Septic Systems 101 for Home Buyers
If you’re a city dweller who is looking for a home in the suburbs, it’s likely that you’re looking at homes with septic for the first time and you may feel that you need a run down of septic systems 101 for home buyers. Septic tanks tends to make buyers nervous unnecessarily so.
Let’s take an overview of what a simple septic system is, how it’s maintained, and what you can do if you’re buying a home that uses one. A septic system is a self-contained system for disposing of sewerage. They’re frequently found in rural and suburban areas that do not have public sewerage systems. The system one sees most often is a holding tank in which enzyme and bacterial action decomposes the waste material and buried lines in a drainage field use soil to strain out what remains.
Septic permits are usually issued specifying the number of bedrooms a house may have that is to be built on the lot for which the permit is being issued. How well the soil percolates (how well water drains through the soil) on the lot is taken into account when issuing the permit. It typically costs between $1200 and $8400 to install a conventional system in the Raleigh and surrounding area. Systems are usually adequate for the size of the house because of the permit system.
When a system and the demands of a household are in balance, it can be literally years between times any maintenance is needed. Some jurisdictions require that they be pumped periodically. There are companies which make a specialty of this. The average cost for the Raleigh area ranges from $300-$600 to have a septic tank pumped.