Septic drain field repair and install

[GeoHorn]

What I ended up doing…. I dug new trenches parallel to old plugged lines about a foot or so away from them… disconnected completely from the old system. The new drain lines are laid on top of 6” of 3” round river-rock…then covered with another 6” of rock…then geo-cloth…then the topsoil is pushed back over it all.

Works great. Last time in my lifetime I’ll have to deal with this.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

curious, how long did it take for the old drains to get plugged...and with what ?

 

[GeoHorn]

curious, how long did it take for the old drains to get plugged...and with what ?

That original drain field was laid out in ‘97. It became blocked/filled completely with small roots until they stopped all distribution. We ran a “roto-rooter” thru it…with no effect at all….and the septic folks informed me the only solution was a completely new drain field.
They estimated $4K to do it…. I spent about $1K renting an excavator and materials…. and it was about 10 hours of actual work for my SIL and myself. (20 man-hrs)

I installed two “clean outs” and plan to pour copper-sulfate into the system a couple times/year.