Septic Tank question

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.
I'm closing on the house next door to me on Monday. This afternoon, I decided to cut the front lawn at the house. I basically tripped over a six inch by two inch opening in the lawn. I peered down into it thinking, "Oh crap, that is an open septic tank." I stuck a stick in it to see how full it was. The stick got wet about six inches down. I called the owner and told him about it. He told me it was drained out a few months ago. (I remember seeing the truck) He said instead of digging down to the cap and going in that way, they put a hole in the concrete tank itself and he forgot to put the metal piece over it to keep the dirt out. My question is; Should I tell him he needs to have it drained again? How damaged is the tank now because of these people damaging the tank making a hole? AND...How damaged is the tank now that rain water and dirt have been going down into the tank for the past few months?
Any advice would be helpful. Thank you!
Also, in my house; The toilet would bubble when I took a shower. It has stopped, but what was that?

scaricatladi said:

I'm closing on the house next door to me ...

Click to expand...

... without first having a septic inspection?

That is definitely where I would begin.

scaricatladi said:

Also, in my house; The toilet would bubble when I took a shower. It has stopped, but what was that?

Click to expand...

When was the last time you had your tank pumped?

scaricatladi said:

He said instead of digging down to the cap and going in that way, they put a hole in the concrete tank itself and he forgot to put the metal piece over it to keep the dirt out.

Click to expand...

While I have never heard of that it may be something that is done all the time BUT I would stop the closing and contact the health Dept. and inquire about it first. Is the tank that deep that they couldn't dig down.

scaricatladi said:

How damaged is the tank now that rain water and dirt have been going down into the tank for the past few months?

Click to expand...

The question is how the tank will be sealed so in the future ground / rain water doesn't enter the tank. I would guess that they would have to dig down to the hole they put in the tank to properly seal it.

Possible tank issue

Thank you for your questions.
Yes, I'm buying this house without professional inspections. I'm getting the house 25 grand under appraisal and the owner and I have done this entire transaction without agents, lawyers ect. I buy houses and remodel them entirely myself, then rent them out, so thank you for your advice there. This is the first time I have ran into this.
The tank was pumped out about eight months ago and the house had been sitting vacant for six months, so it hasn't been used. The owner told me that they didn't want to tear up the new sidewalk to get to the cap, so this is why they put a hole in the concrete. (I have no idea whether this is true, just what the told me.) It seems to be a rectangle metal piece that is right at the surface that possibly goes down into the tank. He told me that he has the piece that covers this and has just forgotten to put it on. When I stuck a stick in there, it got wet about six inches down. I'm not sure if I was sticking in into the actual tank or what, but I swirled it around a bit and it seemed to be quite a bit of water. If this is the actual tank, wouldn't dirt, water, ect. be getting in there and possibly clogging it up after all this time? You said this is usual practice for companies to put a hole in the actual tank? Does this damage the integrity of the tank? Thank you again for your reply.
Oh to answer your question about the house I live in. The tank was pumped about three and a half years ago. I have a 1000 gallon tank and live alone. I'm also very diligent about putting enzyme down the toilet.

I don't know the answer as I don't know where in the tank the hole is or how it was done . That said I don't think there should be water 6" below groung level.

Like I said call the health Dept. and inquire about what was done.

The access to the tank where they drilled needs to be sealed and you or I don't know if it is, so it would have to be dug up to know for sure.

How old is the home?

Your leach field could be in failure and depending on where you live the $25,000.00 saving could be wiped out should it need to be replaced.

scaricatladi said:

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.
I'm closing on the house next door to me on Monday. This afternoon, I decided to cut the front lawn at the house. I basically tripped over a six inch by two inch opening in the lawn. I peered down into it thinking, "Oh crap, that is an open septic tank." I stuck a stick in it to see how full it was. The stick got wet about six inches down. I called the owner and told him about it. He told me it was drained out a few months ago. (I remember seeing the truck) He said instead of digging down to the cap and going in that way, they put a hole in the concrete tank itself and he forgot to put the metal piece over it to keep the dirt out. My question is; Should I tell him he needs to have it drained again? How damaged is the tank now because of these people damaging the tank making a hole? AND...How damaged is the tank now that rain water and dirt have been going down into the tank for the past few months?
Any advice would be helpful. Thank you!
Also, in my house; The toilet would bubble when I took a shower. It has stopped, but what was that?

Click to expand...

Any septic tank without effluent in the baffled areas is a problem, not the opposite. When a customer calls out a septic tank pumper the job of the customer is to have "open" access to that tank, along with knowing the location of the tank.

Those tops are poured thin like 3" thin sometimes. That is a common practice for a pumper to bust a hole in the tank for the reason the homeowner who has lived there is usually clueless. The problem with this though is only one of two or three compartments (depending on size of tank) gets suctioned, leaving the other baffled areas untouched.

A true septic tank pumper will tell you the stick test theory > Height of tank and figure 1/3 solids. If more than a 1/3 you need to pump that tank. The best way to effectively pump a tank is to have the customer running the maximum amount of water into the tank so the suction hose can be pushed around in the solids and have something to break it up with. So often this is never done.

The dirt and water I'm sure was minimal and didn't affect the operation of the tank. I would have that entire lid removed and have a new one poured with accessible cleanouts to each compartment. Have the tank thoroughly cleaned at the time the lid is removed.

You're taking a huge chance buying without inspections. Do you gamble at the boats with credit cards?