Septic Riser

 We live on a septic system. If you're not familiar with one of these, they are basically a large gravity fed holding tank. The waste water leaves your house. Solids drop to the bottom of a tank, and the liquids are fed out into the drainage field where they work their way back into the ground water. They are a simple system to work, but expensive should they fail. We had always lived on City Water, so when we moved into this house, getting used to working with a septic system was a challenge. We bought from my in-laws, and they showed us where the clean out was. For the past 16 years, I've had someone come out every other year to clean the solids out of the septic system.

We had it cleaned in November, and I thought we were good to go. Until the pipes began making a gurgling sound. And then, looking up the hill one night when coming home from work, I noticed that the grass was about 2 feet higher than the rest of the grass in the area around where the septic clean out was. 

Husband had noticed the grass, too.  He was waiting for me when I got home and walked me over to the clean out. We had a water feature in the yard. A small bubbling pool of water was going to town just over top of the septic clean out. That is so not good. Thankfully, we'd had to replace the sewer line out of the house a few years ago, or else we would have had all of that stuff in the basement of the house.

I called the septic company that cleans out our system and had them come out again. He called his supervisor, who called the owner. They pumped out the septic and started digging.

It turns out that what we thought was the clean out was actually the vent. We'd been cleaning the vent for 15 years. The guys dug down through the yard, found the door to the septic tank, opened that and then cleaned out the most noxious, hard packed mess you have ever seen. (I didn't know there was a door on those things, did you?)

They informed us that Septic Risers are now required by code in our county, and showed us the one they recommended. Husband stood outside and talked with them for a long time and then came in and told me that he was able to install the riser himself. The guys had taken measurements while they were standing outside, and husband ordered the riser and all of the equipment while they were out there talking.

This past weekend, husband had the time to install the septic riser. 

First, he had to widen out the hole around the door to fit the riser. Once he widened the hole, he discovered that he had not centered the hold and so he had to dig out an additional 6 inches on the side and bottom of the hole.

He then followed the step by step directions included with the riser on how to install the riser. He put the lid on top of the riser and locked it down with the bolts provided in the assembly kit.

He then filled in around the riser with the dirt that had been taken out to make the hole.

In total, counting breaks and 1 trip to Home Depot to replace the shovel, it took him 6 hours to install.  It blends in beautifully with the yard, and you can't see it unless if you're looking for it. 

And you know what? It's really nice to know that the next time I hire a crew to come out and clean out the septic tank, they'll actually be getting all of the solids. That tank is 31 years old. My in-laws replaced it the spring before we were married. I would like to think it will last another 31 years if we take care of it!