The septic system is something I try not to think about. It's out there, it works, what more do I need to know?
As soon as it starts to fail, it's difficult to think of anything but the septic system.
We knew when we bought the house that the septic would need to be addressed at some point. What surprised us was how quickly it went from good to BAD. It turns out, it was probably bad from the day we moved in, but the previous owners took major steps to hide that fact from us. Apparently they were showering at the gym and doing their laundry at the laundromat or the neighbors houses. Nice.
After a month or two of living here, the basement drain backed up for the first time. It was a small amount of water and it didn't go much past the drain (maybe a couple of inches), so it didn't cause any real problems. But it sure got us thinking...
The drain itself was plugged with towels (something a savvy home inspector would find mysterious, at least I would have thought so) and was damp all the time.
As time went on, the drain backed up again and again, each time slightly worse than the time before it. We had to face facts. We had to replace the septic. We knew it would be a big, expensive job, but we had no other options.
We called our trusty backhoe operator, Rod Wagner, who lined us out on what needed to be done.
The first step we needed to take was to gain approval from the Department of Health and Welfare. We had to apply for a permit and submit a plan.
Because our house has a full basement complete with water, our drains were 10 feet below grade. From its exit point at the base of our house, the drain pipe then had to slope downward for 40 feet until it came to the new septic tank. Beyond that, the drain field needed to slope way from the septic tank as well.
The new plan included a septic tank, sunk 22 feet in the ground and a drain field even deeper than that.
We took our plan to the county, and they were very concerned that our septic would immediately fail at such depths.
A septic drain field consists of a rock/gravel bed several feet deep, a perforated pipe coming from the septic tank and then dirt on top of that up to the ground level.
There was concern that at 20+ feet depth, the dirt from above would break the pipe and compress the rock and gravel to a point where it wouldn't drain.
We were at an impasse. The county wanted us to build an above ground "mound drain field" with a sump pump to push everything up. We were not inclined to follow their desires. We were worried that a pump of any kind would be a failure point. We wanted to install a gravity based system.
After several days of intense research, Michael came up with a plan for a commercial dome system. We would dig the drain field and fill it with rock and gravel and pipe as per the original plan. Then we would install a series of commercial domes made of hard plastic, rated for use at depth/under heavy load for drainage systems on freeways. The domes would easily support the 20+ feet of dirt above them and add a pocket of air (which would help the system work better).
We took our new plan to the county, and although they were tenative about the concept, they approved it and gave us the green light to move forward.
So, the digging began.
There was A LOT of dirt. More dirt than I ever imagined possible. It was everywhere. I didn't mind it though. I was excited to have a functioning septic system again.
After the digging was complete, Rod put in the rock and gravel beds, the pipe and the domes. Then he disconnected the drain pipe from the old system and connected it to the new system. It worked like a charm!! He filled everything in and we began to think about other things again. Like re-doing our yard...
