Septic tank on lake house questions

Looking at a decent 20yo house on an island here in the SE Michigan area. Supposed to sign the paperwork sometime next week but will still have a week to do inspection. Been to the house 5 times. Think we are on the downward trend of the 30year high water cycle (LOYTS of flooding the past 2-3 years). 30 years from now high water will be the least of my worries.

Any first hand info on dealing with a septic. Do's donts? Will just be the wife and I (and maybe our 22yo son for a year or two). I obviously read online. No chemicals. Low flush toilets. Septic friendly detergents. sounds like a gigantic PIA that I never considered. Being "city folk" we can take long showers, do 10 loads of laundry and use drain cleaners. Would having it cleaned out every 2-3 years like I read eliminate any/all potential issues?

Have the seller present you with an inspection by a pro who deals in them prior to sale. You do not want to find out afterward that it has problems. I have worked on many jobs-renovations where they have had to have them replaced or pipes that go to it. As sellers did not disclose things and no one inspected things. So new owners ended up having to do a lot.
And have it pumped out as well so you get a fresh start.

Most houses I have owned since 1991 have had septic systems including my current one that I've owned since 2003 and lived in since 2008.
I haven't found that any special detergents or anything else is required. Just a dose of common sense - don't put buckets full of grease down the drain, or large quantities of chemicals that may kill off the needed bacteria in the tank.


Check the solids level in the tank every few years (my honey wagon guy says if a long stick will stand upright in the tank it's time to pump it out). Many septic tanks never have to be pumped at all, but I've found that about every 7-10 years is usually required.

Simple Rule: Don't put anything in there unless it has gone through you first.

My county requires it to be pumped out every 5 years. Check you local requirements.

Best way to inhibit bacteria growth is to flush a couple cubes of yeast down the toilet every two to three months. Helps keep the bacteria thriving = hungry little buggers break down the solids

Yum...."solids".

Either that or don't ever, ever 'poo' when at the cottage. Go to the neighbors.

since i'm just an old "city wimp", i can't offer any advice about service of your septic tank.
however, from growing up in a house with one, i can offer this : make sure it is well marked !
one, so you don't have to dig up the whole back 40 to find it when it needs pumped.
and two, so you don't drive over it with heavy stuff, like tractors.
i remember these things happening during my "yout", and learning cool bad words from my dad, uncles, and grandpa.

Funny chit

Sounds like good advice. Thanks!

Many counties in Michigan require a health department inspection of both the septic tank and your water well prior to the sale of a home.

The number of occupants will determine how long you must go between pumps. As stated up top, have the tank lid clearly marked aw well as where your field is laid out. What type of vegetation or soil are you in? And . . . given it is a cottage in Michigan - is this a 1930's cabin septic - just 1 or 2 - 50 gallon drums buried out back or is is a professionally engineered system (re: Health Department Inspection) . Many older cabins do not meet current specifications and local county governments are demanding upgrades when new owners take possession. If this is the case, you may be required to dish out $10k to $20K for a new poo pot!

Some folks I know have flushed eco-friendly dye into the toilet and came back to the house the next day only to see it leaching out near the water line - not good!

Wisconsin Counties require every three years

I have a 1,500 gallon conventional with a drainage field out back - Basically a two acre sand box in WI

I pull the cement cover for the pumper , we clean the filter , and he pumps away complaining every time on how much toilet paper we use

I blame the wife of course

$150.00 every three years for inspection and pumping - Price has almost doubled in twenty years , just like everything else

And trust me , they will fine you if it’s not inspected , pumped and paperwork sent in to the county

So far so great , going on twenty five years since the house was built

LOL. It's not like a discount is applied (or given) whether or not the amount of solids in the tank. It's a flat fee here in Connecticut. If I'm paying... they're pumping!

Wow...really? $150? Last time I had mine pumped it was well over $300.

$350 here last fall. Did it before winter.

before you spend a dollar buying that house have the septic inspected buy a top notch company.. one that will send cameras down there.. chances are at 20 years old its going to fail... can cost big money to fix.. 15 years ago it cost 11k to put in a new leach field at our place.. had the seller put that money in escrow for use to have it done..

Again, all good info. I'll have a local company on the island inspect it. It's not a "cottage" like with an outhouse. In fact the neighbors of "the cottage' told us it was almost insulating when the sellers called it a cottage. It's a nice 3bdrm house with a guest house over the large detached garage. Nicer than my home on the mainland. The seller just built a new $2M house on this island. The neighbors said they spared no expense when they built this one. The seller gal told me they paid $5k every few years just to have the cedar shake professionally cleaned. On a 20yo house it looks like they just installed it. So I'd imagine, and I'll ask (and verify) that they had the septic tank maintained.

Yep....had mine done last year..$150 and yep...WI needs to see paperwork from a licensed pumper that it was done and inspected every couple years.

Mine's 32+ years old....zero issues

If you can afford that place, I think you can afford any septic issues that may come your way. Good luck

Thats the next question I guess; how long DO they last? I'm hoping a LONG time.

(I am no expert), but there are a few types of systems and you should figure out what type you have. The biggest difference is the aerobic and anaerobic (random article I have not read, but do some research: https://septictankpro.com/difference-between-aerobic-and-anaerobic-septic-systems/), they operate differently and have very different complexities and maintenance requirements.

I have a "jet" system with a stirrer and an air pump - both those require maintenance, electric and will need to be replaced at some point in time. But I don't have leach lines as the effluent runs into the flowing creak on my property. "they" say you can drink the water coming out, but not sure if i'd try...

Depending upon the age and design, they are supper simple just three tanks (around here) not much to go wrong as long as the tanks hold up - but the concrete ones can crack (usually roots or perhaps freezing), and the plastic ones have been known to "float up" although I have never seen or personally heard of it. but there is not much that "can go wrong" it is just a tank.

Now the leach lines that is a totally different story - if you have them (I don't), they can get crushed, over saturated, filled up with solids, etc... so that is where I think I would focus my energy on. Plus being on a lake, be careful about the water table, that might be a MAJOR factor in the requirements and what you can "run" - they don't want "it" to filter into the water too fast and having a high water table means it will get into the water faster...

doesn't mean it will pass an inspection when selling though.

Maybe.....but it was pumped/ inspected by a licensed firm last year.......all good.

As long as it's not totally abused, they can last a very long time.

The one at my in-law's cottage was installed in 1981 and still seems to operate without issue.

A lot of my own extended family are farmers and/or live in the country and AFAIK none have had any issues of significance. Pretty sure that the one at my grandparents' old place is still the original one from 1958.

As others have pointed out, you can't use the septic system as a general garbage disposal and expect no problems. i.e. don't flush any paper that's not toilet paper, don't flush hair, don't flush tons of harsh chemicals (i.e. bleach or lye), don't use the toilet blue dye stuff etc.

Based on how you've described the rest of the place, the prior maintenance and the photo you've shown, I think that the odds are in your favour.

More importantly, you deserve to have and enjoy a nice place like that -- you've more than paid your dues.

WHEW. that was a gigantic learning curve.

So I paid for an inspector. He said the county had no records of any septic replacement on this 20yo house so that meant everything was the original SIXTY YEAR OLD SYSTEM. I called the owner out on it. They told me they contacted the original owner, the people they bought it from, and he confirmed that it was never replaced. So he spent cubic dollars on the house but never replaced the septic that was meant to support a cottage not 3500sqft!?!?

Now I was very skeptical. The owner, to ease my nerves, gives me an inspection another buyer that backed out had done. The first paragraph says "MAJOR PROBLEM - TANK OVERFLOWING". The owner tells me, "yep, we had it pumped". So pumping was basically a coverup of a failing or failed system. Shocked they showed that to me?!?!

I contacted the local goto septic guy expert. He said on this high water table island everyone will eventually have issues and they are all installing mounded systems. Just what it sounds like. A mound of dirt for the leach field to be able to drain into. To replace everything, $25,000 PLUS 2 huge trees have to come down. The trees border the septic field and are probably already causing big problems.

I tried to get them to eat the septic cost and I would take the trees down which is probably $5000+. They are playing hard ball and said NO.

I'm under contract to buy a house. 5 acres built in 1996. Lots of outbuildings. Other than the original house and 1996 septic, no permits. Last few days were spent working on that. but think we are good. Original septic permit is a little difficult to decipher, but where it looks like the septic permit shows the tank and start of the leach field sits the pool. No permit to put the pool in and no permit to move the septic............

Some people..........

Your $25000 estimate is way to low. Add another $10k for an engineered system BASED ON TODAYS PRICES!

What did the county Health Department say? What are the local township building requirements for the septic field.

And...if it is bad already...have the drinking water tested.

My cousins family bought a house, passed it down a couple times and after 30 years being in the family the septic backed up, they decided to replace it, when they dug up the old one that had been there at least 30 years the only thing there was a pipe dumping into an upside down pickup bed.

about 15 yrs ago i was at a place in texas called lake of the pines,they couldnt use lateral lines because someone somewhere was using the lake water for drinking,so this guy had a septic that had a lawn sprinkler system made with it,he had to put i think he said clorine in the tank every so often and the sprinkler worked automatically when the level got so high,the water that came out of the sprinkler was pretty clean and clear,nothing drained into the lake,his grass growed good

Septic systems that close to the water is going to be a problem. I have a brother in law who just went thru that hassle with a house on an island. They had to put in some sort of above ground sand filter system.

I Googled the HELL outta all the options. Saw the Sand Filter one. This Old House actually installed one. Looked like a mini waste water treatment plant and from what I read is a service nightmare.

One option that looked interesting is a LARGE incinerator. Sucks the black water out based on a float and incinerates - steam for the water and ash for the little waste. Bad thing is it needs a building that looked to be like a 1 car garage, costs an estimated $300/mth in utilities and what's the lifespan, 20 years maybe? Bad thing is I would have NO extra room for a one car garage on this 50 x 250 lot.

Sellers, once we called them out on the 60yo septic "that they didn't know about" (right!), said they are replacing the whole system if I'm still interested. No extra cost. Told them I was interested but want to see all the paperwork, permits, etc on the new septic. Crickets so far.

With this dishonesty I would want pictures as well.

Hey Jim. 60YO is really pushing it.
Usually by that time something has damaged it but may or may not have been identified.

If it is overflowing like the inspection said, the drain field is probably plugged up similar to what happened to the place I did most of my
growing up. Lakefront in Oakland County. Family moved into it in the early '70s and by the late '90s the drain field was plugged up
for whatever reason, most likely roots and/or vehicle damage, which then caused the tank to overflow (common problem).
The tank itself was still okay but the whole septic field was replaced.

Of course, the entire street-facing yard had to be destroyed to replace it and it cost my parents a pile of money.

I'm pretty happy to have municipal water and sewer at my place.

Much as I might miss the lakefront scenery like I grew up with, I don't miss the constant, difficult property maintenance, power going out
all the time because it's one of the oldest/first populated places in the area because of the lake/the grid is old garbage from around 1950...
plenty of trees to take out wires, wonderful iron content in the well water, water softener maintenance to get around the well water issue,
no water when the power goes out, and on and on. The property taxes are insane/whole other topic.

Haven't lived there in many years but it's still part of the family estate, and I am getting really tired of maintenance costs/time spent managing it.
The time suck is one of many reasons I haven't had much to say on Moparts anytime lately.......
Signed recently to replace the roof. 13 grand. Ugh. It's an appreciating money pit.

Good luck with your decision, sure is a nice looking place.

Hear you on the roofing cost. Mine too was $13k last time maybe 10 years ago. Ouch.

So the sellers came back and offered to replace the septic and that they received quotes and an inspection from the county. They supplied all the paperwork. I told them we'll just split their quoted prices, take it off the price of the house, and I'll handle the septic. That'll give me time to investigate my options. Remove 2 large trees that they didn't want to remove - didn't want heavy equipment driving over a new septic/leach field. So once I sign paperwork tonight I'll have a house on an island. CRAZY, I know. Can't wait! Did I mention I presently live in a city that borders Detroit? Detroit is effing crazy!!!!! On the 15min drive home on the highway cars pass me at WELL over 100mph EVERY DAY. Gunfire all the time from Detroit our INTO bordering city. The local joke is "is that fireworks again?". I'm sure its the same craziness we all see on the national news in all large cities. I'm just trying to put a MOAT and a ferry ride between me and all THAT.

Reducing the price of the house and taking care of it yourself is the best approach. The sellers have zero incentive to have the job done correctly since they aren't going to live there anymore so odds are that you would end up with a low quality job. This way you can hire a good contractor and make sure the job is done correctly so it will be trouble free for the next 30 or 40 years.

100% Agree!