DIY septic tank and drain field?

[paulsharvey]

BTW, I've never heard of semi annual maintenance inspections of a septic system or anything else, other than storm retention, fire protection, and backflow preventers.

 

[paulsharvey]

Not to beat a dead horse; but to clarify, if permitting is just an annoying matter of jumping through hoops, reading several regs/spec books and spending $100; and then calling inspections; 100%, do that. If permitting is a matter of 'you use my brother in laws company, or you don't get a permit' that's a different story.

 

[Jstpssng]

Any time that Eddie tunes in on a topic about construction, I reaccess any of my viewpoints which don't align with his.

 

[EddieWalker]

There isn't any building code or inspections outside of the City Limits here in Texas. If you have ten acres or more, there isn't anything that's required for a septic system. Build what you want and live with how it performs.

Does the OP have similar laws where he's at?

 

[4570Man]

There isn't any building code or inspections outside of the City Limits here in Texas. If you have ten acres or more, there isn't anything that's required for a septic system. Build what you want and live with how it performs.

Does the OP have similar laws where he's at?

Nobody drives around and checks here. If you do a decent job that doesn’t spill sewer on the ground you’d be extremely unlikely to get caught. The downside is they usually look for a septic permit when you sell the place. If you went to sell it you would very likely have to have a licensed installer redo it with a permit.

 

[grsthegreat]

Here in Texas, it's very common to do your own septic system. When I spoke to the Country Health Inspector, he told me that I had to have ten acres of land, or more, and that I was responsible for all repairs to it.

Home Depot sells septic tanks here. They have them sitting out in their parking lot, and if you want one, you need to buy it right away, because they sell them pretty quickly. When I bought mine, Norwesco 1000 Gal. 2 MH 2 CPT Septic Tank 44474 - The Home Depot, they had just received a new deliver of three big 1,000 gallon tanks, and three 500 gallon tanks. I went there the next week and they where all sold out!!!! But they always get more.

Installing the tank is pretty easy. I did it by myself. Just dig the hole big enough to be able to get in there and level it off really good at the depth you want it. I think the shovel work at getting it super flat was the hardest part. The tank isn't very heavy, I hooked it to my backhoe with a chain and lowered it into the hole.

To get to my leach field, I used Schedule 40 PVC. Same thing I used going from my house to the tank. Thin wall PVC is also used by some people, but Schedule 40 is so much stronger that I feel it's worth the extra money.

MY leach field is shaped kind of like the letter E. The line from the tank goes to the middle of the E, then it splits and heads out to three separate lines that are about ten feet apart. Home Depot and Lowes both sell all the stuff you need to make your own leach field. NDS 4 in. x 10 ft. EZ-Drain Prefabricated French Drain with Pipe EZ-0802F - The Home Depot

On my house, I have all my drain lines going into my tank, but I've worked on a bunch of houses here that have a Grey line going out into their landscaping. Showers and bathtub water probably shouldn't go into a septic tank, it dilutes the solids too much and slows down the process of breaking them down, but I didn't understand that when I built my house. If I could go back in time, I would have a separate Grey line

yeiks....here, homeowners can do their own, but there really picky about the install. hard not to get dinged by inspectors. we use 2 piece plastic 1000 gallon units here, cost about $1,400 each. but everyone

HAS to get prior approval and perc tests submitted to county health district first

 

[WM75Guy]

I would look at options to connect to the existing septic system. We just added a sink to our shop. The plumber dug a hole and installed a sump tank with grinder pump. It pumps about 100' through a 2" line to the septic system for our stables. We could add a toilet in the future if needed, but there are 3 bathrooms in the house and one in the stables, all within quick walking distance.

 

[grsthegreat]

here, they view tank and field size against the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. and peculation test results.

i do the electrical for a guy that installs very intricate systems to use on lake front property. some consist of 3 x 1000 gallon tanks and sand filters. plus positive pressure drip systems. the control side sucks

 

[lilranch2001]

Nice looking panel, do you build them or do you purchase them completed?

 

[grsthegreat]

half and half. lots of field wiring and i have to program