What to do with my septic field?

[LarryRB]

are these lines 12" or less because they have to maintain the minimum 4 ft above ground water level? That is why Wisconsin mounds are now pretty popular. I just never heard of "walk" a hand mower over a leach system unless that system is inches below present grade. Inquiring minds would like to know.

 

[DaveNay]

Heck....I don't even know where my leach field is, and I drive my tractor all over the place /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Dave

 

[Poppa]

Dave, in my area it is easy to find the leach fields. Just wait until August and it will be the only green patch left on the land.

I have a question though for the rest of the crowd since we are on the subject of leach fields. IF, a field gets compacted, is there any way to "Rejuvenate" it short of remove and replace? I happen to have two fields on my property. The original was abused by previous owners and is siginificantly compacted. A new one was placed just before we moved in because the first was saturated. One neighbor told me he had drug the previous owner out of the old field on more than one occassion /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Luckily, they plumbed it so that I can choose which field to use. I use the old one for a couple months, I can actually feel it get mushy and then switch to the new one. Anyway, I was wondering if it was possible to shallow till or do something to the old field to improve it?

Mike

 

[Inspector507]

Terra Lift will rejuvenate a leach field. Had it done to mine.
TerraLift

Actually there is a dealer in Parker, CO

 

[Soundguy]

How your leach feild handles is going to be effected by a variety of circumstances. Primarilly, soil condition, and type of leach field.

For instance the leach field at my housw is more of a comercial style.. and utilizes 3 large underground drainage structures to help dispers the water.

Add to that I have sandy soil.. so sand that you can pour out a glass of water ont he ground, look away, and look back and the sand is dry... great perc...

Soundguy

 

[Poppa]

Inspector 507,

Thanks for the link. You said you had it done to yours, did any of those little styrene pellets make it to the surface? I picture Old Faithful /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif. Seems like one of those things where I can understand why it would work and how it would work but feels funny or unsound, environmentally (something I have been accused of on more than one occassion anyway /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif), the idea of injecting styrene into the ground

Soundguy,

I have predominantly clay soils Good for ponds /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif, in fact a neighbor boasts all the time how when he built his pond he didn't even have to use a liner. Bad for Percs /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. There are some sandy areas I found last year when I was installing fence posts but by then it didn't matter anymore since I already had two leach fields and sure didn't want another.

Mike

 

[Inspector507]

Never saw that first pellet on the ground, except for the little spill in the drive when they filled the hopper too fast.
Keep in mind, my yard was a black lake when they did it......they wore raingear and still went away a mess. We had black geysers shooting in the air 20' at every hole they made /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[CTyler]

I could just see that.....Yuhuhuhukkkk...LOL!!!

 

[GerardC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Put some loam over it and grass it. If you are mowing with a small tractor such as the BX or one of the other smaller tractors, I doubt that it will even notice that you are riding over it. They are not as sensitive as the contractor is making you believe. Lots of people have grass over the leach fields and mow it with small tractors without any harm.)</font>

I agree. I've mowed my leach field for over 4 years now with an MTD 16.5 Hydrostat lawn tractor and never have had any problems. G

 

[Soundguy]

All bets are off on clay soils... Around here.. if you have clay.. you either have to excavate out the whole front yard.. or add an aboveground mound..

Clay is going to absorb and hold water and heave a bit when doing so.. also may get perched water pockets.. or aquacludes... None of that is good for a septic system.. unless you are looking for a clarification pond....

good luck

Soundguy