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 wast...

 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 wate...

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 alw...

    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. ...

As I have written several times in this blog, one the best things you can do for your septic system is pump it regularly.  And every time I discuss the subject of septic pumping, my brain always thinks about one of my favorite SNL skits with Hans and Frans....I'm sorry, I'm just that weird.  They wanted to PUMP.....YOU UP!  I want to PUMP...YOU OUT! Anyway... It is recommended that you pump your tank every 3-5 years based on activity levels in your home.  The more people you have living in your home the more solids you produce.  When we come pump the tank even though we take all the water with us, what we are actually after are all the solids that collect over time (your poo, toilet paper and garbage disposal items).  If too much of these build up they can seep out to your lateral field and plug it up. Here’s why…   The diagram above shows what an average septic tank contains on a daily basis.  You will see sewage or wastewater comes in from ...

 NOTE:  I have seen this story in several places -- not sure of the origins, but it's funny nonetheless!  Enjoy! As a guitarist, I play many gigs.  Recently, I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man.  He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the back country.  As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight.  There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.  I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place.  I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around.  I played out my heart an soul for this man with no family and friends.  I played like I've never played b...

Septic system 101 -- class is in session!  Over the past 10 years we have more and more people moving to locations where their homes require their own wastewater treatment system.  Though this isn't typically the first thing new homeowners like to think about (where does the poo go? probably isn't on your mind...) it is important to understand.  Living on septic isn't rocket science, but it is different than living in town on city sewer.     As I have stated before in previous posts/blogs/articles, so many people don’t really know how their wastewater systems work.  Because they don’t know how they work, they don’t understand simple “dos” and “don’ts” of a septic system.   I totally get it!  Until I got brought into this business I never pondered what happened every time I flushed.  I doubt you do either.  However, when it comes to your own on-site wastewater system (i.e. septic systems) if you don’t ponder ...