Open Job Site Gets Gusty: Stake the Porta Potty?

Yes, you should stake that standard portable toilet. A 200-pound unit is a lightweight to a strong, sustained wind, and an unsecured one can tip over, damaging the unit and spilling the contents. The driver should have staked it during placement, but since they didn't, it's on you to secure it now to prevent damage you'd be billed for.

Staking is simple. Use four metal T-posts or heavy-duty stakes, one at each corner. Drive them into the ground at an angle away from the unit and use nylon straps or rope to tie the unit's frame to the stakes. Do not drill into the plastic. Your gravel pad is good for drainage but won't hold a stake as well as soil, so drive them deep.

Your six-person crew is fine with one unit under OSHA 1926.51 for construction sites. Just make sure the driver has clear truck access from the alley for the weekly service visit, which is the standard frequency for a crew your size.

Stake it, and do it before the first real blow instead of after you find it on its side. We ran a gut rehab a couple blocks off the water a few winters back and lost a standard unit on day three. It wasn't the steady wind that got it, it was one gust coming around the corner of the house.

What we did after that:

• Rethink the placement first. Put the back of the unit to the wind and tuck it close to the house or a fence so it gets some shelter. Keep the door facing your work path.
• Strap around the body of the unit, not just through a handle, and run straps to stakes on at least two sides. On gravel our stakes pulled right out until we drove them down into the dirt under the stone.
• It's lightest right after a service visit, so that's the day to walk over and check the straps.
• Call the rental office and ask if they want their own tie down used. Ours sent the driver back that same week to do it, and then nobody argued about who was responsible.

Get the answer on who pays for a tip over in writing too. Six months on the lakefront is a lot of storms.