Horses and vehicles over the drainfield?

[Simkie]

Whenever these questions about septic come up, it reminds me of a house I saw when we were house hunting.

There was a small piece of the property across the road, and when we were over there looking at it, a neighbor from a few houses down stopped by to chat. He’d lost perk on his leech field, and was trying to buy the small piece, so he could build a new field. He had nowhere to put it on his existing property. His only option was to buy property and lay pipe a quarter mile down the road.

Blew my mind and really underscored how important that piece of perkable land is. You’re in an awfully shitty place if you lose it, particularly on a small property.

[4horses]

The good news is it’s not the leech field. The plumber found a root in the pipe. The bad news is there is a tree near it that needs to be removed. I do not want to kill that tree, but not sure there’s a way to avoid it.

[BrendaJane]

removing the tree is the cheapest alternative.
I am a tree hugger myself, but at one point a tree has to go.

[enjoytheride]

I am pretty sure mine is under my outdoor arena which is compacted ag line and clay and something else and sand. We didn’t ask any questions, it’s been there for at least 20 years before we bought the farm and as far as we know an outdoor arena has always been over it. The original outdoor is 100 x 100 and we added another 50 feet to the far end and didn’t run into anything. Originally we couldn’t even find it at all when we bought the farm but when we were fixing drainage we hit the outlet pipe which was only a foot under ground and the pipe goes directly that way. We fixed the pipe and are still not asking any questions.

[enjoytheride]

Cut the tree down before it ruins the pipe.

[Janet]

@4horses

The good news is it’s not the leech field. The plumber found a root in the pipe

A funny, in hindsight, story about tree roots.

A bit over 20 years ago my sister and I (and our respective husbands) bought an old dairy farm, and split it. They got the part with the old (pre 1930) house (which had been vacant for 6 years), dairy barn, and other farm buildings, while we got the part with no buildings, and built a house and barn from scratch.

We all knew that the septic “system” on the old house needed to be replaced. It didn’t have a proper drain files, the effluent just fed under what had once been the pig pens.

When they moved in they discovered the drains were blocked. It turned out there was a root blocking the pipe from the house to the septic “system”. Under county rules the old system was “grandfathered in”, but if any changes or repairs were made it needed to be brought up to current code. So they were not allowed to remove the root.

A perc site had been found for the new drainfield, but construction couldn’t start until the spring, and this was late autumn. So they had a porta potty installed in the driveway. When they finished having a bath they used a hose and a pump to drain the bathtub out the window. They washed the dishes in a plastic tub and dumped the used dishwater out side. I am not sure what they did with the washing machine -probably pumped that out the window too.

[clanter]

my then neighbor called the city to report a problem with his sewer connection, the line was backing up

After Extensive investigation it was discovered the house never was connected to the city sewer system when the system was installed in the late 1950s. (even though the current home owner had been paying for sewer fees on their water billing each month)

I am not sure what compromise was worked out as they had paid a lot of money for sewer service they never received but they did connect the house to the city sewer system

[ReSomething]

My cousin bought new construction in Las Cruces NM back in the 1970’s, same issue but they discovered it just before closing. Builder had to connect properly or no loan, no sale.

[EssexFells]

Gutters would be way cheaper than replacing the drainfield – and better for your house foundation anyway. Since you’re going to have excavators on site anyway, put in a rain cistern that your gutters drain into, and now you’ll have gray water for all of your gardening / law watering needs for life!

I wouldn’t worry about light grazing in the area, but only if it’s a large field. Ours is in a 6-ac pasture so they’re never in the same spot for any length of time, and I close that field if the ground is soft. I would not do it if it’s a smaller field where they’d be in the same areas daily, and NEVER with regular vehicle traffic over the same places. Your sandy soil would help I’m sure, but why risk it when you have other options.

You should probably check in with your county/town’s public health department, to make sure they’ll approve the alternate design closer to the house. I’m sure your contractor has the knowledge to know what they’d approve vs not) but never hurts to make sure yourself.