Septic system specialist Clarke Watson is the owner and operator of Advanced Septic Solutions in Scottsdale, Arizona. Watson is a former president of the Home Builders Association and a past chairman of the State Commercial/Industrial Council. He has worked on hundreds of septic systems over the course of his career. In this article, he explains what homeowners should do if they suspect that their septic system might be leaking.
If I was a homeowner who thought my septic system was leaking, I would call a professional to come and evaluate it right away. Not doing so, and waiting even just a matter of days or weeks, could result in even larger problems that could cost even more to repair.
Of course, not all septic problems are big enough to warrant a call to someone right away. There will be times when a leak might be slow enough that a homeowner will have time to get estimates from a couple of crews before hiring one specific contractor to handle the job.
At the same time, on many occasions, a problem or a leak in a septic system might be so severe that that you need to get it fixed right away. In instances like that, homeowners don’t have the time to wait for multiple crews to make their own estimates before hiring one to fix the leak. In times like that, a homeowner needs to just find a septic system contractor with a good reputation and hire that person right away.
More often than not, when a contractors shows up on the job to investigate a potential leak, he will end up digging up the tank, or the manhole covers at the very least. From there, he should take a look inside the tank and pump it. To get a better idea of what is going on in there, a septic system contractor is really going to need to get a flashlight and take photos. Basically, he is going to need to do something that can make it easier to tell what is going on.
Unfortunately, a lot of homeowners do not respond to these problems in as quickly as necessary. Obviously, some of this depends on economics because septic systems can be costly to repair or replace. But often, the reason homeowners do not respond to their septic leak problems immediately is because they do not know the signs to look for. They know that when you flush a toilet, things are supposed to go away. Beyond that, though, people do not have any clue what signals to watch out for when determining whether they have a septic problem.
Typically, once a septic system starts filling up, the plumbing in your home will start filling up and your toilets will start to gurgle. Homeowners should take that as a definite sign that something is wrong.
In a lot of cases, people don’t realize anything is wrong until they take a shower or turn on the water and something pops up somewhere it should not be. So these homeowners just don’t know any better, and then they make a call in a panic to get the problem fixed.
If you take the time to learn a little more about your septic system before the problems pop up, though, and you keep an eye out for the signals that something is not right with your system before an emergency occurs, then you can save yourself a lot of stress and money in the long run.
