Would you buy a house with an original septic? (Candia: credit, buying)
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We have an offer in on a house and the inspection on the leach field came back as fair while the tank is in good shape. The house is almost 40 years old with the original septic system. We are not familiar with septic systems and how long they can last and are nervous that we may have to replace the leach field shortly after buying which I've read can be as much as 14K. Can fields last a lot longer than 40 years? Is it a given that if we buy we will be looking at a replacement within a couple years? Thanks for any opinions/advice.
The whole leaching system has changed a lot in 40 years. I lived in a house where the leach field was less than 10 years old and it was useless. Much depends on the soil. I did build a modular back in 2002 on very sandy soil and the builder installed an infiltrator system for the leach field....not sure if that is the correct term, but it never failed and the people living there now have had no issues. The entire septic system cost me less than $15k in 2002, including the tank. I would negotiate the replacement cost in the offer.
40 years is old. Find out if any work was done on it. We had to put in a new system on a 25 year system that had issues as soon as we moved in. One pipe connecting to another tank dropped and had to be fixed.
My mothers 40 year old home had a pipe that dropped so it was not going outward.
Our old home in PA had a baffle drop and was not leaching.( Home was 26)
Septics unless they are new are an issue.
I'd get some kind of credit or plan on doing a system. Its not fun to have an issue in the wintertime.
A lot depends on the systems design and maintenance. You can get the system inspected...a good septic company can tell a lot about the condition of the field, maintenance habits of the owners, etc- by opening the tank up and looking around... IE, a 40 year old well designed/regularly maintained system is likely to be better off than a 10 year old/unmaintained/abused system.
Thanks for the answers. We did have an inspection on it and I'm going to have to ask them more questions. They really didn't give us any information other than it's in fair condition and they can't tell us how long it might last. I feel like I wasted 200 dollars. They said it was slightly grayish and told my husband they didn't see a major problem but because of the age who knows? That's why I'm wondering if it's possible for them to last a lot more than 40 years.
A lot depends on the systems design and maintenance. You can get the system inspected...a good septic company can tell a lot about the condition of the field, maintenance habits of the owners, etc- by opening the tank up and looking around... IE, a 40 year old well designed/regularly maintained system is likely to be better off than a 10 year old/unmaintained/abused system.
Our design was just fine. Lots of property and a great, big, leaching field.
Our septic man had to get inside a just pumped tank. Bless his heart!
What a job, don't you think? But, they had a good reputation.
We had a problem with opening up the tank top. It was so darn deep that a shovel had to be brought in. It had no riser at all. No systems lid should be so deep. I blame the builder on that and we weren't the first owner but the second.
I tried myself to find the lid. I dug here and there...I just could not find that lid at all. Even as much as following the line. ( Hubby can't dig with his heart so it was up to me..and I knew it)
It turned out to be just too, too, deep. I think if it had a riser and we knew of that we'd of had it pumped additional times.
But, the baffle was a bit off so the guy repaired it and the system was back in order.
It was just all rock, rock, rock...I hadn't seen so many rocks since digging the line to the pool 18" deep for electric.
They have a chart for two people living in a home and it didn't require us to pump the septic for quite a large number of years.
The tank is in good shape and the leach field is fair; it sounds to me that the system has some good years left. We had to replace a leach field once, and a few years prior we started getting the sniff warning signs and sponginess near the tank. Leach field pricing varies quite a bit.
In Pa they make you pump out the septic to make sure all is well.....
Meaning that the owner of the home pumps out the septic. So I hope they did that for you.
When I lived in MA, they make you pass a 'Title 5', which means, it you wanted to live there, if it didn't pass the inspection, someone had to replace it. (I am dealing with one house there now). But it pays to know the right people
I believe that NH is much more lax (someone correct me if I am wrong). I don't remember if they require a perk test.
As long as the septic tank inflow/outflow baffles are in place, (so you won't get the floating waste, like grease etc, to clog the leach field (and see if the house has a garbage disposal), a well-designed system can last a very long time (though it needs to be pumped occasionally). With low levels of waste, you can put, over time, massive amounts of water through it.
Thanks for the answers. We did have an inspection on it and I'm going to have to ask them more questions. They really didn't give us any information other than it's in fair condition and they can't tell us how long it might last. I feel like I wasted 200 dollars. They said it was slightly grayish and told my husband they didn't see a major problem but because of the age who knows? That's why I'm wondering if it's possible for them to last a lot more than 40 years.
absolutely - they CAN last more than 40 years. My old property in Candia had a system put in during the 1950's and it's still viable. They can last a long time as long as they are maintained. Most systems should have the tank pumped every other year. The new 'environmentally better' systems are garbage and last about 5-10 years.
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