The Tennessee Septic Tank / Too Many Bedrooms Gotcha (buyer, contractor)

[Tinman313]

I was told basically the same thing, I was looking at a manufactured homes 3-4 bed room. And the lot was for only 2 bed room. I was told too store the closet doors some where and put bookshelf's in the closet. Several manufactured home dealers told me.. wink wink nod nod that when your home comes from the factory you will able too inspect the home "prior" wink wink nod nod before we take it too your lot......

[maryn]

What a bunch of Crap! LOL

We put in septic, and it didn't seem too complicated. I think every county handles it differently though. Only inspection in Van Buren Co. was electrical.

[2mares]

Doesnt the perk test have as much to do with the size of the septic as the number of bedrooms?

[jimj]

Originally Posted by Elint

Jeepers...glad I looked at this thread. Anyone know the approximate cost of putting in a septic tank? Or the cost of digging a well? Or running electric from the highway? We're looking to buy some land and build the dream, and some idea of the basic costs would be great.

All I can give you is what it cost me here in MT. It was 10k for the well and setup equipment and about 4k for a septic. It's not rocket science to dig a septic and put it in, the well on the other hand takes a pro.

[Starwalker Fallen Angel]

Here in Jackson it's based solely on bedrooms. I had one installed here when we built the house. It cost us 3000.00. Extra large tank and mega field lines lmao

[younglisa7]

TreeFarm,

I would just take out the extra closets on my houseplan, submit them, build the house that way, pass final inspections, and add the closets later. What's the big deal-like you said you can always add a wardrobe. It's real easy to build a closet.

You are not going to win with the county. Most of the time a room with a closet is considered a bedroom. Also on the flip side in the future when you go to sell your house are you going to sell it as a 3 or 6bdr.-I would bet on 6 b/c your realtor will tell you any room with a closet can be considered a bedroom.

I would try to work with the county b/c if you tick them off they can and will give you a hard time through the whole process of inspections.

Lisa

[bbkaren]

I agree with Lisa. Just add the closets later.

I'm in NJ and this procedure is nothing new, believe me. It's all related to the whole "environmental impact" thing. If your septic fails, then it leaches nasty stuff into the water table, etc.

Here in NJ a bedroom is classified as any room with a door and a closet. Keep in mind that if you convert a room to a bedroom and then try to sell the house, that room still isn't a bedroom.

I'm told (Roane County also) that your house can only be sold according to how many bedrooms the septic is rated for, regardless of how many bedrooms you "grow" in the house.

I'm going through a similar situation; we have a small lot. The soil percs well but there's not enough room for a 3 BR septic, and maybe not even a 2 BR septic. We have to stake out the house on the land, then they'll come in and decide how much septic we have space for. The septic contractor says he'll give us "as much as he can" meaning, if we don't have room for a 2 BR septic, he'll give us a large 1 BR septic...but then we can only have 1 bedroom.

If we convert a room in the house to a second bedroom and the septic fails, we're out of luck and literally might have to walk away from the house and property because a septic system can't be replaced.

This is the reason they say you should have space on your property (which we don't) for two full septic systems.

And, in terms of cost, everyone we've spoken to says $3500 for a 3BR, $2500 for 2BR, and $1500 for 1BR.

A far cry from New Jersey where we spent $27,000 for the septic system on a perfectly normal, 1/2 acre piece of land.

[yarddawg]

Originally Posted by bbkaren

I'm told (Roane County also) that your house can only be sold according to how many bedrooms the septic is rated for, regardless of how many bedrooms you "grow" in the house.

This is now true statewide. It's a new law (year, year and a half-ish) that requires realtors and other sellers to check with the state about the septic system before listing a house, they can only list a house as having the number of bedrooms the septic is approved for. Prior to that the only real control on the wink-wink-nudge-nudge system in most areas was a subset of banks which would only lend money on the number of bedrooms the septic was approved for and the potential for fraud lawsuits in certain situations if the statute of limitations had not expired.

Septic systems in Tennessee are permitted based on both the number of bedrooms and the "perk test", which is usually a soil evaluation or soil map and not the old style pouring-water-in-hole perk test. The absorption rate of the soil determines the number of square feet of drain field required per bedroom. The cost of installing the system is usually based on the size of the tank and linear feet of drain field but varies considerably statewide and is affected by local issues such as bedrock and distance to a quarry.

In order to get a septic permit in Tennessee you must have an area for both the initial drain field and an equal area to replace the drain field in the future. It's not an option, it's a permit requirement. If you don't have duplicate area you don't get a permit. The only potential exceptions are a few grandfathered lots in old subdivisions that were approved under far more lenient regulations in the 50s, 60s and early 70s.

[gemkeeper]

You have the right idea, bbkaren, about always being sure that if one septic fails, there is room for another.

The surest way to protect yourself in this regard is to build up rather than out. The smaller the footprint of the house the more land you have available for your leach area.

With a good perc you will still need an area about 90' x 90' for a 3 bedroom house. By building up you leave more yard area for your leach field.

They came about with the bedroom rule because it is assumed that there will be no more than 2 people in a bedroom, thus the sanitary system has to handle 2 x #bdrms for bathing, drinking, flushing, laundry, etc.

You can still have 6 bathrooms if you want, but maybe only 2 bedrooms! A person only has to flush so many times a day no matter which bathroom they visit!

The best thing to do is treat your septic system with care. Don't put any more into it than necessary. Absolutely, no animal garbage. If you have a disposal (not recommended with septic, although I have always used one judiciously), never put anything in it that came from an animal - no leftovers, no meat scraped from dinner dishes, no egg shells, etc. These things are very difficult for a septic system to "digest" and will fill the tank very quickly.

When it comes time for selling if you are using a so-called bonus room, a study and a workshop as bedrooms, plus have your 2 bedrooms that the septic was rated for, you can still sell as only a 2 bedroom house. So, be sure you want to stay awhile!

[bbkaren]

Yeh, our property at its widest point is only 89 feet! So, we're challenged.

However with some creative work both in home design and septic design, plus lots of TLC for the septic once it's in, we think we're gonna be okay.

Lord willing!