I was required to use 8 inch lateral lines for the septic out here around the lake.. This is the third one I have built all by my self so they are getting somewhat easier but the first one was in 1949 or 50 since its been a while I can't remember when...but no lateral lines that time. It was in a small town of 450 folks and I think every one just pumped it out for the garden back then when they got full. I do remember the tomatoes were giants back then and probably tasted the same as todays????

 

When reading up on septics all the info said to use this and that if one had roots from trees being too close...yep, we had two very big oak trees and I'm sure the trees did indeed have roots going everywhere under the soil!!!???

   Yes and every thing I could read from all the sellers and manuf people it said use their products to get rid of the roots..... Their directions all said to put the root killers in the tanks and give it a few days and all the roots would be gone....My two concrete tanks are 750 gallon each and it would take a few thousand bucks worth of any of those sellers products to do any good for the roots are in the lateral lines and not in the tanks... and by the time that poison got to the roots I figure all that small amount of root killer would just fertilize those roots.

  So this is a first for me  and I could not find any info as to how to place the poison where the roots are causing all the trouble..

  I installed the two tanks and dug all the ditches for the lines with the backhoe so at least I know the lines were resting safely underground but the problem was how to put the poison inside the lines and no where else was a labor problem for this eighty something person and I sure didn't want wifeee in on the shovel thingy...

   And I got all that work done right before those hundred plus days settled in on this here part of Texas. And I just now looked at the 10 day four cast and the next ten days was calling for 100 up to 111.

 

   The bad part of me digging the trenches for the lines using the backhoe I love to sit on that tractor and dig and the tops of the 8 inch pipes are all 27" from the top of the soil...meaning thats a job for a shovel or a two handed post hole digger to dig that much dirt and not cause a mess to have to clean up after all those little 3/4" pvc 40 was installed in to those 8 " pipes... I did manage to stack all that dirt on a flat 4 wheel cart one hole at a time then after installing each pipe to finish that area before I started digging the next hole. 

  So now once a week I mix up some poison and using a funnel put all that junk inside the 8" pipes where the roots are living..... 

  And then the next thing to help the septic to leach out just the sewer water and not a lot of added rain water was to install a gutter on the side of the long garage and direct the over flow in front of a concrete wall the wife and I laid down in front of her shop to direct the 300 foot  long concrete drive was that is at least 20 foot wide all the way to the street.

   I happen to be the one who put up all the forms for the driveway and even commented that the slope was great for the rain water would clear off the drive way real fast but I never dreamed later on that driveway was putting all that rain water right on top of the septic system...

  So why did we not have any trouble for 22 years and we only had the tanks pumped out once about 12 years ago....

So now I find the big culprit was a time saver for the lady of the house for the garbage disposal was grinding up stuff that actually stops the soil from leaching as much water as it did when we first put the septic in.

 But about 10 years ago I started telling wife what I had been reading and we would be in trouble sooner than later.

So how did I do a permeant install of those 3/4" pvc pipes into the 8" pipes and by the way the height of the pipes are all under to mover blades so I don't hit any while mowing.

  This was actually too deep for septics to leach water like they should but I did talk to grass people and they said St.Augustine roots would not go that deep so we could have the roots of the grass absorbing lots of the water and every thing would be hunky dory if I had a way to put the lateral lines that deep????  

  Moving from a place like Odessa, Tx when a population of 150,000 has only 5 or 6 trees so this was the reason we could not cut any of the trees down on this undeveloped property. Actually we probably planted over 100 new trees over the first couple of years we were here. Also most all the new trees were ever green trees so the winters didn't look so bad.

 

 

 

Seamless would have been faster but more money and was the first I ever bought any thing like was in the gutter build.

 

    

Then we decided the pine bark we laid in the terraces had seen their use for we did that about 17 years ago and this saved lots of removing weeds for a long long time so we tried to buy all Walmart had and did it again. 

 

Then finally the short wall at the end of the 300 foot long concrete drive way had to be diverted away from the top of the septic for this large of an area looked like a fast river during any rainy days.

I put the forms up myself for the concrete men to lay me a drive way but never dreamed this would be like a funnel going in on the top of those lateral lines...

  This was a lot of work for the two of us and I still have no idea as if we made any difference how the septic will respond but anyway we got more learning on how to do things....now I'm almost ready to get back to the lazy wood shop.

 

Oh, by the way has anyone heard from Wichman 3...       I still believe I was trying to help and some how he didn't think the way I was using was in his good interest???   Sorry guy, and I will try to say things differently next time and I hope there will be a next time!

 

Smallpatch

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Edited June 9, 20224 yr by Smallpatch

So, whatcha' been doing in your free time Patch? Just kidding, glad you got all this done before the blistering heat hit you all.

8 hours ago, Smallpatch said:

I do remember the tomatoes were giants back then and probably tasted the same as todays????

    

 

The state Department of Environmental Protection has been requiring removal of septic systems in our tight county for some time now. Back in my apprentice days I've piped more than one house "forward" to the street lateral.

 

When I passed my master plumber test, the final was inspection of shop. I was the first plumber to be allowed no bricks-n-mortar shop, using my truck instead. The old timer looked over my heap of tools - I threw in everything I owned - and wanted to know where my mattock was.

 

Seems that was the 'approved' way to dig a trench. Hunched over, mattock striking virgin clay between outstretched legs.

 

Maybe that's what's wrong with today's youth. Not a single blessed one of them knows how to dig a trench by hand. 

Daddy, I am glad you wrote about your project. You didn’t tell how those beautiful Post Oaks became tall stumps. 
I love you!

Woodman, being from a different area might be that I don't know what a mattock is for it probably has a different name in my area??? so what is it?

 

Sherri how did you know these were post oaks? I just know the wood is of the white oak variety for they had rounded leaves. Too bad I don't own a wood mill. White oak is worth saving for later use. On second thought I wouldn't use a mill if I had one. Too much work!

Oh, by the way, one of the products I been using in the septic thingy is copper sulfate.  I'm not real sure how the roots are supposed to go away for ranchers use copper sulfate in their cattle feed!

Oh, I was guessing about the Post Oaks! There are Post Oaks around Houston - so yours probably were not Post Oaks. They were gorgeous, though. 

Copper sulfate will kill the roots, but they won't go away...at least not quickly. Then you'll just have dead roots in the lines. Over time they will decay, but until then they may be still causing problems. I have a similar septic problem. Our house doesn't have lateral lines, but rather sand filters (16'x24'x 5' deep pits filled with layers of sand and gravel). The previous owner planted landscape trees right on top of them, a big no-no. I'm having it looked at this month, but I suspect the trees will have to be removed () and then the filters rebuilt. This will be really expensive, and I get the help from the state EPA to drive the costs up. Such work has to be done by a licensed contractor here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattock

 

Fun facts: A cutter mattock is similar to a Pulaski used in fighting fires. It is also commonly known in North America as a "grub axe".

 

It's like a pick but one end is flattened like a hoe. Great for flattening and squaring up a trench but not much good for anything else. Back in the days of endless irrigation trenches being dug throughout the area (California especially) a mattock and a shovel would be the only tools a man needed to make an honest buck.

 

I've got one in the basement, saved from Dad's downsizing, but have not yet used it.  The inspector who insisted I had to have one, I told him I used a 6' tunneling bar and a slat shovel; my technique was scorned but I did pass the truck inspection.

 

Next week we're removing a crushed curb trap (house trap) 14' down.  Thank the saints it is in the middle of the lawn; the digger will step the entire area. This county went back to No house Traps Permitted so we'll put a double wye on its back and make it a clean-out.

 

      

Yes I have both only we call them a pick ax and a grubbing ax. Lots of mesquites here and guys did use the grubbing ax but the mesquites were always the winners in that fight.

14 hours ago, Woodman said:

    

 

The state Department of Environmental Protection has been requiring removal of septic systems in our tight county for some time now. Back in my apprentice days I've piped more than one house "forward" to the street lateral.

 

When I passed my master plumber test, the final was inspection of shop. I was the first plumber to be allowed no bricks-n-mortar shop, using my truck instead. The old timer looked over my heap of tools - I threw in everything I owned - and wanted to know where my mattock was.

 

Seems that was the 'approved' way to dig a trench. Hunched over, mattock striking virgin clay between outstretched legs.

 

Maybe that's what's wrong with today's youth. Not a single blessed one of them knows how to dig a trench by hand. 

I have dug a few trenches that way, I just didn’t know the tool was called a mattock.

YUP! Pick axe was what we called it.

I have all the tools but never liked that kind of job.  Just didn't "dig" it and was always willing to pay someone to do the "dirty" work.

On 6/9/2022 at 6:18 AM, Woodman said:

Not a single blessed one of them knows how to dig a trench by hand.

they can do it  on the computer though.  That's gotta be worth sumpin  - - - - - - - - - right?

On 6/8/2022 at 10:04 PM, Smallpatch said:

3/4" pvc 40

I'm a little perfused.  What's the deal with 3/4" piping?

 

Around here there is no such thing as "do it yourself " septic systems anymore. The state requires it to be installed by a licensed installer and designed by a licensed engineer. I spent over $24,000 almost 20 years ago to have my system installed. The septic new systems require a minimum 1000 gal septic tank, and a 500 gal water holding tank which takes top water from the septic, When the water tank is full it is pumped  into a specially designed leaching field. There is also an alarm system to let you know if the water tank is above the regulated level. Now the town is running town sewer on my street and even if I don't tie in to it it will cost me $30,000. No help to me but it sure makes the greedy developers happy.  

Cliff go back to the first picture and you will see a row  of 9 or 10 3/4" pvc caps. This is my way of delivering the goods to the source. Now about every other week I unscrew those caps and insert a funnel and about 5 gallons of root fighter goes in on top of those hopefully shrinking swiveling roots. I know doing this won't remove them out of the 8" pipes but hopefully I can reduce the size of them enough to let some waste flow past them while getting dosages to keep them reducing in size ? 

  Never seen this done so I come up with a way so some young'un don't come along and pulls up my pipes since the other end of the pvc pipe is just sticking through a hole in the larger pipe. I could explain how I did it if any one needs to do this to their system.

On 6/9/2022 at 11:45 AM, Woodman said:

Next week we're removing a crushed curb trap (house trap) 14' down.

One county to the north you'll still find septic and wells, and north further, all wells and septic. But here ...

 

c.1946 5" terra cotta house trap cracked, filled with dirt, sludge, etc. Multiple contractors could not cable it clear. Three hours of digging with a 3' bucket. Start-to-finish 7 hours. For my buddy's kid. And some companies priced this at $18,000  

 

The digger is the only one who got paid yesterday. When the kid gets a check from his sewer warranty company I may get a few bucks.

 

  

 

This one was rather deep because of the topography.  Typically 6' though.

 

Taphephobia alert! Unedited image!