New home questions about septic and well.

[camaromann]

Me and my wife looked at a home built in 1997 in the Davisburg area. It has the original septic and well. Septic is in the back of the home and well is located in the front. At 22/23 years old how much longer should I expect this to last? Is there anyway to get a rough idea of average cost on a removal and replace of a tank and field? I will have a company come out that specializes in septic tank inspection and service, but wanted to hear from some peoples personal experience. The house is up on a pretty good hill. However as the property goes around the sides of the house it slopes down to allow for the walkout basement. At the bottom of this is where the septic tank is located in a kind of valley. Seems kind of odd to me. I will see if I can get a picture to load. Is there any drawback to a septic feild? Will it regularly seep up through my lawn with wastewater? I know nothing about them. We like the house a lot, but it is a very large investment. I just want to avoid thousands in repair immediately, and a torn up property, or less then ideal backyard conditions with standing water or water seeping up.Thanks for any help.

[camaromann]

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[camaromann]

In the first few pictures the clean out is to the right of the basement door wall, under what looks like a small stump, that is actually a small little birdbath. If this is were the septic tank is, and the field is running away from the house..... Is it safe for my kid and wife and myself to run around over the septic field and play without fear of disease or getting sick?

[mikesfastss]

The field will last a long time as long as you don’t damage it with driving on it and things like that, get the tank pumped out when needed and maintain it with the required chemicals to keep it going. You can not put a patio over it or anything like that as it will starve it of oxygen and it won’t allow the bacteria to live and decompose your waste. A inspection is key as they will be able to tell you the wall depth and when it was dug and also check the water for contamination etc. a septic inspection saved me about 35k when I almost bought a house with a bad one. Nice house btw.

[camaromann]

Thanks. I would plan on using a reputable company and doing everything they say. 35k!?!? Wow! That is way, way more money then I would have thought. I was thinking of 10k or less to RIP out and replace.

[mikesfastss]

The house needed an engineered septic field, the home owner had put a stamped concrete patio over the original field and that basically killed it. Normal field is between 5 and 10k

[adidasvette16]

35K!!! Damn, that's crazy! My guess would have been 10k too.

[nitrousrick]

My parents House was built in the late 70’s. Their field is still oringnal, they just had to drill a new well. Well was around 10k,(also had to replace a few pumps over the years) a non engineered field is usually less than 10k.

Probably still ahead not paying a water bill all those years.

[camaromann]

Our water bill each month down in Warren is around $100/month with me, wife, and 1 kid and 2 dogs. She waters the lawn during the summer months also. This new house on well and septic has 13 zone sprinkler. So basically free water(till the pump goes) and a nice green lawn all summer. I was told the well pump would run $1,500-$2,000 whenever it needs replacing. The bladder tank, water softener, house filter and reverse osmosis is all relatively new.

[camaromann]

I was considering a small concrete patio out that basement doorwall for a future date. But I guess I'll leave that alone to avoid that massive septic bill.