3 Reasons Why You Have a Random Toilet in Your Basement

When we moved into our old house, we had a random toilet in the basement.  Quite honestly, it was weird.  

Why is there a random toilet in my basement?  Here's 3 reasons why.... #oldplumbing #randomtoilet #pittsburghpotty

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I assure you it was NOT a second bathroom.  There was no sink, not even a wall.  Even the toilet’s placement didn’t make sense.  It sat on an elevated wooden platform situated directly on top of our home’s main sewer line.  And was shoved mere inches from the stone foundation wall.  No room for any comfort.  It was a tacky “throne” on a platform in my basement.

Pittsburgh Potty in our basement on an old wooden platform #pittsburgh potty #antiqueplumbing
Our random toilet up sitting on a wooden platform (left side of picture)

We knew that was no way we would ever use this basement toilet.  Even if we finished the basement, the placement of the toilet right up against the foundation wall was not going to be comfortable.   

But while we had a random toilet in our basement, we didn’t have a slop sink.  Now THAT we could use.  When we moved into our house we had to paint and update the house.  Lots and lots of painting.  So paint brushes were getting washed in sinks in the kitchen and bathroom. 

And that didn’t sit well with me.  Call me weird, I’ve got a thing against washing paint brushes in the same exact sink where we also wash our food.  Just doesn’t seem sanitary.  

So we decided to remove the basement toilet and replace it with a slop sink. I found an old porcelain slop sink off of Craigslist in a neighboring town.

It came in two separate pieces and looked a bit rough at first (see first two pictures). But with a bit of elbow grease, CitriStrip, Bar Keepers Friend cleanser and Rust-Oleum high-heat spray paint in black, I think it cleaned up quite nicely (third picture)! 

But how that random toilet got into the basement in the first place?  We came up with two main theories:

1. Builder’s “Porta Potty”

When our house was built (1910s) we doubted that portable toilets as we know them today existed.  So perhaps the builder installed a toilet over the main sewer line to minimize “break times” to go find a toilet.  And when the house was completed, they just left it. For whatever reason (likely monetary) it didn’t make sense to take it with them.

2. Frustrated Father

Our house was built with one bathroom and four bedrooms.  In the olden days, families were generally larger whether it be more children, or multi-generations all living under one roof. 

In researching the history of my house, I’ve learned that at least one family had 4 children at one time in our house (they lived there for over 20 years). (BTW, if interested in researching the history of your own house, I’ve pulled together a Beginner’s Guide to Researching the History of Your House that might help). With all those people in the house, I image some arguments over sharing one bathroom.  I pictured a father of the house, frustrated with lack of time or privacy in the bathroom, finally giving up and coming home one day with a toilet and attaching it to the sewer line in the basement.  Sure no heat, no walls, BUT no one would bother him as he found some peace and quiet down the basement.

While the first theory (Builder’s Porta Potty) sounded plausible, we were able to cross that off the list when the plumber showed up. When he switched out the toilet with the restored slop sink he found the manufacture date sticker on the toilet. Our random toilet was dated from the 1930s, about 15 -20 years after the house was built. So we assumed the Frustrated Father theory.

And we didn’t think about that old toilet again.

Basement set-up after we moved the Pittsburgh Potty and replaced with a much-needed slop sink to wash paintbrushes #oldbasements #laundrybasin
“After” photo. A brand new wooden platform supporting our “new” old slop sink, washer and dryer.

Time Passed….

Fast forward from 2014 when we removed the toilet until 2019.  On Instagram I followed a hashtag movement called #52weeksofhome.  It’s a project started by Amy Leigh, a music conductor and band director by day and restoring her 1902 Queen Anne Victorian home by night. Every week holds a new photo challenge, whether it’s capturing our home’s woodwork or tile work, or a quirk in our old houses.

Week #7 of this Instagram Challenge was about utilitarian spaces.  Participants posted about their laundry rooms, mud rooms, basements, etc.  I decided to post a before-and-after picture of the laundry area with our random toilet (before) and slop sink (after). 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt8ZoO0lEe8/

And the very first comment gave a name to our random basement toilet. “Pittsburgh Potty”.  Huh.

My curiosity was sparked so to Google I went!  What exactly were these “Pittsburgh Potties”? 

What are Pittsburgh Potties?

Pittsburgh Potties are ordinary flush toilets installed in the basements of older homes, with no surrounding walls. Commonly these were paired with a larger sink that doubled as a laundry basin. 

These potties tend to be in houses with unfinished basements built between 1880 and 1940s (i.e. pre-World War II-era homes), but mostly between 1880 and 1920.

The majority of these basement toilets have been found in Pittsburgh (hence the name….).  BUT these toilets have also been found all over the country in older houses. 

Well, they’re all around northern New Jersey, all around the suburbs of New York City. They exist in New England, up in the Boston area, Philadelphia, you know, all around the Northeast.

William Martin – 90.5 WESA (Pittsburgh’s NPR Station)

Why were Pittsburgh Potties installed?

There doesn’t appear to be one specific answer for why homeowners installed toilets in their basements, but rather three general theories. 

1. Steel Worker “Mudrooms”

These toilets are focused in heavily industrial towns like Pittsburgh.  Why?  To avoid tracking grime into their home, steelworkers and miners would enter their basements after a long, dirty day at work to clean up before entering the main part.

While other industrial cities certainly had, as Mike Rowe would put it “Dirty jobs”, Pittsburgh’s topography may be the key reason for why it has the most potties.  With its hills and valleys, houses were commonly built on a slope which resulted in the basement level accessible from the outside.  So workers could enter these basement “mudrooms” and clean up before entering the regular living space of their homes.

3 Reasons why you have an old toilet sitting in your basement #randomtoilet #toiletnowalls #oldbasements #oldtoilet #sewerbackup

I admit that at first I wasn’t convinced of this theory.  Only in some cases are these random basement toilets also accompanied with a crude shower.  It didn’t make sense.  Wouldn’t these workers need a shower to rinse off the grime?  How are these workers truly cleaning up? 

But then on Reddit, I read about a woman recalling her grandfather lying out a clean set of clothes in the basement before going to work. And then that made sense.  The worker would remove his clothes in the basement, where they would remain until they were washed.  It’s actually quite efficient!

I wondered if this scenario could apply to the random toilet in my home.  Could the owner of my house in the 1930s been a blue-collar worker who needed to clean up before entering the main living area?  It’s quite possible. 

In researching the history of my house, a carpenter and his wife lived there in the 1920s.  Carpentry isn’t the dirtiest job, but my style of house (American Foursquare) was geared towards the working class due to its low cost.  Plus, my town has a strong industrial history.  My house is located within a mile of what was once the world’s largest rattan (i.e. wicker) furniture manufacturer, and a major ice manufacturer. 

2.  Facilities for Hired Help

While a “basement throne” makes sense for blue-collar homes, Pittsburgh Potties have also been found in far larger, grander homes.  Houses that clearly would be a stretch for an average steelworker to own. 

So why the toilet in the basement?  Simple.  The home’s rich occupants did not expect to share bathroom facilities with their servants or hired help.  Therefore, the hired help had separate accommodations.  And where else would be the “best” place for an employee restroom?  In the basement. 

Could this be case for my house?  I’d say definitely not.  Considering the small size (i.e. 1700 square feet) and type of our home (i.e. the plain American Foursquare), it would be highly unlikely our house ever had servants or hired help.

A multi-tasking Pittsburgh Potty

3.  Sewer Line Back-ups

In an interview with a Pittsburgh news station, architect William Martin explains a third reason behind Pittsburgh Potties.  At the end of the 1800s and into the 1900s, the United States saw significant growth in housing as a result of an economic boom cause by the industrial area. 

While housing was booming, utilities were not keeping up.  Sewer systems in cities and towns were antiquated.  Prior to the Civil War, underground sewer pipes commonly consisted of hollowed out tree trunks.  But the population increase meant more fluid flowing through the pipes.  The tree trunks couldn’t keep up with, uh, well the flow (C’mon!  I had to insert some potty humor somewhere in this post!!!)

Wood pipes in Michigan (Source swerehistory.org)
Wood pipes in Michigan (Courtesy of sewerhistory.org)

In other words, homes in cities in towns frequently experienced sewer back-ups.  Home owners were experiencing frequent sewer messes in the bathrooms, kitchens, and everywhere else they had plumbing fixtures. 

Tired of cleaning up sewerage in their living areas, homeowners found that installing a toilet in their basement could combat these frequent unpleasant episodes. Why a toilet in the basement?  Because it was the lowest point of the waste system.  So, as the sewer backed up, the toilet in the basement would overflow. And the rest of the house wouldn’t be impacted, and remain clean.  It’s a lot simpler to clean up a simple basement concrete slab than carpets and hardwood floors of the upstairs levels. 

So could this be the reason for the random toilet in my basement?  It’s a definite maybe!  Why?  First, Annual Reports for my town in the 1930s reference several expenses for upgrading the sewer system, which would indicate problems.  Second, if gravity has anything to do with where sewers would back up, my house is a prime target.  We live at the bottom of a huge hill, probably the largest hill in town.

One last thing….A Pittsburgh Potty Coffee Table Book?

Yup, a coffee table book is in the making about Pittsburgh Potties.  Amateur photographer and Pittsburgh resident Ted Zellers is currently compiling photographs of these random (or maybe now I should say not-so-random) basement toilets. He hopes to share them in a coffee table book, or a gallery show.

I reached out to Ted and he elaborated more on his project. Ted believes that while sewer backups may have been in impetus for basement toilets, there may be a combination of factors specific to Pittsburgh; the commonality of of basements including walk-out basements; their use by industrial workers; and a long period of economic decline in Pittsburgh area the limited renovation budgets.

While interested in the lore behind these toilets, he’s more interested in how they relate in the present. The book should be ready for sale later this year, so keep in touch for updates!

Thanks!

I’d like to give a shout out to my friends on Instagram who commented on my picture. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge and thoughts on my not-so-random basement toilet and sending solidarity on the challenges of owning an old house

What the heck is a Pittsburgh Potty?  Do you have one in your old house?  #pittsburghpotties #oldplumbing #Pittsburghsteel

Do you own a Pittsburgh Potty? If so, I’d love to hear from you. Post a picture in the Comments section below and tell us what you know about it.

If you are located in the Pittsburgh area, consider reaching out to Ted Zeller above.

Interested in other “old-time” plumbing fixtures, but maybe a little more, uh, classy? Check out my 4 Irresistible Reasons to Love a Vintage Clawfoot Tub (actually now there is 5 reasons….).

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Related Posts


Want to be the first to know about new posts? Be sure to follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter of even Etsy! Or better yet… Subscribe below!

My monthly (admittedly sometimes more, sometimes less….) emails are like receiving a unexpected letter from an old friend WITHOUT needing to put on your slippers and walk out to your mailbox…. See? I got ya, my friend!)

[Note: My posts are proudly connected to these amazing link parties full of DIY ideas and inspiration!]

2 Comments

  1. We have one in our 1896 home. It is on a raised slab but has tall shutter “walls” and a swinging door. No idea when it was installed or why.

    1. Susan- thanks for sharing! Sounds like yours had a bit more privacy than ours, even with a swinging door (I’m picturing an Old West saloon style door). And ours was also on a raised slab – I wonder why? Likely just to have a flat surface to secure the toilet…

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