Drainfield Design Secrets

First and foremost, hire a good septic designer to do the necessary tests and drainfield design , BEFORE you design the house!!! Go out with them and tell them where you would like to situate the house, but let them give their input...sometimes just moving the house a few feet in one direction will make the difference between a regular, gravity fed system and a more expensive pump system. Very few people are aware of this drainfield design secret, which can save you a great deal of money.  I had some friends that were going to build and I tried advising them on this, but wouldn’t listen. The irony is, if they would have listened and moved the house about 10 feet to the west, they could have gone with a gravity fed system for about $3,500. As it turned out, they spent more than $8,000 because they (she) put the house right where the drainfield should have gone.   Before you start designing the house, call a good septic system designer and have them assess the site for where and what type of system you will need. Listen to their suggestions. They will know what type of system you need.   Also, if they say you can not go with a regular septic system design, ask them about ALL the different types of systems you may be able to go with and the advantages/disadvantages of each type.  If they are pushing you toward one type of septic system design it may be because that is the only type of system they do...you may want to take your copy of the site/soil conditions (make sure to get a copy) and call/visit a few other contractors to get their opinion.  They may say what the first guy is trying to sell you is way out of line.  You will also want to install a lint filter for your washing machine, called the Filtrol 160. Lint from washing machines is one of the leading causes of drainfield failure, but it it easily preventable with this filter.  When you buy property and are going to put in a septic system, there are safeguards that are supposed to protect you.  The way the process is supposed to work is, you, as the property owner, hire a septic designer to assess the site and design a system that will meet the needs of the home and will work with the existing site/soil conditions. They then present this plan to the local agency in charge of septic systems, usually the health or zoning office. They approve or disapprove the plan. Then a septic installer installs the system according to that plan. Then the building inspector comes to the site and inspects the system to make sure the system was installed properly (according to the plan).  This is the way it is supposed to work...but it doesn’t always go according to the rules. The skill requirements of designers, installers and inspectors varies greatly from state to state. In some cases these people are woefully under trained and because of this lack of standards, some of the systems going in are failures waiting to happen. This is why you as the homeowner must take an active role in the drainfield design process. When you know where you want to buy, talk to neighbors that have built in the area in the last few years and ask them what kind of drainfield design they had to go with (don’t rely on what someone had a system installed 20 years ago...the codes have changed and there is a good chance what they have won’t fly today).  Talk to the local health dept and some of the local contractors to see what is commonly being used in the area. The reason you want to do this is to prepare yourself for what you are going to need...you don’t want to buy a property, plan your house out to the penny only to find that the drainfield design is going to put you over your budget. As you may know from researching this topic, failing septic systems are a major financial and environmental problem in this country. Expensive septic repairs can often run from $5,000 to $20,000 or more and a large number of systems are failing throughout the country. For news stories related to failing septic systems and tightening regulations you can go to: http://www.laundry-alternative.com/failingseptic.htm You also can't sell your home if it has a failing system. For more information on how to properly maintain your septic system, go to: http://www.laundry-alternative.com/septic_system_maintenance.htm