Septic System Rescue: DIY Fix for Hopeless Cases

Reader Contribution by Steve Maxwell
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This is what my septic system looked like during the height of failure. The sewage is about 24” above the outlet of the tank and threatening to spill out onto the lawn. 

June 2011 was a bad time at my place. That’s when I discovered the sewage level in my septic system was sitting 6” above the top of the concrete tank as I opened the ground level access hatches. That’s at least 18” higher than the outlet of the tank and it would get worse – bad news for a septic system that was installed back in 1989, and bad news for my financial situation.

A local septic contractor came quickly when I called, and after one look he started telling me when he’d be able to come out to rebuild my leaching bed. “I’ve never seen anything work to fix systems clogged this badly, other than rebuilding the leaching bed”, he explained. I braced myself for a repair bill that could easily run into five figures (plus all the disruption to my yard), then I realized something.

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