP, PEX or Composite Pipe) You can see the layers on MLP pipe end and on the right is the plastic insert that stops it corroding This is possibly the most interesting water pipe, with many names. It is made from three layers; two plastic with an aluminium layer sandwiched between them. If this pipe is fitted correctly, it is the best option with almost no disadvantages. The aluminium makes this pipe bendable. It won’t kink and it keeps its shape once bent. It’s good for underground and in walls. There is no galvanic reaction to be concerned about and it is cost effective. The only issue is that every pipe end must be fitted with a plastic insert before adding the compression fitting. If the insert is not fitted, water can get in between the layers and cause the aluminium to corrode. Over time, the corrosion will cause the plastic to crack and you’ll end up with leaks. This pipe is available in 100m rolls so will have less joins (in comparison to copper, for instance, which is sold in 5.5m lengths). This is what happens if you don’t use an insert HVAC Pipe There is a plastic pipe that looks similar to the multi-layer pipe (but is grey). However, this pipe is intended for heating, ventilation and aircons. It can handle reasonably high pressure, as one would find in water pipes. Some plumbers do use it in plumbing installations but it is not recommended as there are better options. Irrigation (HDPE) Pipe I’m sure you’ve seen this pipe variety. This black plastic pipe is usually used for irrigation. There are certain classes with thicker walls that can be used very successfully for cold water, over long distances, underground. It can also be rolled in coils and placed atop a roof (or other sunny spot) as a makeshift solar geyser. The black plastic absorbs the heat which is then transferred to the water in the coils. It is UV stable enough to be used for this application. PVC Pipe Water in (black HDPE pipe), waste out (large diameter PVC pipe) This plastic pipe is not usually used for pressurised water, although certain classes with thicker walls are available. They can be tricky to fit as they have to be glued together with PVC glue making it difficult to get water tight. You’ll usually find this pipe used for waste and run-off, such as in gutters, basin, bath and shower waste, and of course, your sewerage pipes. As well as various available classes, you get SV, UG and a blue type of PVC pipe. SV pipes are used for soil (waste) and ventilation. They are white and UV stable. UG pipes are for use underground. They are a more yellowish colour and will fade and crack in sunlight. Lastly, the blue PVC pipes are for pressurised water. Council main water lines often use this type of pipe. Of course, there are many many types of water pipe on the market. There are enough pipes for sale that one could dedicate an entire blog to writing about nothing but pipes. It’s a very unique world. Whatever types of water pipe you choose, buy a quality pipe that will last. Our South African readers can look for a product that has been SABS approved....
- The Difficulties on Installing a Concealed Cistern Toilet
  12th Aug 2020InteriorWe are really exploring as many options and possibilities as we can while we build our Container House. It is most enjoyable setting ourselves challenges and working out solutions. How do you make something designed for a brick house work for a metal box? What can you do with the materials available? This post answers the question on how we went about installing a concealed cistern toilet in our container house. Pros And Cons on Concealed Cistern Toilets A Con Have you ever sent the back end of a wall hung toilet pan? On a previous post mentioning some items we had bought for the next phase of the project (North wing), a reader rightly commented that it is difficult to use grey water in a toilet with a concealed cistern. Our reader is 100% correct. Unlike a traditional toilet, you cannot just lift the lid of the cistern and fill with a bucket. However, in this case, we do not think it is much of a concern. You can still flush this type of toilet with grey water. How? By pouring the bucket of grey water directly into the pan (something we have done before). The flushing water does not have to go through the cistern first. One could also plumb a grey water system so that it automatically pumps water to your toilet cistern. Our future plans include using rain water which will lighten our load on municipal supply. Some Pros Nevertheless, this type of toilet does actually have some pros on the list as well. If aesthetics are your thing, they’re much prettier as the majority of the ugly plumbing work is hidden away. They take up less space than a traditional toilet. This makes them useful in small bathrooms or for bathrooms for people with limited mobility. They are also easier to keep clean as more of it is tucked away behind the tiles. The flimsy bracket that holds the cistern in the wall Let’s not forget that the design of a concealed cistern toilet also means that they have to be more efficient. More efficient means that they can use up to 30% less water than with a standard toilet. I’m guessing this percentage is probably more when comparing to older designs . If filling up cisterns with buckets of your dirty shower water isn’t for you, but you still want to save water, perhaps this is the option you’re looking for. And Maintenance Issues To Be Aware Of If you do decide to purchase a concealed cistern toilet, be prepared to pay more than a standard toilet. This type of toilet is also more difficult to repair as the important bits will be neatly tucked away behind your wall tiles. (Most repairs can be made by accessing the workings by removing the flush buttons.) Super strong brackets to keep the toilet firmly in place Buying a Concealed Cistern Toilet Most concealed cistern toilets sold in South Africa are designed to be built into a brick wall. The frame work holding the plastic cistern is flimsy. You can buy systems designed to go into dry-walls, which would have worked well, but these are even more expensive than the standard brick wall type. We bought the standard brick wall type. On top of all that, we gave ourselves the additional challenge of buying a concealed cistern toilet with a wall hung pan. This means that we had to figure out how to mount a toilet, designed for a brick wall, to the side of a container so that it could support itself, the weight of the pan and the weight of people using it. An impossible challenge? A Welding Challenge Kevin’s plan to mount the toilet, in the end, was quite simple. He made a steel frame to which he bolted to the side of the container wall. This gave the flimsy wall bracket somewhere solid to sit, and also gave the whole unit the structural stability to take the surprisingly heavy weight of the pan. The whole installation would have been simpler if we had bought a floor mounted toilet. But in the long term, it is so much easier to keep the floor around a toilet clean if the pan is lifted off the floor! Once the concealed cistern is clad with fibre cement boards, and tiled, we’ll be able to hang the pan. Would you choose this option and the make the effort in installing a concealed cistern toilet in your container home? A bit of cladding, some tiles, and we can mount the pan in place, on the two threaded rods...
- Septic Tank Installation
  5th Aug 2020Yard & GardenWe have a very small brick conservancy tank on the property. Even with using minimal water and with only one toilet emptying into it, we have to have it cleaned out every two months or so. Kevin’s plan was to expand on the system and make it work to our benefit. We have gone to quite a lot of trouble with our septic tank installation and even though we must still complete some of the work, we are sure this will make a huge difference in the future. In the city, sewerage runs to a central area for water cleaning and recycling. In the country, it’s not so simple as there are no nearby waste treatment plants. All the properties in our area have conservancy tanks and the municipality have to clean it out for us all when they get full. Obviously, this costs us money every time we have to have it done, so we would like to minimize this as much as possible. A fork in a newly laid sewerage pipe, plus our water line To begin with, only one toilet emptied into the tank, but as our building progresses, we’ll have more toilets on site, all of which would empty into one very small tank. And then as we add showers and basins, the tank will fill even quicker. At the moment, we use almost all our waste water in the garden, except for that which goes down the toilet; and of course, we use as little water for this toilet as possible. Long term plans for the Container House include grey water systems and this is our first system in place for water re-use. And if it works out as well as we hope, it might be the only one we require. We shall see. To French Drain or Not to French Drain One would think that the obvious solution would be to install a French drain. The conservancy tank could then be turned into a septic tank to start the decomposing of the waste. The water would then run through the French drain and be filtered by rocks, stones and sand, after which it would seep into the ground. We had two problems with this idea: We have a lot of clay in our soil so the filtered water can not go anywhere unless we were to dig down past the clayOur water table is too high and we don’t want this unclean water reaching the water table before it has been properly filtered Getting to the bottom of the big hole for septic tank. No treasure was found. Our Solution – Septic Tank Installation Kevin’s idea was to use the best of both worlds to suit our circumstances. We have installed a secondary tank to be used as a septic tank. The decomposing process will start in this tank. The solids will slowly be turned to liquid, which will eventually run into the old conservancy tank. After we have flushed it out a few times with water running in from the septic tank and (now) a shower, the water in the tank will be much cleaner than it has been from the start. In time, we’ll buy a pump and a filter system. This water will then be clean enough to then be used to irrigate our garden. It takes a bit of getting your head around this. Many golf courses and botanical gardens use this system to irrigate their greens and plants. If you visit one of these places and see many signs up asking you not to drink the water, chances are, they’re using recycled waste water that has been treated in a similar manner to our system as described above. Using a block and tackle to get the orientation on the septic tank correct The Hard Work For Our Septic Tank Installation Kevin says that if you want to be a plumber, there’s only one thing you need to remember: Excrement flows downhill. It’s true. We spent hours leveling all the sewerage pipes. Installing the septic tank and incorporating it into the existing system involved a lot of hard physical labour: We had to fit all the new plumbing pipes around The Container HouseBefore we could begin digging the hole for the septic tank, we had to remove the caravan tent. The tent was very useful for storageWe had to dig a huge hole to fit our relatively small new septic tank. To our advantage, this was completed in the full sunshine for most of the day. UV light was working with us to keep Covid-19 at bay. We then had to dig up all the existing pipes and connect them to the new system (a smelly job)Much time was spent ensuring that the pipes all ran downhill in the correct direction. We even had to re-level the original pipesAll those trenches had to be filled and compacted. Leaving them all open for too long is dangerous We decided to do all this work as the winter rain has softened the ground. The wet soil is much easier to dig. It would have been much more difficult in the heat of summer with our hard baked clay. Action shot! Wiggling the tank down the last few centimetres. The Future In time, Kevin is also considering expanding the original brick conservancy tank for additional decomposition and filtering. For now we’re seeing how the system works and how quickly it all fills up. Perhaps we won’t need to do anything further to our septic tank installation....

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