Septic System Repairs:

Before you consider doing any form of repairs to your septic system you must check with your local health department to see what permits you will need to make improvements and/or modifications. If the local township has installed a sewer system since your drain field was installed, you will most likely be required to hook up to that system and will not be allowed to make any repairs or improvements to any existing system. The laws are in place to protect local water supplies, streams and the environment in general. Maintaining a healthy septic system is a liability each property owner incurs. Failure to header350
properly maintain your system can result in costly site cleanup bills if toxic solids pollute the ground and result in local well water or river contamination. If the source of such contamination can be traced to a specific property, then the owner could potentially be held liable. It is the job of your local health department to keep track of changes in environmental conditions that would impact your repairs or improvements. By working with them, you ensure that your investment in any new septic system or repairs is properly spent on a legal and safe system.

Typical Septic System Failures:

The most common form of drain field failure occurs when people neglect pumping their septic tanks. When that occurs, solids are pushed out into your drain field and they
form into a thick black ooze that becomes so dense it no longer allows water to properly drain into the surrounding soil. Whether or not your system can be repaired is a matter of how far the system has been compromised. While failure can occur in any part of the drain field, one of the first areas to clog is typically in the header pipe which is located at the front of your system and feeds into several feeder lines. Replacing the header and the stone beneath it may provide some improvement in your system, provided the feeder tubes are not clogged and still have adequate drainage characteristics.  
One of the important inspection points in the permitting process is to make sure that your header pipe is level from one end to the other.   This ensures proper distribution of gray water as it flows into the feeder leach lines which means that no one line gets over worked during the useful life of your system.

Other Septic Repairs:
Septic Tank Repairs:
Septic Tanks can fail over time.   The most common type of septic tank failure results from cracked or caved in walls.   While tanks are made of durable materials such as cast concrete, fiberglass, heavy plastic, and or cement blocks, they can crack or crumble with time.   The best time to inspect your tank is when it is emptied out right after pumping.   Toward that end, we take a general look at your septic tank when we are pumping it for any obvious signs of trouble.  However, we do not guarantee your complete system is working properly unless you have us do a formal inspection which takes considerably more time to complete.   We also ask that you run the water after it is pumped to ensure your sewer lines from the home to the tank are not clogged.  If your tank is compromised or root bound, the safest thing to do is simply replace it with a new tank.

Do it Yourself Common Mistakes:
1: Hiring a friend who knows how to run a backhoe can lead to more trouble than you might realize.
We often hear how the friend drove the backhoe on the drain field and cracked the leach field pipes and or compacted the soil, or simply dug up the system and damaged the drain field in the process.
2: Another common mistake is to attempt to fix old tile in drain fields.   Old tile systems are so brittle that they simply fall apart when you attempt to excavate and repair them.
3: Thinking you do not need to pull permits to do simple repairs to your system is a common misconception.   Improvements need to be on file with the health department for several reasons. If you decide to sell the property and you do not have an up to date legal system, you may run into legal problems during the selling of your home.   Starting what you think is a simple repair often ends up becoming much more complicated than you anticipated.   The result is that you have to call in an inspector in the midst of the failed attempt and you may then incur some penalty for failure to get the job approved before the work commenced.
4: Making buying decisions on products that may work well in other states but not are not the best design choices for Michigan's soil and climate extremes.   While modern drain fields have seen numerous advances, you are best to consult with someone like Shelar's who has designed and installed thousands of systems over the past 50 years. That level of experience gives you the added peace of mind that the time and money you invest in your new drain field will be well spent.   As a fully licensed and insured septic installation company we know what it takes to do build optimal systems for all types of soil conditions.   Hence, the very first step is to get the health department out to your property to conduct a perk test of your soil.   That test leads to a decision as to what is the best type of system for your specific soil conditions.  
5: Assuming that all you need for a drain field is some rocks and PVC pipe. Every property has unique soil conditions and various water table depths.   In order to be legal and safe, your new system must be built within the guidelines of what the state requirements.   Working with a fully licensed contractor such as Shelars ensures that your new system will meet all State and Federal requirements and be built to endure Michigan's tough climate changes.