Very lumpy old sand mound septic - smoothing

[Airban]

Hi guys,

First post here, love the forum:

We closed on a 4 acre property recently that has an old (approved) sand mound septic system. We are starting our construction project to put the house up and are now concentrating on the mound. It is in rough shape! It was installed 3 years ago, but is so badly overgrown and lumpy and we need to smooth it out and make it look better (for inspection and our own sanity).

Question is: what can we use to smooth out the large lumps? The soil is basically clay on top, not very easy to work with. If it was just regular ground it would be no problem peeling off the sod with a dozer or tractor attachment, but that is obviously not an option because of the mound. From what I'm reading nothing heavy at all should be used on the mound. So what does that leave us as options?

We used a good amount of round up and hacked down the weeds, but we are left with these horrible lumps and uneven ground. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[medic0648]

I'd reccomend not driving on the mound with equipment unless you want some very expensive repair bills. The best bet would be gently do what you can with a backhoe or small excavator from the sides. The weight of the equipment can cause the tanks and lines to collapse if run over

 

[Airban]

Yes, we aren't going to put any equipment on the mound. From the sides would be kind of tough as much of the lumps are in the middle. Tough situation.

 

[medic0648]

Ya. That's why I said backhoe or excavator. You can probably reach the middle of the berm and help smooth it out using the bucket. They also make rollers to compact/smooth dirt that attach to the end of the boom.

 

[SPIKER]

I would look at a good rototiller they are light enough & will break up top soil.

Weed eat the stuff down flat (off to nothing, no grass or weeds) then try and find any piping. You may have to probe with a shovel or T/Bar for wetness and or piping.

You may need to shut off the pumping system for a day or two depending on how wet the hill is. Once you get the grass cut off real low the sun and wind will help dry it out if it is too wet to till.

Then re-weed eat it to dirt and roto-till it deep enough to get it to level out. The next thing is rake it level with good rake maybe amend it with some gypsum if it has too much clay. Then add some fertilizer 10-10-10 and toss on some grass seed or wild flowers of choice with a nice straw covering.

Mark

 

[beeforty]

I have a mound system on my place and if anything I'd just throw some dirt on top and rake it around. Mine is getting a little lumpy too (**** gophers)but have been too lazy to do anything about it. I wouldn't worry about the clay on top because you want it to keep rain from soaking in and then pushing your septic out the bottom. With the clay it will shed off the top and drain away from the mound and your septic can soak straight down. You must have HIGH ground water like I do, hit water at 4 1/2' with a minimum of rain fall when doing my perc test. I have a manifold on top of a gravel bed under 6-10" of dirt on top of my 500 ton pile of sand.

 

[Botabill]

I use a small 2 ton excavator with a tilt scraping bucket to install septic systems. There is no problem using this machine on the bed however you need to run it across the lines at right angles. The scraping bucket would plane off the top inch or two of bumps and sod. Then you could add some new topsoil and grass seed.

 

[Dirthog]

Around here if you are on a mound with ANY machine other than a lawn mower and get caught the inspectors will make you replace the whole thing.

 

[oosik]

Dirthog,
Right-O. Nothing on the mound except a lawnmower. Its VERY easy to damage a mound. A new mound will easily eat up that money being saved for the new implement. Also, since technology is advancing so rapidly - its very likely to need replacement with an even more exotic system. Forget machinery and get up there with a rake & shovel.

 

[Tallman]

Can't help you out with your problem. I live in the Girard area also. I think the one that said to put a little more dirt on it and rake it to level it out would be the easiest way.
Ken