In my column in the March issue of PRO, I included a photo of an obscure prototype restroom, going back to the 1980s and asked readers to identify the material used to make the unit. Contractor Craig Mendenhall, of American Sani-Can in Portland, Ore., was quick to provide the correct answer and some background on this peculiar product.
The prototype, from early fiberglass restroom manufacturer and portable sanitation contractor Harvey Heather, was constructed of cardboard. As I wrote in my column about Heather, his fiberglass USANCO restrooms were a major advance for a fledgling industry more than 30 years ago, and some of them are still found on construction sites today. But his cardboard units didn’t share the same success story.
“These units could knock down flat and in theory you could stack or nest, hundreds or thousands of units on a flatbed trailer. In a short time, at a festival event, pop them up together and be ready for service,’’ Mendenhall, who at one time worked for Heather, explained in an e-mail.
The restrooms were made of corrugated material, for added strength, and had a waxy outer coating to resist stains and promote longevity for an admittedly temporary restroom solution. I’m not sure how Heather planned to handle the issue of a waste tank in a collapsible unit, though.
Thanks go out to Mendenhall for his response. If you have any interesting historical photos to share with the rest of the portable sanitation industry, please send them to me at editor@promonthly.com.
