What to do before buying a house with a septic tank!
In our last blog post we talked about the most important things to know when owning a septic system, but this post is about what to know before you buy a home with a septic system.
Don’t fret, if you already own a septic system but haven’t done any of the things below; just make sure to visit our last blog post to see the most important maintenance practices for your system.
Inspection
Most banks will require a full DEQ inspection when buying or selling a home with a septic system. What this means is you will be required to have a DEQ licensed inspector come to your site and fill out an eight paged report that covers all functionality of your tank and corresponding components.
If, by chance, neither party in your transaction is being required to perform the inspection; you the buyer should insist on an inspection for a couple of reasons. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality recommends that you always have your septic system evaluated by a professional when buying or selling a home. They do so because Inspections are the best way to insure a properly working and reliable system in your new home. A system that is functioning improperly could lead to a harmful environmental impact, and nobody wants sewage leaking into their water table!
When having your system inspected it is extremely important to make sure that the professional you have employed is one of the following:
· A DEQ Installer/pumper
· A DEQ Maintenance Provider
· Wastewater Specialist
· Environmental Health Specialist
· National Association of Wastewater Technicians (NAWT) certified inspector with experience inspecting existing septic systems.
Repairs
After having your system inspected, you may find everything is great, but you may also find that there’s some things that need fixed! This is not the end of the world or any reason to halt your transaction! If you find something that is out of
place on your inspection, or the technician shares concerns he might have, then that is a great time to have a discussion about the severity and options for repair.
Often times, problems can be fixed with a simple repair, at most a system will need to be replaced; which can often gets negotiated at time of sale. Replacements are done fairly regularly on older homes that still have steel tanks. Steel tanks generally don’t last very long and need to be replaced with concrete ones when the steel rusts out and begins to fail. Replacement is a simple process that will only take about a week altogether.
If you need any of the services discussed in this blog post, click on our “Contact Us” page at the top or call us at (503)829-8458 to answer any questions you still have or to schedule!
