Sceptic tank replacement costs and pointers please

[steveinoz01]

Hi

I am buying a house in rural Warwickshire and the survey was done today. The surveyors advice is that the tank is probably the same age as the house so 50 years old and may need replacing.

It was a 2/3 bed bungalow and is now a 4 bed. The tank is under the private driveway which is owned by the house and maybe about 10 metres from the house.

Anyone able to give me a rough estimate of cost to dig up, remove and replace?

Are there any building regs or environmental issues that are likely to add to the cost considerably?

I was planning on resurfacing the drive anyway so not worried about damage to drive.

I also need to do oil tank but will post that separately to avoid confusion. As always, l really appreciate your help and experience.

Thanks

Steve

 

[Burnerman]

Steve, if the property has a brick tank with the usual two chambers, it could well be fine.....of course, the outfalls may well require attention.
My own property has the original tank ( built 1959) but the outfalls / soak aways were redone in 1994.
John

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

My septic tank was put in in 1961 and was OK until I thought of a better place for it a couple of years ago. This was because I wanted a down stairs loo and I would have needed a macerator to pump the foul water water uphill to the old septic tank.
The previous owner of the property had the tank emptied every year (one old lady what was her diet???). We do it every 5 years and the pump man said the contents (@!) were typical, so no problem there. You must not use bleach or chlorine based cleaning materials. based on a 50% fill of a 4 cu. m. tank it can take the output of a person for 300,000 days. So if you can keep it in good order and the pumping out is down to its design and your taste.
I would have it pumped out (~ £180)when you move in and inspect its guts with a powerful torch. I hope you are not squeamish.
Frank

 

[Diyisfun]

I asked for mine to be emptied as part of the buying process along with things like boiler certificates.
I had many problems in the 1st year with the septic tank, which resulted in a new land drain having to be laid, 2 years on no problems & not had it emptied

 

[mattice]

Just as all of the above. It's a standard line.... That said, we moved in, 1950's tank, and to cut a long story short, it couldn't cope with the volume of water a family of four created mostly because the clay meant the soakaway was practically useless, so it discharged on the neighbours lawn.

Quite hard to check the drainage, but if you have nice soil, it's an added reassurance. Neighbours called the environment agency and they pinpointed us. Council (building control and enviro agency) involved, did a permeability test on the ground, failed, no acceptable option for tank and treatment plant. No problem we thought, there's mains in the village, but it's uphill. Looked at various pumping plants but ended up digging a 5m deep hole to access mains after lots of wrangling with the EA and water authority. Cost £5k for the drains and £5k for the hole, bargain, and I made sure the first discharge had a £10k feeling. Had quotes for a new tank of £5k prior to being condemned, noting no digger access to back garden.

So in summary, it still wouldn't put me off a house with a tank, even if I was a bit sceptical (sorry )
1) get it emptied and inspected - especially if there's local trees and chance of high ground water
2)look at the soil type, do a permeability test if you can, even if you tip a cuppa on the ground or offer to water their plants
3) ignore building survey, pay £100 For it to be emptied and offer him £20 to inspect it for piece of mind.
3) think about whether you have room to put in a new drainage field
4) think about volume of water
5) empty it every 4-6 months for the first year or so, if the tank sludges into the drainage field, it's a new one
6) think what plan B, C and D is to get rid of 100's of litres of water.

Good luck, if its the right house I'm sure it'll be fine

 

[noseall]

We had one of those sceptic tanks, however, its ability to function was always in doubt.

 

[Nige F]

Good one, Nose. It's usually the drainage field that causes the problems.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Just as all of the above. It's a standard line.... That said, we moved in, 1950's tank, and to cut a long story short, it couldn't cope with the volume of water a family of four created mostly because the clay meant the soakaway was practically useless, so it discharged on the neighbours lawn.

what was happening before you moved in? What do your neighbours do with their sewerage?
Frank

 

[mattice]

Only 1 person in the house so the water probably didn't surface, 4 of us and 2 kids having a bath every day clearly tested the system.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

It would seems certain that you need your land drain sorting out, a new septic tank will not do this. Though eventually you might need a new one, though I doubt it.
When I did my new septic tank I did some research on the web and noticed what a huge land drain area is required for clay soils. Its not a trivial task, probably bigger then the tank its self.
One cock up I have seen and must be avoided, it that the drain must be laid horizontal. I know of one septic tank where the outlet follows the slope of the land, so what happens all the water runs down to its end and saturates the soil, so the field has a muddy patch in it even during summer. Your neighbour is not down hill from you?, could be that this has might have been done.
One way to sort this out, is to take the outlet down to the lowest level of the land drain, then pipe it around horizontaly. As my garden had a drop of about 10' this was not practical. So the land drain was run parallel to the slope with well defined steps where the flow would drop down to the next level. No problems at all with puddling !!
Frank

 

[Diyisfun]

My soil is very sandy & we had 30mtrs of pipe laid, herring bone style.
I had 3 companies to look at the problem & the fella that did the job, just new what was wanted, how to do it & he said you will never see me again.
I do because he supplies logs.

 

[steveinoz01]

Thanks to everyone for your input. I have just twigged why the 'sceptic' jokes started to pop up. I just thought some people had a rather 'poo' sense of humour but it turns out I should proof read the title as well as the main body of my posts!

I have decided to buy the house and worry about the sceptic septic tank if it ever causes a problem.

Cheers.

 

[Burnerman]

Just a final thought Steve.... I had my outfalls jetted as I was told it would help.
It didn't!
John