Septic/ Leach field question

My husband and I recently bought a house that’s been vacant for over a year. It was built in 1960 and was occupied by 2 people the entire time. The Septic was pumped regularly since 2005 according to receipts that we found.

We decided to have an inspection and the company dug out the box right after the tank, put a camera in the pipe that went to a distribution box and said there was dirt in it. They dug down aways and found the cover was breaking apart when they were taking it off.

They’re due to come back and replace the outlet cover, outlet baffle, outlet pipe, and distribution box.

In the meantime my husband cleaned out the distribution box and discovered after filling it with water that only one of the 2 pipes is evacuating the water. The other is positioned an inch or more higher plus it has dirt inside about 3 feet in. We’re guessing that it must be broken.

Was it common practice back in the 60’s to have only 1 of the 2 leach field pipes be active or was it installed wrong?

We’re hoping this doesn’t turn into a really expensive repair and are hopeful it won’t. They said the tank is okay which was good news.

Do you have any advice for us before the repairs begin?

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I’m not an expert but you could have a 60 year old septic system. Have your tank inspected and make sure it’s ok before any repairs. If your tank is bad, you need a whole new system. That requires a septic design expert and probably county permits. If your tank and baffles (they keep solids from going into your drain field) are ok then you can have an excavator repair your drain field. I’ve been through it at my former house. We had to redo the drain field before we could sell. We are currently going through it at our new place. Fix it right so your not dealing with it in February. You also need to shower and flush your toilets.

I am surprised that the septic cover would not have to be raised above ground level before the purchase went through ? I know when we sold in 2018… the drain field had to be tested, the tank covers had to be dug out and a couple feet of concrete ring added to bring them above any surface runoff being able to enter the tanks.

big_g wrote:

I am surprised that the septic cover would not have to be raised above ground level before the purchase went through ? I know when we sold in 2018… the drain field had to be tested, the tank covers had to be dug out and a couple feet of concrete ring added to bring them above any surface runoff being able to enter the tanks.

they might have payed cash and not wanted any inspections. That’s what we did and saved a bunch. Unless you have problems like this. But we didn’t

grizzly wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
I am surprised that the septic cover would not have to be raised above ground level before the purchase went through ? I know when we sold in 2018… the drain field had to be tested, the tank covers had to be dug out and a couple feet of concrete ring added to bring them above any surface runoff being able to enter the tanks.

they might have payed cash and not wanted any inspections. That’s what we did and saved a bunch. Unless you have problems like this. But we didn’t

Pretty sure in Mn, you need to have septic system inspected and up to code before any sale can go through.. cash or otherwise.

Bought our year around place next to the rainy river last fall and paid cash and didn’t have to have any inspections

grizzly wrote:

Bought our year around place next to the rainy river last fall and paid cash and didn’t have to have any inspections

I did learn that the state does not mandate it, most lenders do… but counties may.. especially those sold along shoreland… surprised that could happen on the Rainy River ???

Realtor even said don’t need inspections. Looking at another place now and we won’t do inspections. Waste of money

grizzly wrote:

Realtor even said don’t need inspections. Looking at another place now and we won’t do inspections. Waste of money

You’re not going to have the septic inspected for the place you will be buying?

We didn’t on the 1 we bought last fall and if they accept offer on the 1 we’re looking at now we will not have any inspections on anything