Homeownership comes with many responsibilities. There’s making repairs to the house, maintaining the lawns, taking care of landscaping, paying all sorts of bills and taxes and so much more. But it’s all worth it to own your own home. Now, let’s say the house you purchased in Modesto, CA has a septic tank installation. Whether you’re familiar with septic systems or not, you need to make sure you know where the tank and drain field are located. Anyone on a septic system knows that locating the septic system’s drain field is not always an easy task.
With this in mind, we would like to share some professional insight to help you locate your drain field. If after a while you still can’t find it, don’t hesitate to call a local septic system company for assistance.
Some septic system pipe trails are easy to spot in the yard; others, not so much. Below are six tips for finding your drain field:
- Look at your yard: It’s common to not see any signs of your drain field’s location at first glance. Start by looking all around your yards (front, back, sides) for lines of green grass, dead grass or sunk-in areas. If you see any, go investigate, as these are signs of a drain field installation.
- Scan the area for markers: The location of your septic tank should be marked by a cement marker the size of a manhole cover. Look for it 10 to 20 feet away from your home. Once you locate the tank, follow the downward-most path and check for an empty downward-sloping field. You may have just found your drain field.
- Probe your yard for gravel: Another approach is to probe your yard and feel for gravel, because drain field lines are buried in gravel as a way to guide wastewater through the treatment process. Find gravel and you may have found your property’s drain field. However, be aware that probing may prove difficult in areas where the soil is hard or rocky.
- Check county records: The septic records for your property may be on file at your county’s permitting department, or with the company that installed the septic system in the first place.
- Read notes from other owners: Another way to find the drain field is to ask the previous owners. If this is not possible, check the garage, cabinets or bathroom areas for notes or instruction manuals left for you by the previous homeowners. Sometimes. before people move, they gather all owners’ manuals or write out their own notes for how to use and maintain certain appliances or systems in the house, as well as important information about the products (age, maintenance records, etc.). There’s a chance they’ve drawn out the location of the drain field.
- Ask your neighbors: You should introduce yourself to immediate neighbors soon after moving into your new home. This is a good time to ask them if they know where your drain field may be located.
For the best septic maintenance, drain field services and septic tank installation in Modesto, CA, look no further than Alvarado Pumping Septic Service. Our experts are ready to help with your home’s or business’s septic system any time!