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The last thing a seller wants to hear when they’re getting ready to sell is, “You failed your Title V inspection.” That news comes with a hefty price tag…more or less depending upon a number of factors such as the grading of your land and the percolation rate as a result of the quality of your soils. If your leach field is on a hill or is mounded due to high ground water, you will require a pump system, which is an extra expense over a typical gravity system. If your soils are poor and your percolation rate is too slow, you will have a larger leach field; conversely, if your percolation rate is fast, the leach field will be smaller.
Here are three rules to help you enjoy a septic system with a long, trouble free life:
- Don’t install a garbage grinder. Unless your system was designed to support a garbage grinder, and that means the leach field would need to be half again as large as a field not supporting a grinder, installing a garbage grinder most certainly guarantees you will significantly shorten the life of your septic system. The particulate from the grinder floats to the top of your septic tank and flows out to your leach field clogging the perforated pipes in the field. The field stops functioning properly, you start smelling methane gas, the soils get waterlogged and you have a failed leach bed.
- Don’t use bleach and harsh chemicals. Your septic system works and does its job because there is a biomat of microbes that develops over time in the field that returns the effluent to pure, clean water by the time it percolates down through a healthy, properly functioning leach field. Bleach and harsh chemicals kill the microbes and destroy the biomat causing your system to fail. There are plenty of kinder, gentler products readily available now that will keep your home clean, won’t destroy your septic system and frankly are healthier for you to have in your own environment.
- Do have your septic system pumped on a regular basis. When I list a house and the sellers tell me they’ve lived there for 15 years, haven’t had any problems with the septic and they’ve never pumped it, I am pretty certain the Title V results aren’t going to make anyone happy. The Title V mandate is to pump your septic system every two years. It’s a good idea to do that rather than get the news that you need a new system with a price tag of $25K- $40K.
With a septic system, you don’t incur the yearly expense of sewer charges which is great. If you take proper care of your septic system, it can last for decades without issue!
Helping You Find a Home You Love!
Cheryl Major, Realtor
Cheryl Major lives in Westford and is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker. Follow Cheryl on Twitter @WestfordAreaRE and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WestfordAreaRealEstate/
Cheryl is a full time residential Realtor with more than 25 years experience.
Questions? Email Cheryl at Cheryl.Major@nemoves.com and be sure to put Real Estate Question in the subject line. Your question and its answer will be included in a future article or will be responded to directly.
