Installing a Septic System
Second major project at Titan Forest, install a septic system. According to US Environmental Protection Agency, “Septic systems are underground wastewater treatment structures, commonly used in rural areas without centralized sewer systems. They use a combination of nature and proven technology to treat wastewater from household plumbing produced by bathrooms, kitchen drains, and laundry. A typical septic system consists of a septic tank and a drainfield, or soil absorption field. “
STEP 1 “PERK TEST”: You will want to understand your county and state requirements for installing a septic system. In Oregon, we need to have a percolation test done in the site we plan to place our drain field. A “perk test” is a soil evaluation that tests the rate at which water drains thru the field.
STEP 2 MARK THE FIELD Prior to submitting for a permit, Ray & I wanted to mark the area we felt would be 100 ft from our home, had a good slope, and would not have alot of traffic on it. The practice of laying out our plans with markers has proven to be beneficial both in our business and in developing this forest land. We are able to visualize for both the look and functionality of the project at hand.
STEP 3 SUBMIT FOR PERMITTING Drawing up plans for permitting could be done professionally; however, Ray chose to create his own. If you knew Ray, doing as much as he can on his own is a very normal approach to just about anything:) One of the many reasons I adore him. The main items to consider are 1) How many bedrooms/baths will be feeding into the septic system 2) Where is the build site 3) Where is the proposed drain field and how far is it from the build site 4) room enough for physical layout of septic lines 5) is it the required 100 feet away from the well.
STEP 4 BID & BEGIN WORK Again we were lucky to find another capable and friendly local vendor, Speedy Septic. They were great at communicating needs with us, they were “speedy”, and just an overall great crew when on site.
Junction boxes with additional manhole covers. See why in tip section below (SERVICING TIP).
Four 100 feet lines were required for our drain field.
1,000 gallon tank. Determined by the size of your house and estimated usage. You are able to select a polyurethane or concrete tank. See below tip for our perceived benefit.
A FEW TIPS
Clear your field prior to installers arriving. Are their any stumps needing to be removed? Are there any trees whose roots would cause problems in the future?
Mark your field with some sort of stakes or fencing if needed. Ray & I discussed taken the safe route and agreed to not drive any of our equipment over the field in the future. Therefore, we needed to create clear markings as we know we would develop trails around the field in the future.
The actual septic lines need to be level and not sloping when installed. This ensure water is distributed evenly across the lines.
Servicing tip. We did one extra step for future servicing needs. We created actual man holes at each distribution box (one end of the septic line) and another man hole at the other end of the line. They are marked with 24 inch caps.
Why we chose a polyurethane tank. It is LIGHTWEIGHT and easier to maneuver into place. It is watertight and corrosion free. You do need to ensure it is properly installed so it does not float to the top in the future (we felt confident of installation).
