The Dirty Truth About Septic Systems

a septic inspection even though it's my least favorite part of the job it is the most important inspection you will do if you are buying a house out in the country as part of the septic inspection is to locate where the lids are generally a tank will have two lids and this system is already an exposed lid on the left and they're trying to find the lid on the right once we get those lids open we're then going to put the system and inspect the inside and if you're buying a house on the creeks the septic is probably the most integral part of the home the county will not even allow you to build a house like this on a creek / today's codes and standards today you wouldn't be able to do it now this house like many houses on Austin Creek are now grandfathered in but you have to have a functioning septic system so we're noticing on the solids that are inside the tank that it has the water has raised high inside they're shown it's not working properly that's one of the indications that we're having trouble when we look at an inspection then we don't want the solid to be that thick so you know you need to pump these things out every three to five years once we we pump it out we'll be able to see if the inlet baffles the outlet baffles are intact or if there's any problems with the sidewalls there's three different classes for septic systems there's the class one which is a septic system which is built per today's codes and standards there's a septic system class two and a class three there's also what is called a conditional septic system most of these systems along the creeks are called conditional septic systems that means the county is letting you have them there because your home is already pre-existing but they don't meet today's codes and standards well it appears that we found a large root wad in the tank during the inspection we've pumped the tank pulled out the roots and now the assessment is that the leech box for the tank also would have a lot of roots in it too that's why it wasn't draining the reason is is we've got a lot of red woods around here this is a pretty common thing with septic tanks having the roots come out and get into the tank and clog the system so we're going to have to clear out the system and that's the assessment on the tank right now a lot of clients ask me they say Dave what do I need to do to maintain my system what what makes a healthy septic system what should I do what are some of the pointers that you could give to clients to to maintain their systems well let's start off I always tell the customers you know no mail light is no female let's go down to you have a foreign object besides toilet paper don't go through stomach it don't go into that system okay so when we go to puppet and you use a garbage disposal we're going to see that the sludge count will be higher because it's just going to sit down and not to deteriorate and the sludge is what they what you pump out of the tank we the sludge and the solids when we pump out of the tank okay the solids will float on top that is actually the human waste okay okay and that's what created by fats oils and grease are called fog okay no fog it's what it does is it will float up to the bacteria from your body will break that down into a sludge okay and what we want to do is as the solids are going down the sludge is coming up so every three to five years we want to pump that out of there so we don't get that going to the other side the septic tank is a two compartment tank two-thirds and one-third two-thirds holds the solids in the sludge the wall separates the two sides has a hole in the middle the water will travel through the center between the solids and the sludge and go out and get in maintenance is pumping everything pump it every three to five years now what about say antibacterial soap no the antibacterial soaps will kill the bacteria that we want to break that solids down so we don't want you to be using it and you'll find that in a lot of your hand pump six cents right and they used to say antibacterial now you got to read it because it says antibacterial uh-huh really hello and the reason is is that bacteria that's in your body is the bacteria that goes into the tank and that is good bacteria and that's what you need to keep a healthy system a septic tank is nothing but a giant stomach okay as it breaks down our bodies break down the solids so no don't put anything in your septic system that wouldn't go into your body pump it every three to five years make sure that you use some if you're in the trees to use a root killer to keep the roots from from infiltrating into the system like we saw here and you've got a healthy system that's right okay great well septic systems are not glamorous and they're not the funnest part of my business but they are the most important part of my business because if you're buying a home in the rural area that's either on a creek or a river you've got to make sure your septic system is operating properly so if you're looking for a real estate agent make sure that agent understands septic systems ask them some simple questions see if they've ever sold any houses with systems and maybe you've learned some things on this video that you could actually quiz your agent on to make sure that they really know what they're talking about if you have any questions at all regarding septics or girl property please feel free to give us a call I can refer you to been my number seven oh seven two one seven one seven eight six and have a great day

Channel: David R. Millar

Views: 35,013

Rating: 4.6363635 out of 5

Keywords: yt:quality=high, russian river real estate, Guerneville Homes For Sale, homes for sale on the Russian River, local Russian River Agent, Russian River Real Estate, Guerneville Real Estate, Monte Rio, Guerneville, Sebastopol, Jenner, Bodega Bay, Rio Nido, #RussianRiverLiving #RussianRiverRealEstate #LocalGuernevilleAgent #LocalRussianRiverAgent

Id: BbOK90CaByo

Length: 6min 4sec (364 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 18 2016