Septic System in TN....I'm not used to it. (Sevierville: rental, houses)

[DanBev]

We bought property in wetland area,all homes use a mound system,tank placed partially above ground and engineered to number of toilets,bedrooms etc.The drain field and soil required is inspected very carefully.I had to add to it for additional bathroom.They and inspector use surveyor transit.There are several hundred or more using this system.If you keep washer away from system you will never have trouble.Chemicals and nothing else is ever needed,it will take care of itself.If someone has done something sleazy along the way a septic system can be a nightmare and may have to be replaced.

[daniellefort]

What's the approximate cost for a septic system to be put in for East TN from scratch for a new home. Cheaper having a mound or underground?

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by daniellefort

What's the approximate cost for a septic system to be put in for East TN from scratch for a new home. Cheaper having a mound or underground?

I'd have to look up the actual costs, but a traditional system is almost sure to cost less (unless maybe if there was rock near the top of grade . . . it's pretty hard to dig a drainage field in rock ;-).

[daniellefort]

Originally Posted by alleycat

I'd have to look up the actual costs, but a traditional system is almost sure to cost less (unless maybe if there was rock near the top of grade . . . it's pretty hard to dig a drainage field in rock ;-).

Well from what we can see just at the surface, it shouldn't be too rocky. Our property is mostly just open grass field but it is on a hillside. Our property starts on the side of a hill and goes all the way down the hill and back up another hill. It's not a mountain hill, just a hill in the middle of a field.

[harry chickpea]

A couple of quick notes. On the wall - frost and normal soil movement can cause a retaining wall to bulge and fail. I remember my father having stone retaining walls built on either side of our drive to our under-home garage. Within 5 years those beautiful walls were bulging. He had to have them removed, the clay behind them removed, and gravel fill and drainage tile put in to prevent water from getting behind them and freezing. Within ten years, they were beginning to bulge again anyway. A neighbor had a railroad tie retaining wall that had to have deadmen ( ties going into the slope for at least 6 feet ) to keep from failing. Good stonework and walls aren't cheap, and cheap jobs are ultimately expensive.

RE septic systems. There are also incinerating toilets and NSF approved composting toilets for problem areas. Frankly, our current common waste disposal systems are incredible wasters of water, and will eventually be outlawed in many areas due to increasing water restrictions.

As far as sanitation is concerned, proper waste disposal makes excellent sense in developed areas, because diseases such as typhoid can be easily spread by contaminated water. I find some rural regulations to be a bit excessive however. Requiring an engineered or mound system for a house that sits in the middle of a cow pasture doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Calling "wetlands" by their old name - SWAMPS - reminds most people that those areas are already over-ripe with bacteria and often with disease.

Just for fun, if you are concerned about all the potential for disease, ask your doctor what the treatment for most fissures and rectal bleeding is. You'll find that antibotics are rarely used, and the e-coli in the gut is not considered a serious threat to an otherwise healthy person unless there is a major injury. Some (but not all) of our fears about human waste are exaggerated.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

A couple of quick notes. On the wall - frost and normal soil movement can cause a retaining wall to bulge and fail. I remember my father having stone retaining walls built on either side of our drive to our under-home garage. Within 5 years those beautiful walls were bulging. He had to have them removed, the clay behind them removed, and gravel fill and drainage tile put in to prevent water from getting behind them and freezing. Within ten years, they were beginning to bulge again anyway. A neighbor had a railroad tie retaining wall that had to have deadmen ( ties going into the slope for at least 6 feet ) to keep from failing. Good stonework and walls aren't cheap, and cheap jobs are ultimately expensive.

Well, stone isn't the best thing to use for a retaining wall of any height. It's not strong enough laterally and you can really reinforce it the way you can with a concrete or CMU wall. But you're correct, you always want to put in a way to remove the water that builds up behind a water.

If he's wanted the look of a stone wall, he would have been better off building the actually retaining wall with reinforced CMU or concrete, and then applying the stone as a veneer only.

[brcomm0]

Thanks for the wall help. That makes good sense. Now someone to do it without going crazy on the costs

[cncguy2000]

Good info on septic tanks,
What a average cost to pump out a tank?
(3 Bedroom)

[jimj]

Originally Posted by daniellefort

Well from what we can see just at the surface, it shouldn't be too rocky. Our property is mostly just open grass field but it is on a hillside. Our property starts on the side of a hill and goes all the way down the hill and back up another hill. It's not a mountain hill, just a hill in the middle of a field.

We have been on septic for years and would rather be on it than paying the city big bucks. They are not hard to maintain as long as you are minimally careful about what you send down it (like no egg shells,coffee grounds and use a disposal sparingly) and pumping every 3-5 years at a cost of about $500. Go to the county sanitation dept and they will be able to tell you what kind of system you will most likely need. I am pretty sure that a perk test is required to be done by the person you bought your land from (if it was subdivided) and the county would have that test. It is way cheaper to install an in ground septic vs an engineered septic. Most of your septic pumpers will be able to install the system, and in fact have good knowledge as to the type systems in your area. Get bids from several and CHECK references!!!!!

[alleycat]

Subdivision lots will automatically get a perc test done in most areas. The county health department has to sign off on the subdivision plat. I used to work for a engineering firm that did subdivisions.