The Chamber of Secrets

It turns out that the septic had a few surprises up its sleeve...


















Not only is the system fully functional after many years of neglect, but the tank has a mysterious third chamber! Terry from Honey Bee Septic discovered the extra space using a flashlight and mirror. Now we have to cut through the concrete top of the chamber to pump it out.

Good news: the septic works, and the tank may be big enough (1000 gallons) to support a two-bedroom house.

Bad news: the County Health Department may not allow us to use the septic since the condition and extent of the leach lines are unknown. Plus, we are within 200 feet of existing sewer lines, which makes the County less likely to grandfather our septic through the permitting process. To find out whether the septic is viable, we'd have to spend at least $2000 to get the lines inspected, an "as-built" site plan drawn, and the County to review the plan, with no guarantees that the septic would be approved.

Or we fork over about $10,000 to hook into the sewer and be done with it. Except for the $600+ annual fee to use the sewer. Yikes. Have to think about that one...

Down the Rabbit Hole

One of the biggest unknowns about the house is whether or not the septic works. We have not turned on the water service yet since all the fixtures are gone, so we can't test the system ourselves-- nor would we really want to. A septic inspector will come out to the house next week, and to save a bit of money, we decided to locate the tank ourselves.

With the main waste pipe as our guide, we started digging under the south porch to see where the pipe went. Fairly quickly we found a homemade cement slab just 6 feet from the house and cleared off part of the top. It could be the tank, but where were the access ports?

We kept digging and found a tattered garbage bag laid over part of the slab. Soon we realized that the garbage bag was part of the seal for a tank lid. "Seal" is a strong word, since the lid was just a chunky piece of concrete sitting on top of a rough opening that looked like the entrance to an animal den. We found a second port configured the same way, and Russell bravely peeked in. Not much to see other than standing water, but plenty to smell!


We will keep our fingers crossed for a successful cleaning and inspection next week. If the tank or leach fields are not working or can't work for the addition to the house, we may have to consider the very expensive ($10K) option of hooking into the city sewer.