Whether you’re event planning for corporate events or sporting events or even a wedding, planning for porta potties at your outdoor event is going to be a crucial step in making sure your guests are comfortable.

While you may have indoor toilets available, sometimes, when you have a lot of guests that will need to use the bathroom, having extras is important. We’ve serviced hundreds of outdoor events and porta potties are an easily overlooked or ill-considered line item. 

Portable Toilet Rentals for Your Outdoor Venue

 Having easily accessible portable toilets is a standard practice among outdoor event planners. They are easily placed and easily removed. They can be luxurious and fancy or just plain. They can be lined up for larger events or singularly placed in various locations for weddings or corporate events.

Whatever the need, a portable restroom is easily one of the easiest ways to make sure your guests can “go” whenever they need to without a problem.

However, where to place your porta potties is a big question, as the trucks unloading them have to have access, and the porta potties have to be useable wherever they stand!

Let’s have a look at three mistakes to avoid when placing your porta potties.

Mistakes to Avoid for Outdoor Porta Potty Placement

When you’re planning for an event, thinking about making sure you have chosen a proper area for your porta potty rentals is probably not always on the top of your mind, but with some considerations in mind, it’ll be an easy task to mark off your list.

Here are some of the common mistakes we’ve seen over the years:

1. Don’t forget to check the weather.

Many times, we’ve seen event planners forget that porta potties are affected by the weather. If you don’t properly plan for inclement weather in your space, it's possible that your rentals can and may tip over. High winds against a big, flat, square piece of plastic doesn’t go very well for the plastic (and possibly anyone inside!) 

Be sure to check the weather forecast before your event is scheduled and make sure to have a plan for if the weather decides to be less than cooperative to avoid any sort of accidents.

Here are a few ways to help, in case there is poor weather conditions or high winds:

• Tie down the potties to stakes in the ground. Tie rope or tow straps to a large stake in the ground on one side of the unit, go over the top of it, then tie the strap or rope to another large stake in the ground on the other side. (Be sure to check with your rental company about this option. They may wish to do this themselves.)
• Change the placement of your unit(s). If you can find an area with a wind break to help eliminate the possibility of the porta potty from being blown over, it can help avoid a mess.
• Have a backup plan. If all else fails, and you simply don’t want to worry about the rentals, be sure to have some sort of backup plan for your guests (who will still need to use the bathroom).

2. Walk the area you plan to use.

One mistake that is easily avoided is not having seen the area you’re planning to use for your porta potties with your own eyes.

Be sure to walk the area and make sure there is a flat spot where the units will not be easily tipped over or sunk into the ground because it is too soft.

You would be surprised at how often someone has just assumed the area next to a pond or lake is suitable just to find out the ground was too soft or spongy. Walk the area yourself and be sure there won’t be any surprises.

3. Know where food and drink are/will be.

When people drink and eat, they need to use the bathroom more often. Planning for this eventuality is a significant way to avoid issues with guests being made uncomfortable.

Of course, you may not want to choose an area right next to the food and drink, but having your rentals nearby and easy to find will be a help to any event host.

Worried about how they will look? We’ve written about some ideas on how to make a porta potty more fancy for outdoor weddings, but here are a few quick ideas:

• Decorate the outside of the porta potty.
• Cover it with a tent or canvas.
• Create a “blind” for in front of the unit. (Using some sort of cover or decor to make them a little less of an eyesore.)
• Embrace the potty. Use the classic/rustic/rough look to your advantage for your event theme.

4. Plan for handicapable guests.

Be sure that you know if you’ll have any guests that require special accommodations and be sure to order the appropriate number of handicap accessible units. 

Any company you choose to rent from will have options available that are perfectly ADA compliant, and you should have no problems finding units that will fit your needs.

But forget this and you and your guests could be stuck with some very uncomfortable issues.

Planning outdoor events can take a lot of thought and careful consideration, but with experience, everyone will get better. Learn from our wisdom from being in the industry!

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