The Pumper's Wife

You and your spouse just bought some land.     Both of you are so excited about building and looking at floor plans.     You are looking at different flooring and bathroom tiles, while your husband is dreaming about his new shop/outbuilding with built in man-cave.     You find yourself a builder and that’s it!     Right?   Well, sort of….   Now I know it isn’t the most exciting thing to consider, but one of the most expensive items in your house when building in the country is your septic system.  You will spend somewhere between $12,000-15,000 on it depending on the number of bedrooms in the house.  I’m no mathematician, but I doubt you’re spending that kind of money on other appliances.  If you’re going to be writing that big of a check, don’t you think it would be wise to make sure you give this “appliance” your attention?   “What?!” you ask.  “You want me to be more concerned about my wastewater than my flooring and tile?”   Yes, yes I do.     But not because I don’t want you to en

 If you live in Nebraska (or the midwest in general...) you know the weather can change from day to day.  I have lived in both Kansas and Nebraska and the same saying goes, "Don't like the weather? Stick around, it will change!" I'm guessing if you live remotely close to me, you can appreciate this meme.  While we haven't seen snow in a while, this week was lovely with 90 degree highs followed by 75 degree high.  I'm a HUGE FAN of the 70 degree weather....I know very few people who like 90 degree + temps (tack on some humidity and you have yourself a heat stroke waiting to happen!) but I digress....   How does weather effect your septic system? Well, there are a few ways.... One, when we have wet seasons -- and I mean excessively wet weather, your septic (especially if it is older...) can give you some problems.  Why?  As you probably know, the ground acts as a sponge to absorb EVERY LAST DROP of water that comes out of your house.  Your bath water, shower wat

Let's talk about water usage and your septic system today.  One thing septic systems are good at, is showing you when you’ve used too much water.  (Think about trying to fit 20 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket…) When you live on a septic system, water usage is a REALLY BIG DEAL.  Your system was designed for one single household.  It was also designed to only absorb so much water so when you "feed" it more water than it was designed to handle, you'll see those signs showing up on your lateral field.   Typically, you’ll see standing water over your drainfield first, but sometimes too much water can lead to a back-up in the house as well.  Below, I have listed the most common areas that lead to or can cause standing water over laterals or potential back-ups due to excessive water usage.   1).  Adding extra rooms/finishing basement rooms:   When someone calls me for a bid for a septic system on a newly constructed home, I always ask “How many bedrooms?”  But I also

    Today I will elaborate on the septic system drainfield and the best way to care for it.   In the diagram above, you can see all the components of a septic system.  There is a tank and a leachfield/drainfield.  When I talk to customers, many of them are confused as to what makes up a septic system.  I would say many think that all they have is a tank and that is it.  However, the bigger portion of the septic system (and also the most expensive part) is the leachfield/drainfield/lateral field.  This part of the septic system is where the final treatment takes place and where every last drop of wastewater is absorbed from your home.  It is important to know where your lateral field is located.  If this portion of your system becomes damaged or inhibited in any way, it will ruin the functionality of your septic system.   Below are two examples of what is being installed today for lateral fields.  The top picture is an example of EZ Flow lateral.  The lower picture is an example of plas