Locating septic lines

[happyscooter]

We are on community well water & have a septic tank.  Looking at our house from the street the septic tank is on the left with the 3 lines running in front of the house.  The driveway is on the right side of the house with the sidewalk on the leftside of the driveway going to the house.  We wanted to move the sidewalk out a little further into the grass.  How can we pinpoint the exact location of the lines so we don't concrete over them?

[Regis]

In our state, the design and location of a septic system (including all fingers) has to be filed with the County Department of Health.  Not sure what state you're in and what agency has control over the approval of septic systems, but I'd start there first.

[deantrip]

Yep, check with your county health department or county sanitarian, the septic info should be filed somewhere.

[973beachbum]

May 28, 2013 6:02:18 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

We are on community well water & have a septic tank.  Looking at our house from the street the septic tank is on the left with the 3 lines running in front of the house.  The driveway is on the right side of the house with the sidewalk on the leftside of the driveway going to the house.  We wanted to move the sidewalk out a little further into the grass.  How can we pinpoint the exact location of the lines so we don't concrete over them?

Septic tanks are normally in a pretty specific place.  If you stand and look at your house from the front yard you should be able to see the "stack" sticking out of the roof from the  bathroom.  The septic tank should be straight ahead of it and about ten-fifteen feet.  The pipes are expensive and people try to get it as close as possible to keep the cost down.   I have never heard of someone having one make a turn either so unless there is something unmovable, that I would think is big enough for you would know,  it will be straigt ahead.  Once you find that stack take a metal rod and jam it in the ground until you hear/feel the clink of it hitting the clean out cover.  It should be 18 inches- three feet under ground.  

Unless you have a cess pool and not a septic system you also have a leach feild.  I don't think putting concrete over it is a good idea either.  That would have to be run by an engineer.

[sheilaincali]

When we built a house that attached to a community well and a private septic tank we had to submit a plan to the county for approval and for their records.  Had to have all of the drawn to scale in relation to the house and property lines for this very reason.  Start with the county. 

[Regis]

May 29, 2013 9:47:22 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

May 28, 2013 6:02:18 GMT -5 happyscooter said:

We are on community well water & have a septic tank.  Looking at our house from the street the septic tank is on the left with the 3 lines running in front of the house.  The driveway is on the right side of the house with the sidewalk on the leftside of the driveway going to the house.  We wanted to move the sidewalk out a little further into the grass.  How can we pinpoint the exact location of the lines so we don't concrete over them?

Septic tanks are normally in a pretty specific place.  If you stand and look at your house from the front yard you should be able to see the "stack" sticking out of the roof from the  bathroom.  The septic tank should be straight ahead of it and about ten-fifteen feet.  The pipes are expensive and people try to get it as close as possible to keep the cost down.   I have never heard of someone having one make a turn either so unless there is something unmovable, that I would think is big enough for you would know,  it will be straigt ahead.  Once you find that stack take a metal rod and jam it in the ground until you hear/feel the clink of it hitting the clean out cover.  It should be 18 inches- three feet under ground.  

Unless you have a cess pool and not a septic system you also have a leach feild.  I don't think putting concrete over it is a good idea either.  That would have to be run by an engineer.

I don't think the OP was talking about the tank but rather the finger system.

[tskeeter]

scooter, look for the place where the grass is the greenest and where the grass is the longest just before you mow.  That's where the leach lines probably are.  These conditions occur because the grass on top of the leach lines gets the most water. 

If you water and fertilize heavily, the leach field can someties be hard to see.  The leach field is often easiest to see early in the spring, just as the grass starts to green up.  To do a preliminary visual location of a leach field this time of the year, try to duplicate early spring conditions by severely cutting back on watering and holding off on any planned fertilizer applications.  You want the grass to brown a bit.  As the lawn gets less water and there is less nitrogen in the soil to make grass green up and grow, the leach field should be more visible.  Note that a leach field usually consists of a distribution box and multiple discharge lines.  It looks a bit like a fork without a handle.  There is no set number of discharge lines.  It depends on the type of soil, the length of each discharge line, and other factors.  But, discharge lines are usually run parralell to each other spaced several feet apart.  So if you see several green stripes in your lawn spaced fairly evenly apart, you're probably seeing the leach field.

Once you have an idea where the leach lines are located, carefully dig down to locate the lines.  The discharge lines should be buried about 6 - 12 inches below the surface of your lawn.  The discharge lines should lay on top of a trench about 18 - 36 inches wide that contains 12 - 18 inches of crushed rock.  On newer septic systems, the rock is probably covered with filtration fabric, to keep dirt from washing into the leach field and clogging it.

To determine how close I could put pavement to the leach field, I'd measure the distance between two adjacent discharge lines and stay at least 1/2 that distance from the discharge line closest to where I want to put the pavement.  In this case, further away is better.  You don't want to slow evaporation from the leach field and have sewerage start to percolate to the surface of your lawn.  Since you are dealing with a potential health hazard, you might want to hire a qualified professional to advise you and ensure that you get it right.      

[happyscooter]

regis is correct.  I know where the tank is, I am wondering about the 3 lines.