Putting In an All-purpose Sink

A kitchen sink with running water was the first sign of civilized comfort during the settling of the West, and it's the basic amenity for even a Spartan vacation cabin. This minimum of equipment turns cooking, meal cleanups and personal washing into simple indoor routines rather than difficult outdoor chores.

The sink is an easily added convenience if you have any kind of pump- delivered water supply—electric pumps provide the water wherever you want it, and even a hand-operated pitcher pump can be mounted indoors. The sink easiest to set up is an inexpensive plastic laundry tub, which has the added advantage of large size. However, if your pump is hand-operated, you will need a counter to mount the pump on; in that case, a better choice for a sink is probably the stainless-steel type designed to be attached to a ready-made counter or a plywood shelf.

Flexible plastic pipe brings water in to a pump or faucet. Waste runs out through rigid plastic traps and T fittings into a drain line of flexible pipe, leading to a drainage system.

The waste from a sink is what sanitary experts call gray water, since it contains relatively little organic matter. In many rural areas, particularly in Europe, it simply goes into an open channel and eventually seeps into the ground, like rain water from downspouts. However, gray water will contain such contaminants as soapsuds and food particles. At a mini mum, a pit is advisable for drainage; many codes require a complete septic system.

114a The basic sink. In this installation, water from an electric pump comes through plastic pipe to a faucet mounted in one of the holes of a standard kitchen sink; the other holes are capped with faucet-hole covers, available from a plumbing supplier. The sink is mounted in a hole cut through a plywood shelf, with clips provided by the manufacturer. If a hand-operated pump is used, plug all sink holes except for the drain hole at the bottom of the basin and mount the pump on the counter to empty into the sink . For drainage, fit the sink with a straight tailpiece and a P-shaped trap; from the trap, route the waste to the drainpipe through an elbow, a trap arm and a T fitting. In this installation a special in-house vent, permissible in many areas in place of a through-the-roof vent, is attached to the top of the T.

114b Assembling the drains. Before installing the sink, apply putty to the underside of the strainer body lip and insert the strainer body into the drain hole. Slip on rubber and metal washers and secure with a lock nut. Then assemble the strainer sleeve, slip nut and tailpiece and connect the tailpiece to the strainer body.

After the sink is mounted, fasten the P trap to the tailpiece with a slip nut and washer. Connect the trap to the T with a short piece of pipe called the trap arm. To the top of the T attach a 4” pipe that fits into a female-threaded adapter. Coat the threads of the vent with petroleum jelly to ensure an airtight fit, and screw the vent into the adapter. Slip a female adapter fitted with an adapter for flexible pipe into the bottom of the T. Slide the main drainpipe over the adapter and clamp it fast.

Assembling the supply. Before mounting the sink in the counter, install the faucet and the connections to the supply pipe. Caulk the under side of the faucet base with plumber’s putty and attach the faucet in the sink hole with an 0-ring and nut; screw on a steel coupling and attach a flexible-pipe adapter to the coupling. In stall strainer and tailpiece , then mount the sink, slide the supply pipe over the adapter and secure the pipe with a hose clamp.

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115 Natural Cold Storage: The Root Cellar

Before building the most famous of all America’s woodland retreats, at Walden Pond in 1845, naturalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau dug a root cellar to preserve his crops through the win ter. Thoreau dug his cellar “in the side of a hill sloping to the south, where a woodchuck had formerly dug his bur row, down through sumach and blackberry roots, and the lowest stain of vegetation, six’ square by seven deep, to a fine sand where potatoes would not freeze in any winter.”

Today, more and more people are re discovering the technique of storing crops underground to preserve them. Thoreau’s root cellar was like those built today in both size and location— about 7’ deep and 6’ square and located at the cold north side of a cabin. Modern root cellars like the one shown below can be shored with grouted masonry blocks or with pressure-treated timbers. A set of steps and a hinged trap door complete the cellar. A floor of moist compacted earth will help maintain the 80 to 90 percent humidity that helps to preserve food.

“In almost all latitudes,” Thoreau wrote, “men dig into the earth for an equable temperature.” As a general rule, root cellars can be used wherever the ground is cold enough to keep pro duce between 32° and 40° throughout the winter. In areas with a high water table, root cellars must be built above- ground, with soil banked around three sides. All root cellars should be well- ventilated with a screened outlet, to prevent what one poet has called “a congress of stinks.”

Simpler to make, and adequate for short-term storage of small amounts of produce, is a cone-shaped root pit. A hole 6 to 8” deep and 1 foot across is lined with a layer of straw or leaves. Vegetables or fruits—which should not be stored together—are stacked in a cone-shaped pile and covered with more bedding. The entire pile is topped with 3 to 4” of soil, but some bedding is extended out the top of the dirt for ventilation. The straw is covered with a short board, the soil is tamped so water will run off and a shallow drainage ditch is dug around the pit. Once the pit is opened, the entire contents should be removed.

Preparation of crops for underground storage is not simply a matter of sticking them in the ground; without proper handling an entire store food can be ruined. As a rule, produce should be harvested as close to the first frost as possible. Traditionally, root crops are air-dried so the skins harden, and the tops are cut to within an inch of the crown. Beets, carrots and turnips can then be buried in damp sand and covered with a layer of straw. Potatoes must be stored in bins. Produce with a high water content—such as tomatoes and peppers—will not last beyond January; stored apples, dried beans, onions and potatoes are still edible in spring.

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