leach field Archives - Septic Services, Inc.

When you are remodeling your home it can be easy to forget that you can affect any septic system by building near a septic tank and drain field. This is also true for those who are buying a home and are planning to renovate. It’s best to know exactly where your tank and drain field are located. This will keep new building projects from obstructing the routine maintenance of your system or damaging your septic system.

Before embarking on any major project that may involve your septic system; get a good foundation of knowledge on septic systems. Check out our ebook below. It is a great resource that will make you feel much more comfortable about owning, maintaining, and remodeling near a septic system.

Building Near a Septic Tank

What could happen if you neglect finding your system? Your septic tank may be in the path of a heavy construction vehicle. Breaking your septic tank lid would be the least of your concerns. The weight of construction equipment may cause cracks in the septic tank. These may not be evident immediately after it occurs. But over time, the cracks will develop and cause serious structural concerns. A tank is usually marked in some way making it easy to spot. If the path of any vehicle is near the tank it is a good idea to find the edges of the tank and draw an outline. This will ensure that the driver knows exactly where the tank is located and to give the tank some space. The septic tank is more likely to be in danger if the construction is near the perimeter of the house. Besides damaging your tank, construction can keep a pumper from accessing the tank.

Decks, patios, and other structures near a septic tank can always run the risk of covering the manhole to the tank. This not only makes the tank difficult to find, but in some cases impossible to maintain. The lack of regular pumping of your tank will be a costly mistake, which can also affect you again when you sell. If you have a deck or patio with no access to the tank, you may have to rip out the structure wasting all the money spent to build it.

Building Near a Drain Field (Leach Field)

If a drain field is damaged it can cost a lot more to replace. The biggest issue that can arise from construction near a drain field is the damage caused by heavy construction equipment. The weight of many large trucks driving over a drain field will crack the pipes in the drain field and compact the soils. Compacted soil in a drain field will decrease the drain field’s ability to drain. The air pockets in between the soil is what the effluent fills up. If there are no air pockets to fill, the effluent will be forced to go up towards the top of the soil and spill out onto the ground.

If you can keep any new structure off the drain field it is best to do so. Here are a few examples of how building near a drain field could potentially cause a problem.

Problems Building Near a Drain Field

An in-ground pool will more than likely need a permit to be built, but it is important that it is kept away from your drainfield. The most obvious problem would be cutting into your drainfield. But even getting too close can compact the surrounding soils and decrease the drain field’s life expectancy.
An above ground pool adds some weight to the soil. When it drains out it will seep down into the drainfield adding a good bit of water.
Many times we will see sheds placed on top of leach fields. There is a chance the weight of the shed can cause the some of the soils to compact, but it also invites traffic from machinery.
Larger sheds and pole barns should definitely be kept off of drainfields. They are certainly heavy enough to cause problems. They are also big enough to hold heavy vehicles that will only add to the damage.
Some people will plant gardens on top of the drain field. Make sure you are not planting anything with large enough roots to get down into the pipes. There is typically 2 feet of soil cover, but this can vary. It’s best to be cautious and place the garden somewhere else if in doubt.
Fence posts tend to be placed around gardens. Make sure the posts are not too big that they are digging down into the drain field stone (aggregate).
Any large posts or poles that are placed too deep can cause a problem. This can be from decks, flagpoles, and large fences
Replacing a septic tank can cause a leach field to become damaged. The large trucks needed to bring in the concrete septic tank will harm the soils. A plastic septic tank is a great way to avoid the problem altogether. They are light enough to be carried by hand.

Now that you know what risks are involved with building near your septic system, we can get into how to prevent any problems from rising. The best form of prevention is to know where each component of your system is placed.

How to Locate Your Septic System

It’s easy to lose track of where your system is located. Many people only see the whole system during the home buying inspection process. If you still have access to your report there may be information on its location, or even a 2-D sketch of the system’s layout. We will take pictures with our report to give a better reference for the system components’ placement.

If you no longer have your report, you can always have someone come out and locate your system. This will not only be helpful for construction but is needed for proper maintenance.

Taking precaution and a little bit of common sense will go a long way when doing any building near a septic tank and drain field.

If you would like to learn much more about owning a septic system and how to take care of it click here to learn about our ebook.

When it comes to septic systems the septic drain field (also called leach field) it can remain a mystery to many people. Unlike the tank a drain field typically has no markers. The drain field tends to go unnoticed until there is a problem. This is a shame since the drain field is the most expensive component of a septic system. Understanding your leach field can help increase the longevity of your septic system and save you a lot of money. Once you take a look at how a basic drain field works we can see how problems can arise.

Would you like to feel much more comfortable about owning and maintaining your septic system? Check out our ebook below. It is filled with in depth knowledge on all things septic, yet is easily skimmable.

Drain Field Layout

A typical drain field has three main components: good soil, aggregate, and perforated pipe. A drainfield works through a simple process. The perforated pipe receives the effluent (waste from the septic tank) and distributes it among the aggregate and as it trickles through the aggregate the soil receives the effluent. The soil will filter out the harmful bacteria and reintroduce it back to the water table.

When the septic tank is done breaking down the waste it spills over to the drain field. The effluent is distributed evenly through perforated pipes. Perforated pipes are pipes that have holes close to the bottom. The perforated pipes run the length of the drain field and as the as the effluent fills the pipes it spills out evenly the length of the field. Once the effluent leaves the pipe it enters into the aggregate.

Aggregate is made of stone and in some pressure dose systems a layer of stone and sand underneath. The purpose of the aggregate is to evenly disperse the effluent so that there is equal absorption in the soil. The effluent trickles through the stone and spreads itself evenly on top of the soil. If the soil underneath the stone becomes saturated the stone aggregate will begin to fill up. This is why an inspector will stick a probe rod into the aggregate. If the effluent level goes up to or beyond the stone aggregate, there is no more usable soil on the sides or bottom of the drain field. This is why it is so important to have good soil.

The soil is the foundation to a functioning drain field. When you install a septic system the first step is to have a septic system designer and a health department representative come out and run tests. Much of these tests are looking at your soil; seeing what it is comprised of and how it drains. If you have sandy soil it is going to drain well. Other soils that are more clay-like will not drain as well and may require a larger drain field to compensate for lack of good drainage. These tests involve digging test pits and running a percolation test (or “perc” test).

Now that we know how a drain field works we can take a look at what can go wrong in a field.

Drain Field Problems

When you see spots of thick,lime green grass starting to grow above your drain field that means that it is malfunctioning. But, how did it get there? It is all about the soil. As the soil begins to be filled up of effluent and sludge the capacity of the soil decreases and the effluent begins to seep out of the ground.

The best way to understand this is to think of the drain field as a sponge. As a sponge fills up it fills all the spaces in the sponge. In a drain field that void space gets filled in with sludge over time and it loses its ability to hold as much water. The liquid then moves upward since it has no place to go.

A drainfield can also be affected by too much water entering into the system. To go back to the sponge analogy. If you keep filling a sponge with water it will hold it until it has time to drain or dry out. In the same way if a leach field is receiving more water than it should it will not be able to keep up with excess wastewater and will eventually spill out on the ground. Not only that, but the soils can be permanently damaged. This means that the system may never go back to the way it was before it received the excess flows.

This is why it is so important to make sure that you are not using more water than you need and there is no excess water exiting your home into your septic system. Some major problems would be a well back-flushing too often or a sump pump directed into the sewer line. Sump pumps can be particularly dangerous. If you have excessive rainfall much of that rain is falling on your drain field plus the sump pump is adding extra water from the basement. Several heavy rainfalls could cause permanent damage to your system. You should look for any leaky faucets or toilets regularly and check to make sure your condensate line from your air conditioning unit is not entering the sewer line. Even a small trickle like this will cause damage down the road.

One other way to damage a drain field is by compacting soils. This is done with constant driving over a field or by having large construction vehicles running across the field. How does this affect the drain field? It comes down to the much needed void space in the drain field. As the soils compact they lose the ability to hold any wastewater and the field becomes useless. Heavy construction trucks have enough weight to crush the pipes in the field as well. This creates a blockage in the field that reduces its drainage area. It is very beneficial to know where your drain field is located exactly, if you are planning to drive near the field. The same goes with construction. Let your builders know that the field is forbidden to drive on. Large construction vehicles have enough weight to ruin your field. If you don’t know where your field is located you can have your pumper find it during regular maintenance or ask an inspector to come out and find it for you.

Locating Your Drain Field

As a homeowner, it is in your benefit to know where your drain field is located. If you have a septic inspection done before you buy your house see if they can show where the drain field is in the report. Our reports will have a picture of where the drain field is located. There are a few reasons why this helps you maintain your septic system.

As stated above, you should make sure no one is driving over your drain field. This goes for construction as well.
Many homeowners want to plant trees. Trees can be very damaging to a drain field. We will talk about this later on.
You want to make sure that no excess water is pouring over your drain field. Any rainwater from a roof leader or excess runoff can damage a system over time.
As part of regular maintenance, a good pumper will probe your field to let you know how much moisture is in it now.
It is good to look for any signs of malfunctioning. If the drain field starts to look like there are patches of heavy bright green grass, then there is a good chance that sewage is coming out of the field.

Drain Fields and Trees

Another major factor in the health of your septic system is tree growth. Without knowing where your field is many times people will plant trees on top of the system or very close by. When we do inspections this can be a red flag. The main concern is the roots that grow into the field. You might think that this will help the drainage, but it does just the opposite. The tree roots will enter into the pipes and form a “root ball.” This is a collection of fine root hairs that clog up the pipe. The sludge then gets caught in the hairs and creates a watertight seal. This stops the pipe from directing the waste throughout the system. Inevitably, the area before the stoppage receives all of the liquid and starts to saturate. Trees can damage the life-expectancy of a drain field because you are not using the field to its full capacity. Its best to remove all trees near any septic system within a 10 foot radius. If you are planting a tree make sure you know where your drain field is located. The farther the tree is planted away from any component of a septic system the better.

Hopefully, by now the drain field is a little bit less of a mystery to you. There is still plenty to learn about your particular drain field and how to maintain it. We will keep posting information about drain fields and how you can maintain yours.

In the meantime, check out our ebook, it will prepare you to deal with any issue as a septic system owner.

Building Near A Septic Tank and Drain Field