We bought our house (new build) in July 2008, the house is 1178sq... 2 bath, Energy efficient washer, energy efficient dishwasher etc.... we only use an average of 105gallons a day... Our tank is 1000 gallon tank.

The first issue started when we saw that our toilets started being "slow to drain"... then they wouldn't flush at all... We would only do one load of laundry every other day and we (my husband and I) would have to take showers every other day.

our kids (5yrs and 3yrs) at this point had been told to just pee in the toilet and let it sit... trying to help use as little water as possible...

Septic was all over our front and side yard because the Distribution box wasn't working...

got the septic lines and distribution box all REDONE last march (3/5/2010)... we fought the builder for 6 plus months to get him to pay for the repair... (mind you this is our house and the people next door too!)

December 2010- the system starts to fail yet again!!! here we are two months later and the County and State inspectors came out yesterday... (mind you these are the same guys that have approved our system twice before!) and they told us when they check our water table it's only 10 inches below the surface! (how did any of this get approved...) we are an active duty military family of 5 (had a baby in this mess too) and all the inspectors that should catch these issues are saying "everything looks great!", until yesterday... Now they want us to put in a mound system.... (in our front yard) and pay out of pocket AGAIN.... and this one will be at least 10,000$... our house isn't even 3 years old!

Yes of course we are getting an attorney but any other thoughts...

---Also, 6 out of the 12 houses in phase one of our community have had failed septic systems now...[/B]

 

Welcome to the forums and sorry to hear about your troubles.

Assuming the septic systems were approved, I doubt there is any recourse against the builder or septic installer if they installed it according to the health dept plans and the work passed inspection. I don't know if you can take action against the health dept or not. It would be interesting to hear what the lawyer has to say. it would probably help if all the affected home owners banded together.

When I lived in central fla I had an above ground [mound] septic system because of a high water table - I hit water with a post hole digger installing a fence While it looked a little funky, it preformed well.

 

our biggest thing is why didn't they notice the high water table when they did the perk test etc....yeah, likey did it during the dry season but still... We are bringing laundry to the laundry mat etc... it's a brand new house!

 

You said "...this is our house and the people next door too..." Are there two houses connected to the same septic system or are you in a duplex?

If your part of the development has a 50% failure rate of the septic systems I assume you are in for a long battle. It's a shame it has to involve lawyers to get the problem solved. How far are you from a city sewer? Any possibility of the developer extending the sewer line to tie in the failed systems?

 

No we are single homes... three house on our street that have the second septic systems failing now... we just happen to next door to each other (slope of property I assume).

The contractor said "they did not warranty any septic"... the county said, "we (the home owners) are responsible for properly maintaining our septic systems", but we have... we got our septic system pumped 1/17/2011 and it was bubbling back inside the house by 2/1/11... We use all organic cleaners and don't even bleach our clothes because of the worries about our septic.

Sadly we are in a farm town, no sign of city sewer in the next ten years!

We have found out that if enough septic systems fail in a community the contractor can be held responsible for installing a waste treatment facility.

 

I really hate to hear stories like yours. It's going to involve lawyers (money) and will probably take a long time. I'm sure the contractor will fight it. I really hope he does not close shop and move out of state or declare bankruptcy.

There are aerobic systems that can be retrofitted to the septic tank for a somewhat reasonable amount but it does little to help when the water table is so high and there is nowhere for the treated effluent to go. I guess your only other option is an engineered system which be a fairly big pile of money.

Good Luck. If you remember, please post back with updates. I'm curious to hear how this all turns out.

 

you know the real problem is.. we don't have a ton of property... it's .37 acre.... and they want to put this system on our front lawn... we will never be able to sell without a HUGE LOSS, between the system and the fact that people hear about this mess...

I will keep you updated...

-we found an attorney that has faught and won a cass like this within the last 6 months...

 

Yes, the house can not be sold without a working waste system. Around here in NC the minimum building lot size is about one acre. We have to have room for two leach fields. The original one and enough room to put in a second field if the original one fails.

 

well, they put our second lines inbetween our first so we didn't use the repair feild seeing as it was so early in the houses "life"... now they want to run the mound system over and down the middle of our yard.