Dump and Pump

The Urban Farmhouse is serviced by both a well and a septic system. Double whammy. These are things I don't like to think about. I don't need to know where things come from and go to, I like to just turn on the tap and have water and I like to flush and never think about it again.

I know next to nothing about wells and septic systems, but I have definitely gotten a thorough education since we went under contract with this house. The well inspection was the same day as the home inspection. I watched the well inspector do his thing, and he helped me collect water samples to take to the testing place to have all sorts of tests run. One of the samples was to test for coliform bacteria. Yep, fecal matter. I really didn't need to know this. 

The well inspection was pretty straightforward. He showed me the different parts to it. I learned where the well head is located, where the floats are located that indicate the level of the water in the storage tank, and where you can put the water in when you need to have it delivered. Yes, you can buy water and have it delivered to your tank. Who knew?

The very next day was the day the real fun began. The Urban Farmhouse had been under contract once before we saw it. We were under the impression that the previous buyers were unable to sell their house in order to follow through on the purchase, so they had to back out. Now that I think about it and given the real estate market around here, we should have suspected that wasn't exactly the case. However, our agent kept looking over the previous documents and she decided that the deal seemed to fall apart shortly after the septic system inspection. So we were anxious to see what would be revealed. We did have documentation that the owners had done extensive and expensive repairs, so we were hopeful.

The septic tank system is as old as the house, so 23 years. Most septic systems are supposed to last 25-30 years. However, our inspector said that he's seen these older models last as long as 50 years - so there's no way to know when it might begin to fail and need to be replaced. He was able to uncover the 2 tank lids pretty quickly. But it took us a while to find the pump tank. We finally discovered that there was a water feature resting on top of the pump tank. That is a Very Big NO NO.

We (my agent and myself) had to help him remove all of the heavy landscaping stones and the filled-to-the-brim tub of water so that he could get access to the pump. Fun times. 

After he got to the pump tank, he started the drain field test. Immediately we discovered that there were leaks in the drain field. When the owners had the repairs done, they brought in a backhoe and probably cracked some of the pipes in the drain field. Great. Inspection cannot be completed.

The owners contacted the septic repair company and scheduled them to come out and repair the stuff that was cracked. I was able to go and watch, and we discovered that there are 2 drain fields. And there is a switch that you turn to switch from one to the other. You're supposed to do this every month to help keep from saturating one spot in your yard. However, the last people who lived in the house didn't know about this switch thingy, and it had gotten broken off. Another repair.

In the meantime, we had to extend our option period because it was about to run out. We weren't about to get into legally binding territory without having the septic system in complete working order. The sellers weren't happy about this, but they agreed to it. 

Whew. We've gotten it all repaired and scheduled the inspector to come back out - for another fee - and check it out. Yet again I went over there, and he filled the tank. Turned on the pump, and more new leaks popped up. Sigh.