Thread Drift

[Blueberry]

Crankin - I wonder if your realtor has another person who can do this? Or is it a city person? What a pain

[OakLeaf]

Oh good grief, Crankin. Hang in there .... (and maybe confirm with the health department or whoever that you really need to take the trees out? Obviously you've been getting the system serviced with the trees in place ...)

[Catrin]

Yikes, hang in there Crankin! I concur that you should call his office on this one.

[Crankin]

No, this is not a government function, in that you just hire the company on your own. Then, they give you the certificate. We have used this company for 25 years... Yes, they have done pumping of the system, but for that, they just put a hose down the usually capped entry to the septic tank, whch is right at the edge of the woods. To do this "test," they snake a long thing in there, with a camera, and all kinds of long hoses. I think they also dig up the earth around the actual line, which goes down the hill, so there are plenty of obstacles to that. I really have not paid attention to this when we sold our other 2 homes, because I was not home. Obviously, the test was done 10 years ago, when we bought the house, but the dumb azz guy pointed out lots of smaller, new growth trees. Anyway, I told DH, who was not too upset. He called them from Sweden, and the guy is coming back next Thursday, to show DH exactly what needs to be done.
I know there's an environmental reason for this process, but I am wondering if people in other states have to go through this. If your septic system fails the test, you are dead. It costs thousands to fix these problems. I am not worried we will fail, as there's only been 2 people living in this house, except for the first 5 out of 30 years. Although, rumor has it, that a "rock band," lived here during those 5 years... at the same time that all the other families were switching spouses.

[OakLeaf]

I am wondering if people in other states have to go through this.

Heh. We're probably at the opposite extreme of the ratio of population density to public health regulation. It was only last month that our county regulations went into effect requiring regular septic inspection. There are a few neighborhoods that are really problematic, apparently, and the health department expects it'll take years just to get those caught up, never mind the rest of the county. Regular maintenance is done by private companies, but it's the health department that certifies it's safe when a home is sold.

Still - I don't know exactly what's involved when they inspect our system, beyond checking sludge level and motor operation and topping up the chlorine tablets, but there are a lot of trees around ours. At one point the septic company found roots growing into the line, so we had to call a roto-rooting company, and neither they nor the septic company needed us to remove any trees, they just reamed the roots out.

[Crankin]

Who knows? A lot of things are regulated here.