Had one at our place up north Michigan. Before that we had an out-house. There used to be trucks call "Honey-Dippers" that would come around and clean them out. Looked like a nasty job to me as a kid, but I guess somebody has to do it. Strange how the crescent moon is on most out house doors. How did that become a thing ? Oh well, good luck to you Mark and all of you down there cleaning up.

Lol, Dart. That first good whiff brought back some of my on sweet nostalgia from the early 80's...

Our neighborhood was all open sewage ditches that ran along the streets.

Peddling on blacktop, so hard that your bicycle would be swaying side-to-side as you picked up speed. Idling your feet level mid-ways the sprocket as you lined up to hit the ramp dead center. An angled jump over the ditch, ramp on road side while landing on soft grass on the other side, assuming you made it.

Making that perfect soft horizontal landing on the other side, or with the back wheel touching down just before the front.

Or...nose diving, getting the breath knocked out of you, busting your balls (at least my bike had all the snap padding), then having to realign your handlebars with your knees holding the front wheel (using a wrench when you got home).

Or worse...not quite making it across (it happens)!

Well Mark, the bad news is, 26 grand for a septic system, around here, would be a good price.
But that would include what I ended up getting. The concrete 1000 gallon septic, with the filter, installed, and the 650 sq ft drain field, cleared, tiled, and filled with sand and gravel, then covered with top soil for grass, and then seeded. The whole thing cost me about 20 grand. That was over 20 years ago. And out in the sticks, where they work for almost nothing, when it comes to 'unskilled' labor.
Now....I'd guess it'd be well over 30 grand.

That's why I keep the septic filter, to the drain field, cleared, and the tank drained, every year. 150 bucks, is cheap.

Wheels

System still kicking. Probably helps not to have a washing machine right now (drains the most water at one time), one is being delivered on Thursday.

We made a metal sheet covering which is at least containing the smell. I'll be getting estimates next week. Everyone we've talked to, including friends and neighbors, are referring us to the same place...

http://realpages.com/sites/tedhebert/

Apparently they'll do a 1000 gallon concrete total system w/drain field for around $5k or so, including pulling permits and whatnot. I'm hoping that's correct.

I'll keep the thread updated and take pics along the way.

I wouldn't count on that estimate Mark.
I paid 'much' more than that up here, 20+ years ago.

What I'm thinkin' is that's just dropping the tank in a pre-dug hole, and hooking up a perfectly good drain field to it. Any extras, will cost you.....extra.
Better hope the drain field still..."Perks". From that flood, I doubt it.

Time will tell.
I do hope your right.

But it would be a real 'shock', to me.

Edit;
I checked out that drain field, it's 'different' from anything I've ever seen.
Maybe they've come up with some new stuff.
What they demand here, is a long (650 sq ft) bed of gravel and sand, covered by top soil, and under it the septic leads to a long 6" PVC tube, that has holes all throughout it along the way, back and forth, across the entire 650 sq ft. Probably about 200' of tubing. It all has to be perfectly leveled to drain the right way, at the right rate. They do it with a laser. It takes the top waste from the septic tank and leaches it out, back and forth, along the tiles, into the ground. The septic tank holds the solid waste, and is either degraded or emptied. But the ground (drain field) must 'perk', soak up the water at a certain rate, or you need to build another foundation. It no longer perks. Usually build it in another location. Very costly here. About 10 grand.

That system I saw was really innovated. Maybe they've invented some new stuff that's much cheaper.
Dunno.

Let us know.

Build your own. There are plenty of tutorials on the internet, youtube, etc.

There is an old book called "5 acres and independence" written in the 30's or 40's. It has instructions on building a septic tank among other things.

If you're paying 5-10grand for what is basically a hole in the ground with some bricks and pipes in it, you're nuts and you're being ripped off in a huge way.

Rent a digger for $150 for the day, dig the hole yourself and lay the bricks or put up the concrete yourself. There is no way it should cost more than $500 total to build a functional septic tank. They are not rocket science, they're just a kind of contained compost system.

VF9_Longbow, I live in one of the poorest parishes (counties) in the state. There are many very nice homes here, usually along the rural highways and almost always sitting on several acres for horses and stuff. Also scattered about are places like ours, nice (but not extravagant) homes on a mile long gravel road. But for the most part our parish is relatively poor and unpopulated...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Feliciana_Parish,_Louisiana

==========
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 20,267 people residing in the parish. 53.2% were White, 44.9% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% of some other race and 1.1% of two or more races. 1.0% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).
==========

==========
The median household income was $31,631, and the median family income was $37,278. Males had a median income of $31,804 versus $20,243 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $15,428. About 18.30% of families and 23.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.70% of those under age 18 and 21.20% of those age 65 or over.
==========

So I question how many people here could pay the kind of money I see mentioned on this thread.

Still, the parish health unit doesn't play when it comes to sanitation codes. We were investigated earlier this year...



...and told we were ok, except for our aerator (need alarm type) and no above grade access (the cleanout you see in my pic was buried in the ground, as well as the top riser).

I just don't see this as being a DIY project with the stringent codes and checks the parish does.

And there are permits and local inspections, which must pass local "code" laws.

Especially strict for waste disposal, even here in the 'sticks'.
Maybe back in the 40's, but not now.

It's not 'rocket science' but it's not just putting up bricks and tubing.
It took them 2 weeks, with 6 guys working 10 hours a day, and lots of material to build my Septic and drain field. You do the math.

Now days.....in Hartland Michigan, a 1000 gal septic and 650 sq ft drain field costs over $15,000 minimum to put in, if 'nothing' goes wrong. My daughter sells homes. One of my old partners buys and then rebuilds homes, and sells them for profit. The one thing he requires is a working septic system, or he won't even touch it.

Yeah, get a few bricks and some PVC pipe....see how far that gets you, IRL.



I'll be waiting for the estimates you get.
It could well be a lot cheaper down there, according to the "code" they have in your state or county. They're all different, some strict, some lenient.
Looking at your home, it's nice, I'd say the "codes" are strict.

Mark....I see even though your home is really nice, it appears your area is at the poverty level. Maybe you can get away with a cheaper system right now.

I'd grab the brass ring while you can.

But remember, something that is already 'grandfathered' in, is acceptable.
Building something "new", is a whole different ball game.

Good luck.
I don't see a price on that invoice.

I'll wait for that to feel more positive about your new system being $5,000.
After hearing about your level of income, and low housing prices, I'm betting you'd be lucky to get in under $10,000.
Just a guess.

Make sure you get it all in writing.

Not sure what to say.

I built my own septic tank and it cost me basically nothing. But I dug the hole by hand and sourced the materials for free from people who didn't need them anymore. Mine was built basically with cinderblocks, cement and various types of pipes.

Perhaps the waste disposal codes are less strict here, but I am strict on things like that myself and built it so that the tank won't contaminate the stream running beside my house..!


Take a close look at what is being put into those 15,000$ tanks. It sounds like the contractor is making a very tidy profit.

Wow, Google Earth coordinates are pretty accurate when you copy/paste.

My septic tank location is...
30°44'56.23" N 91°06'52.68" W

Here's what I don't get. When I use the History feature and go to 3/02, I can clearly see where the tank was dug, but not the drain field. There's also a long metal looking object behind the tank location, I have no idea what it is. I would think I'd also see work for the drain field. I've talked to my neighbor behind me (built the house) and today I talked to my next door neighbor (only owner before us) and both are confused as to what I have in my back yard. The mystery will be uncovered soon enough.

++++++++++

Murphy, I think it was you that asked before, my new HughesNet (Gen 4) is awesome! At least compared to what it was before.

Just thought of something...

Maybe when they're digging up my yard they'll strike oil!

An oil company (forget which one) occasionally digs on land owned by my wife's late father's family. Every few years she (as well as her brother and sister) gets a check for drilling rights, usually about $50.00. Cool, a free dinner out. I'm waiting for that check for $10,000,000.

Oops, I didn't see this.

Not an invoice, just a paper from the Parish Health Unit Inspector back in January verifying our last permit and saying we passed inspection. He was sniffing around the area trying to find who was polluting a pond or something nearby (not our pond).

In my last house we had a septic tank and a soak away into the adjoining field, all done by gravity, it was put in 1977 and it was still working just fine when I sold the house in 2010.

Here in Belgium we have a small septic tank / holding tank which is then connected to the local sewer system, it was opened and inspected when I bought the house in 2008 and then checked again 2 years ago as I was having problems with the bathroom and kitchen out flows and flooding in the cellar, the drawings for the building are "not as built" so it took a bit of digging to find what was where, at least I found out that the septic tank only handles the waste from the two toilets and everything else flows into the sewer at a different point than the septic tank.

I had to replace all the 120mm waste pipes on the opposite side of the house from the septic tank, reline the rain water holding tank with a rubber sealant as it was the main culprit combined with the pipes being choked with fat and undissolved washing powder, now as we don't use washing powder that was a bit of a surprise!

That's interesting, Alicatt, I've read that some people connect their bathrooms to a septic tank, but their dishwasher and washing machine to a separate drain field only, saving use on the tank and connected drain field.

++++++++++

I just called for an estimate, they'll be calling me back to set something up. The lady said they don't replace septic tanks because they're no longer allowed to by code, that they'll be replacing the tank with a "waste treatment plant." What's the diff?

She said it's concrete and will cost $2,400.00 + anything extra they have to do (this includes the submittal/permit process to the parish). Only $2,400.00??? I verified it with her, yup...$2,400.00 + extras, if required.

I'll post the final estimate.

It is only the toilet pans that are connected to the septic tank, even the sink in the downstairs toilet goes across the width of the house to the back and then to the grey water pipe and then to the sewer.

In our last house here in Belgium everything was connected to the septic tank. We rented the house off of our eldest son while we were looking for this house to buy. The next tenants, the daughter didn't want to live there so sabotaged the toilets by flushing large bricks down the pan to block it. I had to trace and dig up the paved path to find out what was going on. Eventually she confessed to it and apologised.

This same young lady went on to become summa cum laude in pharmacology a few years ago, goes to show brains don't equal common sense

The difference in pricing of installing septic tanks Up North versus Down South may have to do more with unions than codes - there isn't a lot of difference in codes when it comes to septic tank installation; we've had the technology for quite awhile and keeping sh*t out of drinking water isn't rocket science.

At the end of the day it's a box with a baffle in it, holes on each end, and a long pipe with holes in it that feeds through a gravel filled ditch.

I'd be more interested in the final 'cost', the estimate may be just the beginning.
And it's already gone up over a grand.

What about the drain field?

I'm almost certain they will want to replace yours.
You'll need the locals to 'inspect' it, when they're done.
That may be when they hit you again, for the drain field.

Hope not, but don't want to see you drop from 'sticker shock'....

Formerly licensed septic designer here. (Line forms to the left, ladies!).

The price quoted sounds to me like it's just the price for a tank, no field alright. If that is all you need, it's good news indeed. As others have said, the leach field is where the big dollars come in. In the old days, most folks installed a rectangular leach field of layers - sand, then crushed stone, then the series perforated PVC pipe, then cover the pipe with more crushed stone, then cover it all with topsoil and plant grass. The bottom of the leach field where I lived was required to be 4' above the depth of the water table, and they ran about two feet in depth. When you see those unsightly mounds in people's yards, it meant they had a high water table. If you had aparticularly tough site, you might have to pump the effluent uphill to the field at added expense and maintenance. There are also setback distances that have to be maintained from wells, wetlands and bodies of water from tanks and fields.

The size of the required leach field and the tank are dictated by the load and also by how the soil "perked" (absorbed water). As an example, soils that perked well, like sandy soils for instance, resulted in smaller leach field requirements. The load typically is calculated by the number of bedrooms of the house, so a four bedroom house would be required to have a larger field than a 3 bedroom. Then there were options to that design with either concrete or plastic leaching chambers. They can reduce the footprint of the leaching field by in essence have more effective leaching area. I had to replace one on one of my past properties. It was small (I lived on a former gravel pit that had become a neighborhood, so it was very well drained) so I did all the digging by hand and used plastic chambers. Not something I would want to take on today!

Anyway, I hope this helps you better understand and tackle the job. Good luck!