Cesspits, or cesspools, were cavities dug into the ground that were ideally brick-lined, into which both liquid and solid human waste were dumped—usually along with other domestic rubbish. They were often purposely made porous so that the liquid content slowly seeped away and capacity for solid waste was maximised.
There weren't always toilets as we know them today. Before the invention of the loo humans used a hole in the ground, potties and chamber pots!
Before the flush toilet you pooped or peed in a bucket or similar and either threw it out the window into the street, buried it in your fields/garden, or carried it to a local river/stream and threw it in. Some even stored it in their basements or...
17th and 18th Century Toilets Became Cesspits
During this time, many took to their gardens to create a cesspit where they would bury their waste. Overnight, Night Soil Men would then empty the pits and remove the waste. A few tweaks were made to this design with many then reverting to using privies and outside toilets.
Where do human feces ultimately go after you flush them out? They go to sewage treatment plants where they get digested in huge vats by aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. At the end, the vats are allowed to settle out and the water is released into a stream to be used as drinking water by people downstream.
In the United States during the early 1800s, community sewers were constructed for stormwater while human waste was poorly managed. Towns used methods like cesspools and chamber pots, which were often emptied into streets, eventually leading human waste to stormwater sewers.
Where does the water go after you flush the toilet or drain the sinks in your home? When the wastewater flushed from your toilet or drained from your household sinks, washing machine, or dishwasher leaves your home, it flows through your community's sanitary sewer system to a wastewater treatment facility.
Options included rocks, leaves, grass, moss, animal fur, corn cobs, coconut husks, sticks, sand, and sea shells.
Marie Antoinette had a very early version of the flush toilet installed in her suite of rooms!
Though even wealthy families did not take a full bath daily, they were not unclean. It was the custom for most people to wash themselves in the morning, usually a sponge bath with a large washbasin and a pitcher of water on their bedroom washstands. Women might have added perfume to the water.
Before throwing the waste out the window, they'd yell “Guardez l'eau!” The term “guardez l'eau” first came to English as “gardy-loo” and then shortened to “loo”, which eventually came to mean the toilet itself.
Outhouses: Outhouses were a common form of bathroom in many Native American cultures. They were typically small, one-room structures with a hole in the ground for defecation. The hole was often covered with a wooden or stone lid.
The most popular iteration of this trend was the use of black and white, particularly in floor and wall tiles. However, dark blue and deep green were also often featured in 1910s bathroom. The most recognisable of all 1910s style, black-and-white patterned floor tile was a symbol of sophistication.
What did people use before toilet paper? Over the last several millenia, people have used all kinds of tools to get the job done. Ancient Greeks used stones and shards of ceramic inscribed with the names of their enemies; Romans used bits of sea sponge fastened to sticks, which they stored in bowls of salt water.
The introduction of indoor flush toilets started to displace chamber pots in the 19th century, but they remained common until the mid-20th century. The alternative to using the chamber pot was a trip to the outhouse.
Louis XIV of France, for example, is said to have taken only two baths in his adult lifetime — both times recommended by his doctors. The king had headaches, and his doctors thought bathing would help cure the condition. It did not, and he never bathed again.
While it smells fine now, hygiene practices (or the lack thereof) in France during Louis XIII's reign meant that the palace smelled like urine, fecal matter, and more. Some claim that a lack of toilets in the palace even led some visitors to relieve themselves behind curtains and pillars.
Prior to the 1700s, baths were considered immoral and even dangerous. But for residents of Versailles, they were apparently common. For Marie Antoinette in particular, baths happened everyday.
Rags and nappies (1700s)
First forward to the 18th century and most women would simply use old clothing or just normal baby nappies as menstrual rags. For women who did not have enough rags, they would use sheepskin and line it with cotton. They would boil them clean after every use.
Other ways of wiping before the invention of toilet paper
Early North American settlers used corn cobs. They were abundant, they were soft and they were easy to handle. Sailors used something called a 'tow rag'. A tow rag was a long piece of frayed rope that dangled in the water.
It may be because your toilet drain is clogged, a faulty water tank, low water pressure, or even the design of your toilet. The good news is that it is easy to fix this problem. You can either get in touch with a professional plumber or try it yourself.
Whenever you flush the toilet or empty the sink, the wastewater goes down the drain and into a pipe, which takes it to a larger sewer pipe under the road. The sewer then joins our network of other sewers and takes the wastewater to a sewage treatment works.
To achieve your desired temperature, your shower valve is mixing hot water and cold water. However, when the toilet is flushed, cold water is temporarily siphoned away from the shower as the toilet refills. This makes the mixture of water coming out of your showerhead much hotter.