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I don't have the exact distance from septic tank to the road. The city wants $3500 to tap into the sewer line by the road. That leaves the cost of hiring a plumber to reroute the existing sewer pipe from the tank to the road.
Your experiences:
a. cost to drain a septic tank and how often?
b. cost to run the sewer line from the tank to the road. Do they charge by the foot or? Would they use the pipe already in the ground that is hooked to the septic tank or just run a new one from the house to the road.
c. city require a permit for the line from the house to the road and thus basically require a licensed plumber?
These numbers may well vary widely like most things do... but the cost to pump a septic is about $500-800, every five years is often recommended for family size usage. Can be less often for lighter usage. Can be more often for more complex chambered systems.
Sewer hookup will charge by the foot. I would call a local company.
Personally, if I had a working septic I would try to hang on to it like grim death rather than pay for sewer connection and monthly fees for life.
If your sewer authority hasn't done the Enhanced Nutrient Removal being mandated in stages by the EPA across the country I'd grab that tap now because when ENR comes along you'll be paying what we do.
As a note, septic systems also have to be ENR compliant when they're replaced or new build. That typically starts at $40K and then goes up.
If the City will allow you to pay for the tap and not tie in the sewer at this point in time, then I would definitely shell out the $3500, now. Personally, I’d elect to do so now even if the City required that I tie in immediately!
It’s a great opportunity to have an option already in place in the event your septic system fails and or it gives you time to obtain bids to connect the sewer line from your house to the tap at the sewer main. Your existing septic tank will have to be pumped and filled with sand since it will no longer be in use once you have been connected to the main sewer.
Contractors will be able to price the entire job, excavation, pipe installation, backfilling, permits, testing and removing the septic tank from service. Having the tap done immediately is a very worthwhile option IMO even if it’s only for resale or a backup option if you develop future problems with your septic fields.
We'd never be able to pay the above estimated cost. We'd have to sell the property.
The deceased owner's kids are saying there is no septic tank as far as they know going back 20+ years.
City says otherwise. There should be some diagram of the underground drain system.
What in the ground front or back would give a clue as to the location of a capped pipe from which the contents would be pumped out.
Thanks.
We'd never be able to pay the above estimated cost. We'd have to sell the property.
The deceased owner's kids are saying there is no septic tank as far as they know going back 20+ years.
City says otherwise. There should be some diagram of the underground drain system.
What in the ground front or back would give a clue as to the location of a capped pipe from which the contents would be pumped out.
Thanks.
There has to be a erotic tank and it’s usually 10 feet away from the house and you should be able to probe the area after determining where the sewer line exits the foundation wall. One way to find it for sure would be to have a plumber send a camera through the sewer line or hand excavation from the foundation wall out into the yard to trace the pipe to determine its location into the septic tank.
A septic contractor should be able to quickly find the tank as well.
There has to be a erotic tank and it’s usually 10 feet away from the house and you should be able to probe the area after determining where the sewer line exits the foundation wall. One way to find it for sure would be to have a plumber send a camera through the sewer line or hand excavation from the foundation wall out into the yard to trace the pipe to determine its location into the septic tank.
A septic contractor should be able to quickly find the tank as well.
Not sure I would want to probe an "erotic" septic tank, no matter how much you paid me.
We'd never be able to pay the above estimated cost. We'd have to sell the property.
The deceased owner's kids are saying there is no septic tank as far as they know going back 20+ years.
City says otherwise. There should be some diagram of the underground drain system.
What in the ground front or back would give a clue as to the location of a capped pipe from which the contents would be pumped out.
Thanks.
The waste has to go somewhere so it's either a septic or a sewer. Unless you have a creek nearby.
Just a note, most, I said most, sewer authorities allow new hookups for existing houses to pay over time at a low interest rate. That's not the case for new builds, that's typically 1/3 to reserve, 1/3 at building permit pull and 1/3 at final inspection/ U and O issuance.
We'd never be able to pay the above estimated cost. We'd have to sell the property.
The deceased owner's kids are saying there is no septic tank as far as they know going back 20+ years.
City says otherwise. There should be some diagram of the underground drain system.
What in the ground front or back would give a clue as to the location of a capped pipe from which the contents would be pumped out.
Thanks.
Need to get down there and take a look. Or atlernatively, a plumber with a camera could probably find out too by following it out of the house, but he most could tell you in 20 seconds looking at the crawl or the basement.
Typically the septic is behind the house. The sewer is in front of the house. TYPICALLY. So the crawlspace/basement would have the sewer line leaving the house (typically the thickest pipe under the house) and if it heads to the street, it's going to the sewer, to the back its the septic. At that point you get out in the yard behind the house and take a probe (basically a piece of rebar) and start pushing it into the ground to find the cement tank.
County GIS where I live in North Carolina has the septic information at least back to a certain point. As a reference, my neighbors had to redo theirs 30 years ago, the permits and locations are online. Mine is original and it is not.
For some guesstimating, how old is the house and when did they get city sewer services? If it's a 90 year old house and the city ran a sewer line in 1951, it's most likely that the house is now on the sewer. Likely, not impossible.
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