THE TOILET SUCK-AWAY PIT AND ITS BUILDING PROCESS
The sucker-way/soak pit of a building is where the toilet is connected to with a PVC pipe in order to direct all the human feces coming from the toilet flusher.
The modern sucker way or Toilet Soak Pit are built with a section for collecting water coming from the bathroom, kitchen washing pan, and any other waste water.
Toilet Suck-away Pit plays a very crucial role in a building such that no modern building in a city is habitable without it.
Imagine a house without a soak pit which means no toilet in the building, bathroom, and kitchen water will be flowing outside the building on one side causing the serious smell to the whole neighborhood which is very embarrassing and unacceptable in a city.
FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN BUILDING TOILET SOAK PIT
In the building of Toilet Soak Pit there are many factors to be put into consideration and they are:
a) THE SLOPE AND LEVELING OF THE BUILDING SURROUNDING
When a Toilet Suck-away Pit is to be dogged the proper slope of the land is checked because it is better to have the Toilet Suck-away Pit on a slope that is below the toilet and kitchen level. This is to make the flushing and flowing of water and fierce into the Toilet Suck-away Pit easy.
It also ensures no further lifting of the toilet seat & kitchen sinker level during installation. It is understandable that if the sucker way is located at a slope higher than the toilet, bathroom, and kitchen, it means extra work will be done to raise the level of these parts of building so as to ensure proper or possible flowing of water to the sucker way (Toilet Suck-away Pit) and this will make process of installation to require so many materials.
b) THE SPACE AVAILABLE WITHIN THE BUILDING
If you are considering building a Toilet Suck-away Pit without regard to space within the building you may end up wasting that little available space for Toilet Suck-away Pit due to lack of experience.
The scope is this; if space is small you need a very deep Toilet Suck-away Pit, although it is more costly in making but it will go a long way to secure more space around the building.
Most Toilet Suck-away Pit has a standard of 10 meters deep to 6 meters deep it is all about the choice of the builder and the available space, where there is little space the depth can go as far as 15 feet deep.
Why this is important is because if the Toilet Soak Pit is deep it will require small area in term of land size, the standard Toilet Soak Pit in Nigeria today is 6 feet width by 10 feet breath and 10 feet depth, this is a standard four bedroom flat.
While when the depth of this Toilet Suck-away Pit is about 15 feet it will automatically reduce the width and breath to about 3 feet and 7 feet respectively,
c) THE SIZE OF THE BUILDING
When a building is small the Toilet Suck-away Pit is expected to be small and vice versa, the reason is simple because the period or interval of evacuating the Toilet Suck-away Pit when it is filled up will be the concern of the occupants of the building.
Hence if the size is small while the building size is large such that more occupants occupy the building it simply means the Toilet Suck-away Pit will get filled up regularly or at a closed interval of time which shall be a source of expenses to the occupants as well as inconvenience.
Because of this problem every builder must or usually put into consideration the size of the building before allocating space for the Toilet Soak Pits.
d) ESTIMATED NUMBER OF OCCUPANTS IN THE BUILDING
Due to the economic situation some building is over occupied by loads and humans, hence an estimation of the maximum loads and occupants of the building must be put in place while planning for the Toilet Soak Pit. If the building occupants were underestimated it will lead to the quick filling of the Toilet Suck-away Pit.
e) TYPE OF TOILET SUCK-AWAY PIT
While the building of Toilet Suck-away Pit is inevitable in a building it is also necessary you put into consideration the type of Toilet Soak Pit to be used as there are many types of Toilet Soak Pits but the two major types are; the concrete-walled Toilet Suck-away Pit and the blocks laid Toilet Suck-away Pits also we have mixed-flow Toilet Soak Pit and separate flow Toilet Suck-away Pit.
f) REINFORCEMENT OF THE TOILET SUCK-AWAY PIT
To reinforce the Toilet Soak Pit you will need the iron or steel rods, the size of the rod determines the strength of the Toilet Suck-away Pit, most standard Toilet Suck-away Pits were reinforced with 12 mm to 14 mm rod thickness.
These are for loads that are lighter example is small vehicles and minor vibrations but for Toilet Soak Pit along a road passable by heavy-duty vehicles it is advisable to use steel rods of 16mm and above.
The reinforcement of the Toilet Soak Pit is very necessary not only for the safety aspect but also to avoid being taken unaware with sudden collapse thereby exposing the whole environment to air pollution.
Beside this need for ordinary block walled Toilet Soak Pit, you still need the rods for the top cover or top floor so it can be able to stand very well and be stable even though it will not carry heavy loads.
g) TOTAL COST OF BUILDING IT
While building Toilet Soak Pits could be costly or cheap depending on the type, it is necessary to make proper calculations to ensure there’s adequate finance to ensure it is completed as any Toilet Soak Pit built half-way is a waste of money since it cannot be put into use without completion and connection with pipes.
Knowing the cost helps the individual to avoid incomplete project since know that according to the types listed earlier the stronger the Toilet Soak Pit is, the costlier it is to build.
