Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection

   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection
  • Thread Starter
#11  
OP here. The test is to dig three core holes down to the tile and see how much standing water is in there, plus see how black the gravel is. Then empty tank. No water is allowed to drain back from the field into the tank.

There was standing water about up to the top of the tiles, some black gravel near the bottom of the holes and a trickle of water back into the tank. There has never been surface water, but then we are just two occupants. Buyer has 4 kids and inspector thinks their increased load will quickly have problems.

Next step is to talk to the county, but I figured getting some insight first will allow me to ask better questions.
 
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   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #12  
I never had problems until my parents stayed with us. The second morning, my mom flushed the toilet downstairs, and it came back up. The wife had done 3 loads of laundry that morning, plus all 4 of us had taken showers. Mom hasn't stayed here since....
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #13  
We had our house listed for sale this past summer. I was dreading the septic test,thinking for sure it would fail. The inspector poured some bright green dye in the toilet and flushed it. He said if the front yard turned bright green in 3-5 days it failed. Nothing turned green.
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #14  
Neighbor sold last Summer, failed the septic inspection done by the County. They told me No. 1 cause of failure is polyester lint in laundry and powdered laundry detergent (full of clay). They dug a new pit and put in a switch valve to direct sewage to the new field while leaving the old field intact, just in case it can recover and be reused some day. Less than 8 years old.

$12,000
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #15  
Travelover if your tank is not deteriorating and the soil is not heavy clay what you will require is a new distribution box and a field sized by the hydraulic loading rate which is determined by the perk test and no. of bed rooms in the home. I price new fields out at around $15 per ft. eg 400' of field $6,000.00 & would consider that a average field with a per rate of 15 to 30 mins. for a 3 BDR home. A fast perk would reduce that 1 to 5 mins. requires 187' of 2' wide trench field.
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #16  
See if you can get the state and/or county septic regulations so you can know the rules.

When we were buying our land, I knew we were going to have problems with the county inspector. I was able to download the regulations from the state, read up on the rules, and know the process for inspections. When the county failed two perc sites, despite that fact that not one, but two, Soil Scientists had approved the two sites, I appealed to the state which over ruled the county. The county inspector had zero qualifications for his position from what I could tell compared to the two Soil Scientists who have meet certain education and experience requirements. The county now has an inspector that is an actual Soil Scientist.

Good luck,
Dan
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #17  
We bought a home in 2013 that supposedly never had a septic issue either. All the issues mysteriously started happening not long after we moved in. I probably have about $5k in repairs to make it work as it should. And that's with doing a lot of the work myself. Here in Kansas where I live the only thing that was done on the inspection was checking the flow from the house to the tank. The guy had me flush all the toilets and run water and he looked in the septic tank for flow. He inspected and pumped it the same day prior to us closing. Obviously not a good inspection but they are a reputable company. My first septic system so I certainly didn't know what to look for. Septic tanks are a necessary evil in my opinion. We so far have replaced a collapsed section of PVC under the patio that was thin wall instead of schedule 40, just laziness on the installers part and eventually just collapsed. That was $1k to cut up the concrete and replace the PVC. Had to have a riser installed instead of digging up the cover each time. That was about $500. The T where it disperses into the drain field was collapsed and full of roots, another $1k, it just goes on and on. It appears to be working fine now. I now know where everything is at though and can dig up the problem areas in just a few hours if need be again. I even hate just talking about septic tanks because it brings back all those bad memories. Hopefully it doesn't have any more issues but I'm not holding my breath. Much more and that baby is going back on the market septic tank and all.
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection
  • Thread Starter
#18  
Travelover if your tank is not deteriorating and the soil is not heavy clay what you will require is a new distribution box and a field sized by the hydraulic loading rate which is determined by the perk test and no. of bed rooms in the home. I price new fields out at around $15 per ft. eg 400' of field $6,000.00 & would consider that a average field with a per rate of 15 to 30 mins. for a 3 BDR home. A fast perk would reduce that 1 to 5 mins. requires 187' of 2' wide trench field.
Thanks. This gives me some idea of what to expect. Two neighbors did tear downs and installed new septic systems, but both failed the initial perk soil test. So, I'll have my fingers crossed that my lot will pass that test, as I know the next step up is expensive.
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #19  
I would get with a soil scientist. We had to have one to do the perk test when our system failed. He was really good about telling me that a lot of times when he is called out he can find a way to fix the system at min cost. However in our case that was not doable. But since I hired him he was on my side. The inspector that did the work for the buyer is on the buyer's side. Also on the side of covering his butt.

They will call a close one failed. That way if it fails in the near future they are not on the hook.

Our new system was gravity fed and the old field is there to switch back to in a few years. We had it done when we were still living in the home and not considering sale. It became a good selling point when we did decide to sell.

Good luck.
 
   / Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection #20  
An option is to get a package unit that requires no drain field, thats what we have. The bad, it has an aerator that needs electricity and replaced after several years. We also pay to have it maintained. The good, it doesn't need a drain field and depending on the site, might be cheaper to install.

I am a land surveyor and deal indirectly with this all the time. In my area well and septic inspection isn't required by the county or board of health but usually by the bank lending the money. From their point of view, it doesn't do any good to lend money on a house that can't be occupied. If a new system is installed, they inspect it. I think they will also test well water for free or very cheap.
 
 
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