Buying a 1795 house - how afraid should I be?

[tickyul]

Just be realistic, you start digging-around, you ARE going to find "things", expensive things
that need attention.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Bungalove

Personally, I wouldn't even want a dug well these days. It's too easy to have one run dry during a prolonged drought.

Depends on where you live. Here, we have too much water. Even when it is dry.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

I would be very concerned about rot if you can see some in pictures. These are signs that normal maintenance has not been done for some time. I would also want to get the water tested. Springs that used to be safe have often now been contaminated by agricultural or residential runoff. Unless the spring is part of a closed system where the water is tapped well below the surface I would be concerned. Is the septic a holding tank that needs to be pumped regularly or a traditional septic tank that is supposed to provide a place for organisms to complete the bio process and then send the output to a drainfield where the effluent reenters the ecosystem? A properly installed septic system with a concrete tank can run for years as long as you understand what you do and do not 'flush down the drain'.

All septic tanks need to be cleaned out from time to time. I have never head of or seen a sewage tank on a home that is not connected to a leech field and is basically just a holding tank like on an RV. If it was just a holding tank, it would need to be huge, like 1000 gallons, or you would be pumping it out every week or two.



The main concern I would have with this house is whether the septic drains into the river. If it does, you could have some expensive modifications needed. It is unlikely because the government would have made the prior owners fix it. My fathers house has a septic tank (two actually) and a septic field. It was put in in 1971 and other than pumping it out every few years, it has needed no maintained or repairs.



Dad also had a well (spring - people wall it that becuase they want you to think of "atrisian spring water" like the fancy bottled stuff. Both are nothing but groundwater. My dad had to replace the well pump once in 50 years. He also had to get a small holding tank, water softener and an iron filter that needs to be changed monthly (Costs $7.50 and takes five minutes to change). Depending on your well and the city you compare it to, most well water is cleaner and healthier than city water of even bottled water. It often contains a lot of minerals that you need.



Smart homeowners also test their well water water yearly just to be certain there is nothing nasty getting into it. With a farm next door and a possibly polluted little stream or river in the back, I wols certainly be concerned about a possibility of contaminates getting into the water. But then if you knew what was in your city water, or your bottled water for that matter. .. .

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

All septic tanks need to be cleaned out from time to time. I have never head of or seen a sewage tank on a home that is not connected to a leech field and is basically just a holding tank like on an RV. If it was just a holding tank, it would need to be huge, like 1000 gallons, or you would be pumping it out every week or two.

Our septic system went 20+ years with no need to clean. Other older residents also went 10-20 years with no problem. Newer residents (moving out from public water systems) who weren't as careful with what they did would have to have them pumped every few years. I have seen a few places where they are just holding tanks because the ground can't absorb any real amount (almost solid rock below a foot) They are very frugal with water and do pump it regularly. It is rare but it happens.

The main concern I would have with this house is whether the septic drains into the river. If it does, you could have some expensive modifications needed. It is unlikely because the government would have made the prior owners fix it. My fathers house has a septic tank (two actually) and a septic field. It was put in in 1971 and other than pumping it out every few years, it has needed no maintained or repairs.

Dad also had a well (spring - people wall it that becuase they want you to think of "atrisian spring water" like the fancy bottled stuff. Both are nothing but groundwater. My dad had to replace the well pump once in 50 years. He also had to get a small holding tank, water softener and an iron filter that needs to be changed monthly (Costs $7.50 and takes five minutes to change). Depending on your well and the city you compare it to, most well water is cleaner and healthier than city water of even bottled water. It often contains a lot of minerals that you need.

It can also contain a lot of minerals you don't need or are harmful, as well as contaminants from agricultural use

Smart homeowners also test their well water water yearly just to be certain there is nothing nasty getting into it. With a farm next door and a possibly polluted little stream or river in the back, I wols certainly be concerned about a possibility of contaminates getting into the water. But then if you knew what was in your city water, or your bottled water for that matter. .. .

The problem about testing on a regular basis is who you have run the test. Most labs will report the results to the health department and you could find your well locked out. Even if nothing has changed the standards could have changed. A coworker found this out the hard way when a neighbor had their water tested and failed. The County then tested every well for something like a half mile and over a quarter of them failed. Thing is none failed for what the original well failed for. They all failed for a variety of things the standards had changed for since the wells had last been tested (some had not been tested for over 50 years).