Selling House and Failed Septic Inspection

[Travelover]

I'm selling my house and have a purchase agreement contingent on passing appraisal, home and septic inspections. Everything passed until today when it failed the septic inspection, which is required by the county to pass the title. The house is 50 years old and I've lived here for 27 years with just two people maximum using the system. I'm kind of shocked, as the system has never given any issues at all.

My question is what my options are. The inspector said it probably means a new drain field next to the old one at about $10K, maybe more if the ground does not perk well enough. I'm in SE Michigan, Wayne County.

Anyone have experience along these lines?

 

[Deere Dude]

Did you ever have the tank pumped? Did they tell you why it failed or what the cause would be?

The only option I heard of was to replace the drain field, possibly get a whole mound system installed, or maybe even a holding tank.

There is no really good option.

You will have to talk t septic installers in the area to get estimates and are familiar with the local codes and are familiar with the area.

 

[justinramani]

I would recommend getting a second opinion.

 

[300UGUY]

How did they test the system? I grew up in Wayne county, and we had a septic system at 2 places we lived, lots of low lying areas in Wayne county. I know that 2 people put little stress on a system, the only time mine acted up, we had some family visiting. I'd look up a local guy who does septic pumping. Out here they also do repair, my neighbor had his repaired, cost about $1200.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Here in Va the Seller pays for the well and septic cert, depending what was written in the offer. Unfortunately, you are pretty much screwed with the lending bank now. Get a price, and negotiate. This won't go away.

 

[300UGUY]

Did you ever have the tank pumped? Did they tell you why it failed or what the cause would be?

The only option I heard of was to replace the drain field, possibly get a whole mound system installed, or maybe even a holding tank.

There is no really good option.

You will have to talk t septic installers in the area to get estimates and are familiar with the local codes and are familiar with the area.

The install guys here are excavators. Repair is not their gig.

 

[300UGUY]

I repaired mine by trenching in between the existing drain lines, putting pea gravel in first, then sock tile, then more gravel, then coved up. I left the existing lines in, basically doubled the size of the field. I don't know if that is legal there....or here! but it worked.

 

[GAFarmer2]

Been there before. Unfortunately, you are probably going to be legally forced to do whatever the locality requires. I would talk to whomever is in charge (here it is the director of the health department) to see what your options are. And always get multiple quotes (at least three). The last time I had work done, the quotes varied by nearly $2000.

 

[2458n]

Mound system in Ohio costs serious money.

 

[teejk]

Probably failed the "dye" test meaning you are getting some liquid coming to the surface that disappears quickly such that you may never have noticed it. Call your septic guy and have him check it out. Might be something as simple as a failed baffle. Around here it has become a science but the pumpers have been forced to learn and know everything there is to know (my septic guy is actually in my phone's contact list). Realize that the banks are going to err on the side of the buyer and even a minor problem will get flagged as a major problem...just the way things work today. Now assuming there is indeed a problem, if you have the room you might be looking at a divertible switch box that will use your existing tank but create a new field. Shut off the old field, use the new field. Then about every other pumping or so switch them...the old field should have had time to rest and you let the new one recover.

 

[Travelover]

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.

 

[300UGUY]

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....

 

[Inspector507]

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.

 

[zzvyb6]

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

 

[Billrog]

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.

 

[dmccarty]

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

 

[kcflhrc]

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.

 

[Travelover]

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.

 

[TheMan419]

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.

 

[dodge man]

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.