Major septic issues?

Question

Our septic tank is buried too deep to be working correctly. Evidently the people before us put a patio over it. The first year we moved in it had to be pumped twice a year. Now it's up to two months and it is horrible by then. The septic guy said all he can do is get another septic and attach it to the current one and it'll be $4800 dollars thank you very much. Meantime now all our toilets and our showers are backing up.

Any ideas how to get things better without coughing up the bucks? We don't HAVE $4800 and my credit is shot I can't even get a loan.

Serious answers please. If you'd like to email me I'd appreciate it if you have good advice. Thanks.

Thanks for all the great advice so far. I never thought of calling the county. Would that be free? Would the person who said that about his patio over the septic be willing to email me? I would email you but it said you aren't to be emailed. My email is [e-mail]

Thanks so much for all your help.

Answer 1

It doesn't matter if you have a patio over the septic, I have a patio over mine and part of a garden. The drain field is what you should be looking at, so should he. Ask him about your drain field. And, in fact, I don't think he's being honest with you. He should be looking at your drain field, after pumping the septic, the drain field is the most important.

You may have to replace the drain field. Get several people in to look at it. Call the County, have them come out. The codes office. I just saw to persons get screwed buy these septic "professionals" you have no choice but to believe them, be careful, get other opinions.

Answer 2

I don't know where you live but if the regs permit it the best thing you could do is take the washing machine off the septic.I have had septics for years and never had one that could handle a washer.There is just to much water for the drains to handle.The pumping of tanks is the biggest scam going in the septic industry.It is not possible to fill an 1100 gallon tank with solids in 3 years.More like 30 years probably.Any septic drain field can only accept as much water as the soil will absorb in a given amount of time. Since your septic is backing up it only means you are putting more liquid in it than the field lines can drain.As the other folks said it was designed for 4 people and you now have 13. As I said if you can pull the washing machine off and let that drain in the yard you shouldn;t have any trouble handling the rest of your house .I have had vacation rental homes with smaller systems and more people and had no problems.

Answer 3

Gee.... I'm sorry, but the guy is right about it. You might be able to get someone to do it a little cheaper than that, but if you don't have the means to have it fixed, the you are in a pickle. The fix is to add a new drain field to expel the water off the top so it can seep into the ground over a series of ditch, and tank, and ditch again. These can get very expensive. Your old drain field may have been caved in, or roots from trees are growing into it, and not letting it drain. If its under the patio, then he can't get to it to see whats going on. This is why he suggested to repair it this way. It would seem to me to be the cheapest route to go. I hope this has been some help. Good Luck!!!

Answer 4

Bad news but all you can do is replace it. Can you get a equity loan on the house to repair the septic tank. Wasn't there some kind of an inspection on the house before you purchased it. Check with your morgage company . How old is the tank there now . It might be an obsolite tank and he can't use it because of code.

Answer 5

Septic systems work on decomposition ,evaporation and drainage through your drain field. I would remove the patio before I did anything. Have you added any treatment to the tanks? At least once a month you should flush a package of any brand or YEAST down it. This creates bacteria to dissolve the solids.

Answer 6

After the next pump out you may be able to float the septic tank up to another level then gradually force enough packing under it to keep it at that height.