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Home Buyer's Detailed Guide to Septic Systems - Buying a Home With a Septic Tank InspectAPedia®  -     Chapter 6-Final Overview of Septic Testing for Home Buyers A final overview of the critical steps a home buyer should take when purchasing a home with a septic tank and drainfield Home Buyer's Detailed Guide to Septic Systems

This document provides advice for home buyers who are buying a property with a private septic system, that is, a septic tank and a leach field or drainfield or similar soil absorption system. This chapter provides a final overview of the critical steps a home buyer should take when purchasing a home with a septic tank and drainfield.

This document is a guide of what to do if your' re buying a home with a septic tank including simple explanations, evaluation of various test methods, where to get information about a given property, and what can interfere with septic testing or might be unsanitary or even dangerous.

© Copyright 2010 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links at left show where you are in our document & website.

6-FINAL OVERVIEW of Septic System Inspections and Tests when Buying a Home - Home Buyers' Guide to Septic Systems

When buying a home, especially one that is old and may not have a sewage disposal system that meets today's standards, the questions that should be answered are:

1. Is the septic system currently working properly or is there evidence of a failure?
2. Even if it's working, are there signs suggesting short remaining life of the septic system?
3. When the existing system fails, how will we repair it and how much will repairs cost?
4. What tests and inspections are appropriate for the property being purchased? Were the septic tests properly performed?
5. Is there evidence of unsafe conditions at the property?

If accurate soil test data is not available through the local health department the only sure way of answering the question is to actually perform all the deep hole testing and percolation tests required by code.

As you can understand, most sellers would take a dim view of prospective buyers wanting to tear up their property to perform then tests.

Therefore the more information a buyer can obtain, the better able he or she will be able to judge the adequacy of the existing system and what will most likely be required to repair the system, when needed. In that way, the buyer will not be caught unaware when that day arrives, since it was part of the financial assessment establishing the value of the property at the time of purchase.

More Reading:
CESSPOOLS if you don't know what they are.
DRYWELLS if you don't know what they are.
Inspectors: Directory of Professional Inspectors available via Internet (Some of these inspectors offer septic system testing and inspection)
The Septic System Information Website - our list of articles, septic pumpers, septic designers, septic products, etc.

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HOME BUYERSGUIDE
1-INTRODUCTION
2-YOU NEED TO KNOW AND DO
3-SEPTIC SYSTEM COMPONENTS
4-WHAT GOES WRONG
5-HOW TO INSPECT & TEST
  5-1. ASK ABOUT THE SYSTEM
  5-2. VISUAL INSPECTION
  5-3. LOADING & DYE TEST
    WHAT'S A DYE TEST?
    TEST LIMITATIONS
    FLOODING TESTS
    PROBE TESTS
  5-4. PUMP THE TANK
  5-5. ADDED INVESTIGATIONS
  5-6. ASK OUTSIDERS
6-FINAL OVERVIEW

• Portions of the original text were provided by the CT Department of Public Health and Addiction Services. Daniel Friedman (web author) has made extensive edits and content additions to the original file. the CT State DOH. Their contact information is:
• The State of Connecticut Department of Health Services is at 150 Washington St., Hartford CT 06106 203-566-1292 Voice 203-566-2275 Fax

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
• ...

More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• The Septic System Information Website
• Directory of Professional Inspectors available via Internet (Some of these inspectors offer septic system testing and inspection)
• Diagnosing Clogged Drains: A First Step for Homeowners
• Performing a Septic Loading and Dye Test - How to perform this test (separate document)
• Septic Tank Pumping Guide: When, Why, How to pump the septic tank
• Table of Required Septic Tank Sizes: Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow & How to Calculate the Size (in gallons) of a Septic Tank.
• How Big Should the Leach Field Be? - table of soil percolation rate vs. field size
• Home & Outdoor Living Water Requirements
• Table of Required Clearances: Distances Between Septic System & Wells, Streams, Trees, etc.
• Septic System Inspection Methods and Procedures, - online illustrated class for building and septic inspectors
• Septic Systems Inspection, Testing, & Maintenance- online textbook. Detailed how to inspect, maintain, repair information

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