Monach01
New Member
I purchased a newly built home 3 BR, 2 B approx 1470 sq ft on concrete slab and moved in 16 months ago. I have a 2 year home-buyer's warranty on plumbing and electrical. I live alone. I have a dishwasher I run 2-3 times a week and I run about 4 loads of laundry every 10 days or so.
My property has a 1000 gal septic tank that has two green plastic dome covers on the top. Between the septic tank and the house is a white PVC pipe that runs straight up out of the ground and it has a screw on cap.
Here is my issue.
Whenever we get more than a normal rainfall, I have a lot of noises and air bubbles coming into my toilets and if I try to flush them, they will just fill to the rim and not flush. This happened several times over the past year and a half that I have lived here but today - it became a HUGE problem FAST. I live in north alabama. We had two or three days of almost constant rain this past week. Not enough for ponding in my yard, but it just was constant. I didn't have a problem with the toilets flushing while it was raining. It stopped raining day before yesterday and this morning, I was running the sink in my kitchen to rinse dishes and I heard the air bubbles in my guest bathroom. I went in there and sure enough, the toilet was bubbling up. I tried to flush it, and the water rose to the rim. I left it alone. I went back to the kitchen, the water was standing in both sides of my kitchen sink. I went back into the bathroom about twenty minutes later and the water had gone down in the toilet. So, I decided to flush the toilet and see if it was resolved. When I flushed the toilet raw sewage water came into my bathtub rather fast from around the overflow drain cap! (I sort of freaked). I called the realtor who is partners with the builder and told him what had happened. He told me he thought I probably needed to just rinse off the filter in the septic tank. He told me how. I accessed this and the filter was not clogged at all. The water was up to the bottom of the T pipe? but not above. I went in and called the realtor I bought the house from. Told him this. He came to my house, looked in the septic tank and said "it's full", you need to have it pumped. I am the ONLY occupant of this home. I have lived here since Oct 2015. The ONLY time I have guests is during special holidays and then only for two or three days. I doubted it was full. I felt there was a fault in the field lines. I told him this. I told him I had noticed the grass in the absorption area was much thicker and higher than anywhere in the yard. He said that is how he knows it isn't the field line. He told me he uses a septic pumping company that charges him 250 to pump it out and he would call and see if he would come pump mine and let me make payments. (I am completely broke). This is suppose to happen tomorrow. Meantime, I came in and started researching. Here is what I have found. What he indicates is a FULL septic tank, appears to be in normal operation range according to research. However, he showed me the solid waste side and said "see how full it is" BUT, I don't know if the solid waste side is actually solid or if it is just the scum on the top that makes it look "solid". But, one thing I DO know. The pipe that comes straight up from the ground just outside the house with the screw in cap, does not have any sewage in the bottom of it and when we turned on my sinks inside, NO WATER came through, nor did any come through when I had my daughter go in and flush the toilet. This pipe goes straight down and ends in a T, one side goes into septic tank, the other into the house. SO, my question. WHICH IS SO IMPORTANT. I MUST get any plumbing installation problems corrected before my 4.5 months remaining on my warranty expires. I worry that if I agree to the pumping of the septic tank, that would put a band aid fix on a potential problem that my warranty should be covering that would work for about as long as the remaining time of my home's warranty. Is there someone I can call with a government agency that could come and look at the fluid and waste levels, at what is coming into my bathtub and when and what does not flow through that PVC pipe at all - that could be of help to me, so that I can INSIST that this is a faulty installation of either plumbing in the house, or field lines OR BOTH? I just can't see how ONE woman living in this house could create enough waste to fill up a properly running septic tank. The house my husband and I lived in for 24 years NEVER did this and we NEVER had our septic tank pumped. Also, this realtor and the builder he was partners for, built the three houses next to mine. I spoke to the owner of the house (exact same floorplan and size) and he had FIVE occupants for 5 years and has never had a problem with his plumbing OR had his septic tank pumped. HELP please.
My property has a 1000 gal septic tank that has two green plastic dome covers on the top. Between the septic tank and the house is a white PVC pipe that runs straight up out of the ground and it has a screw on cap.
Here is my issue.
Whenever we get more than a normal rainfall, I have a lot of noises and air bubbles coming into my toilets and if I try to flush them, they will just fill to the rim and not flush. This happened several times over the past year and a half that I have lived here but today - it became a HUGE problem FAST. I live in north alabama. We had two or three days of almost constant rain this past week. Not enough for ponding in my yard, but it just was constant. I didn't have a problem with the toilets flushing while it was raining. It stopped raining day before yesterday and this morning, I was running the sink in my kitchen to rinse dishes and I heard the air bubbles in my guest bathroom. I went in there and sure enough, the toilet was bubbling up. I tried to flush it, and the water rose to the rim. I left it alone. I went back to the kitchen, the water was standing in both sides of my kitchen sink. I went back into the bathroom about twenty minutes later and the water had gone down in the toilet. So, I decided to flush the toilet and see if it was resolved. When I flushed the toilet raw sewage water came into my bathtub rather fast from around the overflow drain cap! (I sort of freaked). I called the realtor who is partners with the builder and told him what had happened. He told me he thought I probably needed to just rinse off the filter in the septic tank. He told me how. I accessed this and the filter was not clogged at all. The water was up to the bottom of the T pipe? but not above. I went in and called the realtor I bought the house from. Told him this. He came to my house, looked in the septic tank and said "it's full", you need to have it pumped. I am the ONLY occupant of this home. I have lived here since Oct 2015. The ONLY time I have guests is during special holidays and then only for two or three days. I doubted it was full. I felt there was a fault in the field lines. I told him this. I told him I had noticed the grass in the absorption area was much thicker and higher than anywhere in the yard. He said that is how he knows it isn't the field line. He told me he uses a septic pumping company that charges him 250 to pump it out and he would call and see if he would come pump mine and let me make payments. (I am completely broke). This is suppose to happen tomorrow. Meantime, I came in and started researching. Here is what I have found. What he indicates is a FULL septic tank, appears to be in normal operation range according to research. However, he showed me the solid waste side and said "see how full it is" BUT, I don't know if the solid waste side is actually solid or if it is just the scum on the top that makes it look "solid". But, one thing I DO know. The pipe that comes straight up from the ground just outside the house with the screw in cap, does not have any sewage in the bottom of it and when we turned on my sinks inside, NO WATER came through, nor did any come through when I had my daughter go in and flush the toilet. This pipe goes straight down and ends in a T, one side goes into septic tank, the other into the house. SO, my question. WHICH IS SO IMPORTANT. I MUST get any plumbing installation problems corrected before my 4.5 months remaining on my warranty expires. I worry that if I agree to the pumping of the septic tank, that would put a band aid fix on a potential problem that my warranty should be covering that would work for about as long as the remaining time of my home's warranty. Is there someone I can call with a government agency that could come and look at the fluid and waste levels, at what is coming into my bathtub and when and what does not flow through that PVC pipe at all - that could be of help to me, so that I can INSIST that this is a faulty installation of either plumbing in the house, or field lines OR BOTH? I just can't see how ONE woman living in this house could create enough waste to fill up a properly running septic tank. The house my husband and I lived in for 24 years NEVER did this and we NEVER had our septic tank pumped. Also, this realtor and the builder he was partners for, built the three houses next to mine. I spoke to the owner of the house (exact same floorplan and size) and he had FIVE occupants for 5 years and has never had a problem with his plumbing OR had his septic tank pumped. HELP please.
