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I had the septic tank and drainfield put in at my new house today. I saw the best example of work efficiency on a job site in quite a long time.
Three guys dug and set a 1200 gallon tank and what looks to be 8 miles of drainfield (actually 4440) in two hours! Yet they still yucked around, smoked cigs and harrassed each other about who got to do the sh** work of cleaning out the trenches while the others ran pipe and ran the backhoe.
These guys were the most efficient I’ve had on my jobsite and were even better than me! Which is not saying much as I’ve been building the house for almost two years!
Mike
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Mike, you been crapping in the Port-o-let for 2 years? Joe H
*Yea Mike, now you can efficently take a dump in peace :)
*Yup, I've practically decorated the Port O Let with pictures and floor tile. Even built a magazine rack for it!The bad part is the cost I've paid for it over 2 years, I probably could have bought one...but who would have emptied it?! OOOWWWWW!Mike
*Speaking of porta potties... How much do they cost? That's a question that I've pondered many times, but never had a need to call them.blue
*Blue, Mine is running $64. a month, emptied once a week. Don't know total cost but I know I've already paid for it and its not working on full profit for them other than the empty service.Mike
*Heck Mike sounds like the septic guys I use. Your not in S.E .Michigan are you? Scott R.
*Scott R. Nope, I'm a long way away in Florida. But I do have a sis-in-law that lives in your state. Could it be that septic guys are the hidden heroes of contracting? They are fast and good but no one gives them credit because of the pure nature of their business? And to continue bragging about my guy, he tells me yesterday he had to get in and get mine done (I just called him Weds.)because he wanted to get to it before he started this 110 home subdivision down the road. I may leave the top of my tank exposed in praise of his great work. Maybe turn it into a little patio?Mike
*Mike, just curious as to what it cost? And break down as to tank, leachfield materials, or however they billed the job? I'm sure there's a difference from here to there. Any out of the ordinary ground conditions? Seperate permit fees for septic? Was city sewer an option? Joe H
*Joe, Total cost was $2500. for complete package. The local health department and country required a 1050 gal. tank but this guy said he would do a 1200 for the same cost. I was going to jump to a 1500 gal. but that was about $350. more and he said with just the wife and me, we really didn't need it. No special conditions here aside from actually being able to sink the tank below grade where as many sites in Florida cannot put it all that low due to drainage, percolation and water table and thus you get the infamous "mound" in the backyard from having to build up the grade to cover the tank. That probably saved me a few bucks in fill dirt which is running $11. a yard here. He didn't give me a breakdown for the drainfields and such. I paid the $250. for the permit at the time of permitting my house. Municipal sewer not available in the neighborhood. Funny thing is the house I'm renting just 1/4 mile away has sewer. I actually would prefer septic however as the sewage rate here is substantial enough that I'll recoup the cost of the septic system after just two or three years and with proper thoughts as to what you flush, probably won't have to empty the tank for quite some time when you look at the incredible amount of drainfield the county and health department required. No kidding, he pulled up with a whole truck load of drain pipe and I asked if he was going to another job after mine. He laughed and said no, that was all mine! The whole front yard is now the drainfield. I told the wife when we move in, we need to eat hearty to be able to have a nice green lawn. She told me that was gross.Mike
*Two years of Portable pleasure cost more than half the cost of the whole system? Price is about the same as Utah, less drainfield but more rocks in it. Joe H
*Michael,Good choice of titles for this thread. Reminds me of a story about an old guy who lived on the edge of town in Big Sandy, Montana, who didn't have indoor plumbing (this was the the early 1950s). Late one Halloween night he took the trip to the crapper. Since he knew the path so well, he didn't bother with a light. What he didn't see was that some kids had tipped the outhouse over.He fell in and couldn't quite get out. So he starts yelling "Fire!! Fire!!" And pretty quick help arrives. The volunteer fire dept. gets him out, and hoses him off. And the Captain asks him why he yelled fire. The old coot says, "Iff'n Id'a yelled SHIT!, would ya have come?"Cliff
*I'm getting bids to either re-do my existing drainfield 25 years old and crushed,or hooking up to sewer. The county wanted $78,000 to hook up to sewer because I have 280' of frontage on a corner lot.They think I should pay to run pipe and manhole covers for the neighbors, when all I have to go about 100' in a straight line to hook up to the end of a exiting line.I have one bid for an all new septic system for $10,000.It is easy to tell which way I'm leaning, but how long can I go before the enviromentalists say no more drain fields?Bob
*Bob, Environmental banning on drainfields I think is a long way off at least in our area. So many areas do not have sewer lines and are not even in the planning stages for them. The tank guy told me he just got a contract for a 100+ subdivision so if neighborhoods that big are being built without them, who knows when tanks will be banned?Mike
*Put the field in now. You'll be grandfathered in later, for as long as the field remains viable. By that time, all those other folks will have paid for their share of all that work.78000.00 cough kakk choke
*ProDek:780000!!!! OUCH!!3 years ago city sewers came to our street, and I paid $90 per foot of frontage just for the priviledge of having the sewer there (not even hooking up). Then the town got $3000 when I hooked up. Funny thing is, I hooked up because the field and tiles were almost 50 years old and had been "renovated" only 5 years ago and were backing up 2-3 times per week. Or so we thought. When the sewer line was in I had a guy come to pump out the now un-used tank, whereupon he found that we in fact had 2 tanks, the second of which was packed full and is probably what was causing us all our problems!!After reading about your $78000, I don't feel so badAndy
*Mike, that sounds cheap. I've never rented one long term, but have paid $90 each to have them at a weekend event. That seeme to be the going rate around here.
*I once heard of a guy who drowned in a septic tank. He couldn't swim, but he went through all the movements.
*Mike, Don't feel bad. A contractors house is like a mechanics car. The last to be worked on. I've been on a full inside/outside remodel on my home for 18 months! My wife hates it. Sorry, Hon!
*Don, the wife hates when you tear it up, then don't finish it. And she hates when you start another phase, without fininshing the first phase. Was it necessary to tear both the inside, and the outside up? Why couldn't you finish the outside, then, move to the inside?blue