Comments on: Can you Put a Porta Potty in a Building

By: Portable-Toilet-Rentals

Portable-Toilet-Rentals — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:00:41 +0000

Great conversation. PSAI did a great job on explaining this one I think. Good job Mr. Carroll!

By: Michael O'Brian

Michael O'Brian — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:18:01 +0000

Christina yes and no, did you have a link to one you have seen? There are some concern with venting of the porta potty but there is a possibility and can be depended on manufacture

By: Porta Potty

Porta Potty — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:54:51 +0000

Yes, a porta potty company offers high rise porta potties and I would assume these would be indoors? Can any one confirm this?

Thanks,
Christina

By: Rick Bond

Rick Bond — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:49:54 +0000

Run into the porta-john issues all of the time across the pond in the desert, and had to research much of the discussion content.

Although porta-johns can be used in a building under construction, that building must be fully vented and not closed up. If the building is closed, then the porta-john must be vented to the outside. Although not found in the fire codes and dificult to find in any building codes, my environmental folks found the reference and the issue was within their jusrisdiction.

By: Jason Gramer

Jason Gramer — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:42:00 +0000

During the building of the Compuware Headquarters in Detroit we were supposed to use porta potties that had no roof on them. Venting was not addressed as the building was not closed in at the time. The only way to clean them was to put them into the buck hoist and take them to the truck.

By: Richard Dunne

Richard Dunne — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:53:26 +0000

The city had place a Porta Potty in the bay of one of our fire station for two weeks. This was during the scheduled replacement of the stations sewer line. During the timeframe that the Porta Potty was in the station the station was in operation and manned 24 hours a day. The engine company assigned to that station parked within 15 feet of the Porta Potty, and between 3 to 6 firefighters slept in the station at night.

By: Ray Cole

Ray Cole — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:25:59 +0000

As you defined. A portable toilet is a modern portable, self contained outhouse . This portable unit was designed for exterior use.( Listed and labeled).

By: Don Donnelley

Don Donnelley — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:05:48 +0000

Porta johns were found in an industrial building that had no running water or gas and they were running a document restoration service with about 50 employees. The johns were the least of our concerns when there was serious building and fire code violations everywhere we looked. Still curiousity made me inquire further later. I wound up making an industry contact

D. Millicent Carroll
Portable Sanitation Association International
Director Industry/Regulatory Standards

Millicent cited Ansi and State of Michigan rules and says they are not prohibited from buildings. I am still waiting to hear from our mechanical inspector and County Health.

By: Kurt Bortels

Kurt Bortels — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:24:46 +0000

Actually I have seen them used in larger commercial projects, as long as they are properly vented to outside and a temporary permit is applied for (depending on jurisdiction) it is acceptable practice. Fire load typically is not a concern. especially when for the most part these are used “temporarily” and there are much greater fire concerns for us than a plastic container on a construction site. Over all common sense for use and location and if it is necessary to accomodate an ADA situation the contractor should provide an alternative location or make sure to have an ADA unit available for use.

By: Scott Colcord

Scott Colcord — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:43:58 +0000

I see them inside unoccupied buildings, during construction.
They are too tall for the fork lift to bring in, so they are “topless” models, and they remain topless during use.
Not fun, as the user is exposed from mid-torso up while seated.
I don’t know what issues require in-building use, probably the surrounding sidewalks are full of other construction obstacles.