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Septic and wells - educate me
Warbirds
Member Posts: 16,923 ✭✭✭✭
We’re looking at a place down the street in possible preparation for the inevitable when my inlaws need to move in.
To do so, we would buy this place that’s for sale and build a large addition, say 800-1,000 square feet total which would serve as a full on in-law suite.
The property we have our eye on is about 1.5 acres and has a well and septic.
What concerns should I have and what questions should I ask about the well or septic that I can ask now before Im in too deep to bail.
Im a bit leery of this property but no HOA and a lot this size is tough to find where I live. This place is 5 minutes down the road so I may have to be ready to pull the trigger as I like the town I live in.
Comments
The best thing you can do is have someone inspect the septic (Required by law before a sale in some states.) Also have the well equipment inspected (what you can see) and a water test is a good idea as well.
Replacing either can be major money, and a huge hassle.
Merc
Just make sure the septic is downstream of the well..
You might look into how far away water and sewer lines are and estimate the cost to hook up. My farm is 15 minutes from the smallest town and I have city water and high speed internet!
Also keep in mind that adding that much additional square foot to a house will require additional septic capacity and water capacity.
So know what you got, and what you will need to add.
Margaret Thatcher
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
Mark Twain
open the tanks and see ,,a must ,,test the water to see quality ,, see if there are filters on the water that tells a lot
We have well and septic. The a few of issues you can have with a well are e-coli contamination of the well. Usually this can be corrected with pouring bleach down the well waiting 24 hours and the running the water for a period of time.
Another well issue is the well pipe getting struck by lighting, happened to ours one time and just burnt the wire going to the pump and not the pump itself.
One big issue is check the gallons minute being pumped. If you are going to add a bathroom make sure you have enough gallons per minute being pumped.
Always do a water test before buying. Also check with either board of health or building inspector about installation, some of the questions will be answered by them when they inspected installation.
Septic systems are quit simple when installed correctly. In our state the Seller is required to get an inspection before selling to certify that the system is working correctly.
Again here if you are going to add a bedroom make sure the septic system is sized correctly. What has to be sized correctly is the septic tank and what is called the leach field.
A properly installed system will last forever if maintained properly, i.e. no garbage disposal, no paper products other than TP, no chemicals and most importantly having the tank pumped regularly.
How septic system is almost 40 years old with no issues.
The cst to repair or upgrade a septic system can be very expensive like tens if thousands of dollars because of new environmental regulations.
^^^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^
Hope that helped.
I chlorinated the wells in my MHP yearly to make sure of no bacteria. Let it sit for a few hours and run all lines in the home till you smell the bleach and keep running till you don't. A 12 ounce glass is plenty to pour into the well. When you add on the addition the inspector is going to catch tying into the septic.. They usually go by bedrooms for the size of the field system. Then again the county usually has the specifications of the home or the local installer can request. Might be it is large enough now. Just make sure if you have to install extra the drain lines are the county code distance from the well.
Make sure that they layout on the property, with both the septic, (current and future) and the well will allow you the proper setbacks to build the structure that you want.
There is not enough space here to go into the specs, laws, problems, future and current, don't ask me how I know. Get with someone in that area who deals with that specifically i.e. septic systems and well water and go from there with in person meeting. You will be money ahead and well spent.
"Also keep in mind that adding that much additional square foot to a house will require additional septic capacity'
Alpine is right. You might need to enlarge the drain field.
Grease is very bad for septic systems. If you fry some bacon, dump all the grease into the garbage, and wipe out the frying pan with a paper towel and throw that in the garbage. No grease down the drain.
We've been on a well and septic for 25 years, no problems, knock on wood.
There are two types of septic tanks, one type uses leach lines and the other type is more of a water filtration system. On the leach line system waste goes into the septic tank to catch solids and the liquids go out in the leach lines and are absorbed into the ground. On the filtration system waste goes to the tank that is divided into three chambers, first chamber catches the solids, second chamber has an aerator that blows air into the bottom of the chamber to kill bacteria, third chamber catches any remaining solids. The liquid left flows through a pipe to a chlorination tank, in between the two tanks is a pipe that comes up above the ground where you put chlorine tablets once a month. When the water leaves the chlorination tank it just runs out a pipe over a hill or ditch. They say that you can drink the water after it’s went through the system, I’ll just take their word for that, I’m not drinking it.
Now the filtration system cost more. I think I paid a little over $5,000 fifteen years ago for are system. Now the neighbor down the road he has a leach system and has had problems with it over the years, tends to Percolate up through the ground. Some soils tend to absorb better than others.
The well will depend more on your water tables in your area and how much return you get per minute.
just had a friend put an aerator? system in out at his cabin, as there was not enough space for leachbed, as creek runs down 2 sides of his cabin. it was in the ballpark of $13,000, as someone else has said if there are utilities near the property, city water and sewer, the inspector may find something wrong with the current system just to make you hook up to the city. put back enough money to fund the unexpected......
There are more than just two types of septic systems, Take a look here: https://www.epa.gov/septic/types-septic-systems
We have a conventional system and depending upon size of family it needs to be sucked out every so often maybe every few years or so.
Water wells have been covered fairly well above, I'll just add that every county/jurisdiction can and will have different rules, costs etc. Check out with your local county websites.
Just one more thing to add to this list is to buy yourself a good drain cleaning snake. In the 7 plus years living here I have had 3 plugged drain lines. Two were from the kitchen sink and one was from one of the 3 toilets in the house. I called a Roto-Rooter man for the first back up and it cost me 150 dollars 5 years ago. The 2nd time the same company charged me 495 dollars about a year and a half ago. Bought a good long snake after that and cleaned out the problem myself about 5 months ago and it was easy peasy!
We went a slightly different route by buying a building lot within walking distance of our home. No way we were moving & wanted just enough space between us. Either building a house or an addition is all consuming and not really fun. You'll have to weigh the costs of buying, building, moving & what you'll end up with in the future. Not knowing your area, look for a small starter home near you as an alternative and put the deed in JTWROS or a trust.
Exactly.. I installed about every kind with a back hoe when I was 23/24 and laid off work. Every county is different. Shooting grades and running a bull dozer was great being young.
Hire a competent inspector for both before buying. Tell them what you plan to do. Plenty to go wrong with these simple systems but when it does it can get messy and pricey.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
We took over the farm almost 10 years ago. The 3rd month we owned it, the well went Kaput....it was over 20 years old at that point.. Nothing 4800.00 did not take care of in the long run.
If you are concerned have them checked out by experts before moving forward..
Make sure whoever you get for an inspector just does inspections and not installations. Some states allow one individual or company to do both inspections and installations.
It is surprising how many problems that the inspector can find and then they will be in line to do a new installation.
I recall when we built our home up north I was in insulating it when the county showed up for inspection. I helped the little county inspector woman in her dress and high heels enter the home and go out the back door. They system was open..not covered up yet and she stepped out the back door.. didn't go near the system and said it was fine.
That's good advice if you already own it, but if you're still buying any installer should be good as well.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
If the septic system is old you need to open the cover and check it. I was working at a property that had a little old school house and the toilet wouldn't flush, called rotor after i couldn't figure it out. He snaked it and said it was a septic system and it was full. I rented a backhoe and found it, pulled the half cover off and the drain field was plugged. There's a baffle in front of the inlet so no solids back in, and that cover rusted off, and the baffles preventing solids from entering the drain field pipes had rusted off and fallen, so those pipes were plugged. I'm maintenance and that was enough, I called a septic guy and he pumped the tank dry. He was cranky and said he couldn't really do it in the city, you have to hook up to city water and sewer, but I convinced him to pump it, which he did. I had enough and put the cover back on and installed a pvc pipe to suck it out again if needed. Told the property manager/owner, it went nowhere and I didn't touch it again.
Have the systems inspected.
I wouldn't let a well and septic prevent me from buying a property.
Both of my houses have them.
My point was if the inspector also does installations they are more likely to try and find something wrong with the system rather than just pass it. This comes from having done many residential transactions.
Understood. My point is, if you don't already own it, they can't sell you anything, so you're just as likely to get an honest opinion.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Have the contract state that the well has to be to your standards, not just normal BS contract standards.. A well for a house we were buying turned out to be an old farm well that had too much sediment in it for me. Not fit to wash a car with but the previous owner was OK with it. The inspector said that the casing wasn't sealed to the bed rock & mud was leaking in. Ended up having a new well drilled. We would pay half (at closing), only if it met my standards, & then we would buy the house. It's an 1-1/2 acre property, but with buildings, driveways, septics (neighbor's count) & the road, there was only 1 spot that was possible to drill. Got good water at only 1-1/2 gal/min, but I had them go deeper so there would be a reserve.
As mentioned above, make sure there is room in case you have to add another lateral to the septic.
We bought our house 18 years ago and was told the Septic absolutely had to be replaced. I loved the house and never had a house with septic and well before. We were told you will never get a mortgage without replacing the tank. I told them I was paying cash but they still tried to sell me on replacement. Even had a price of 30K and a plan to replace it. No one even knew were the septic tank was and after we bought the house we had to do some digging to find it. I had it inspected and was told it was old but not failing. It was our first house with septic and well so I was nervous about it but so far it’s been good and I’m not paying a water and sewer bill anymore. I think it’s just standard procedure around here if someone sells a house with an old septic system make them replace it. The water and sewer bill in our other house was about $1000 per year. So even if I have to pay thousands for repair now I’m still ahead.
We will most likely be buying another home in the future. I will not drink any city water. That would be a no sale on any home regardless of the price