Cornerstone Home Inspections of Warren, New Jersey, specializes in residential home inspections. One item inspectors check often is a home’s septic tank.
What happens to the raw wastewater from your home when you flush a toilet or get done washing dirty dishes? That water may flow into a specially designed tank that helps remove particles heavier than water from it. Over time, the heavy solids can build up in this large underground tank to the point where it needs to be pumped out in order to work properly.
Obviously you should buy and use a quality septic tank because it’s going to have to deal with your “raw wastewater,” which is a nice codeword for excrement. If you have a lousy septic tank it could mean trouble in your house or yard– and it’s the sort of trouble that literally stinks!
Ideally, septic tanks should be pumped out every two to three years. Just like you’d get your teeth cleaned by a dentist, so should your septic tank be cared for every now and then to ensure it keeps on doing its job as intended.
Think of it another way: statistics show that one adult will put about 90 gallons of solid waste into their septic tank each year. When you add more than one adult to a household, obviously you’re going to be giving your septic tank a bit of a workout. While anaerobic bacteria in the septic tank can help reduce waste volume by about 60%, the rest can literally pile up.
What happens when a pile gets too big? It cannot be contained. When a pile of excrement cannot be contained, it will find its way somewhere, such as to your bathroom or basement. Yuck. You do not want that to happen.
Therefore, as many home inspectors will tell you, including the ones from Cornerstone Home Inspections, it’s very important that you have a quality septic tank. On top of that, get it inspected and/or pumped out every couple years.