Septic Woes & Insulation

BigBody79

BigBody79

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Location
Lumberton
i developed a sink hole next to my septic tank. Started digging and had it pumped. It is a old block tank. The issue is the block at the water line was corroding. So the plan for now is to patch the holes with concrete. Looking to get a few more years out of it.

The question I have is that there is a about a foot of dirt at the bottom of it. Is it worth my time to dig the majority of it out? Or just patch it up and wait till it all caves in? The tank was just pumped Saturday. Only shower water in it now. No poop water.
 
What do you hope to gain by digging it out? More poop capacity? Even if you had to pump it one additional time in the next few years due to the reduced capacity, seems like that would be way better than a few hours spent shoveling poop saturated dirt.
 
Get the shower water routed somewhere else.They just got finished Fri w new fill line for us.The yard is a huge friggin mud hole and will be till spring.
 
I literally just went through this exact same scenario. Back in July/August. I had the inlet pipe get stopped up so I snaked it out and un covered the tank to pump it because it hadn't been pumped in possibly 40 years. Couple of the blocks had deteriorated under the center lid but I thought it would be fine since it was sitting on the baffle wall so I just patched it. And it was. But I knew I should just have a new tank and system put in but was being a cheap ass.
Keep in mind my tank top was 24 ish inches deep.
Couple weeks later pipe stopped up again. Couldn't get it snaked out this time. So ended up digging all the way down to where the pipe went into the tank to find out the block collapsed where the pipe went in crushing it. So I had a lot more time and money in it than what I needed. I just ended up replacing from the house everything. Pipe, tank, and lines.
So being a cheap ass ended up costing more time, work, and money.
The tank being empty now is causing more stress now on an already weak tank.
So from my experience save yourself a lot of headache and just replace it now.
 
Holes in the block. Was like this all the way around.
 

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I'm in this about $1,500.

I paid 600 for the tank another 630 for the install and about 280 for new plumbing under the house.
 
Hell my price to install a tank is $1500 turn key. So $1230 ain’t to bad
 
Might as well have went ahead and put a new drain field and tied the old one in too.
When the field fails it will cost you twice to replace them separately.
I just had a tank installed with 150 reduction domes and tied in to the old lines for $2500.
But hopefully your problem is fixed.
 
Crabgrass will fool ya. Dug up quite a few grubs probably what the moles are feasting on. Supposed to be centipede. Don't want to spend the money on it. Might have no choice now
 
Now onto insulation. Remember I live about as far south in NC as you can get.

I'm in a 1600sqft brick house built in the 60s.

As I was getting very familiar with the under side of the house last week, I started noticing how bad the insulation looked. It's very thin and the paper side is down. Under the house is always very dry and bug free. Our electric bill is way too high for the size house and our usage.

Thinking of reinsulating the floor. Any tips or advice?
 
BigBody79 said:
Now onto insulation. Remember I live about as far south in NC as you can get.

I'm in a 1600sqft brick house built in the 60s.

As I was getting very familiar with the under side of the house last week, I started noticing how bad the insulation looked. It's very thin and the paper side is down. Under the house is always very dry and bug free. Our electric bill is way too high for the size house and our usage.

Thinking of reinsulating the floor. Any tips or advice?
Click to expand...

Whatcha got for windows?
 
I wouldn't mess with the underfloor insulation. If anything, I'd remove it and not replace it.

Make sure the attic is at least R-30. Address easy-to-fix air leaks at doors and windows and ceiling penetrations. If you have an attic hatch, make sure it's insulated. Put down a continuous vapor barrier in the crawl space and install a dehumidifier. Seal and insulate any foundation vents.

If your energy bills are still high after that, look at your HVAC equipment. If it's exceptionally old, there may be a cost-savings by replacing it with a newer unit.

Replacing the windows may improve the general comfort of the house (mainly due to reducing air leaks that cause drafts and allow noise to penetrate the house), but if you have storm windows already, I would expect the payback period on a full window replacement to be relatively long.
 
BigBody79 said:
New windows all around.
Old heat pump.

I do have a carport that is part of the house. There is no insulation in that part and there is no divider in the attic between the two.

@shawn Are you talking about a sealed crawl space?
Click to expand...


Yes, essentially. But regardless, you need to get a vapor barrier to cover that dirt.

If you have an uninsulated carport that has been enclosed and is now treated as interior space, that could be a huge energy sink as well.
 
There was an nice vapor barrier down when the house was new. It has since rotted away. It was over the original dirt and then cover with sand. Very clean and very dry under the house. A new barrier wouldn't hurt at all.

The car port shares the roofline with the house but it is open. there is no insulation in the open area. Just insulation in the closed in space. Attic access in the carport area.
 
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