La Pine Septic Tanks

Most of the properties in La Pine are on septic and well. The city limits of La Pine where you will find “city sewer and water” is a very small area compared to what we call La Pine.

Today, we’re gonna talk about what might be required if you have intentions of adding on, building a shop. Most of the properties in La Pine are on septic. And most of them are in great condition. You’ll find concrete tanks, you’ll find a standard system, you’ll find what we call a sand filter system. There’s all types of systems and it depends on what the groundwater is in each area to which system is on the property.

Some of the things we can look at ahead of time as both the buyer and the seller is what kind of tank is on the property? We still find several steel tanks on properties. And some of those steel tanks are working just fine right now. Some of them have what we might call pinholes around the water line. Some might actually have a full rust line that’s riding out. And some could downright be falling apart. During the sale, we generally have the septic pumped and inspected and we can then make a determination of what needs to happen.

Tank replacement’s super simple and super affordable in comparison to a whole new system. A tank replacement in today’s world runs around $3,500. And your excavator / septic installer will take care of everything for you. They will come, they will schedule the tank to be pumped again. They will remove the old tank, put in the new tank and pull all the county permits that need to be pulled. That’s an easy fix. Super simple. Many sellers do it ahead of time. Some do it during escrow.

Things get tricky is when you’re buying a home that you intend to build a shop, add sleeping quarters, do a whole family room or a bedroom conversion. When you start adding  square footage to a home, especially bedrooms, the county very well may require you to do a full upgrade of your system.

Most of the time, an upgrade is less expensive than a whole system. The property and the system that’s already in place is going to dictate how expensive those upgrades are going to be. If there’s not room to upgrade the system and by upgrading, what they mean is you usually have to add a whole additional tank to take what’s currently there, which is either a sand filter or a standard system and make it either a standard ATT system or a sand filter ATT system. To do that, it’s pretty simple to say. You just add what they call a dowsing tank, some other components, some presto magic, you’ve now go the ATT system.

The problem is is if that system is where you’re gonna build your shop or that addition is right where the tank goes or is. Or there’s not room between the septic tank and the drain field to put that dowsing tank in. Now your expense is going to be more. Having an agent that understands the idiosyncrasies of the septic systems in our area, the soil composition and what might be required is highly beneficial to both the buyer and the seller.

So you want to talk about septic? I’ve got lots of people in my back packet so to speak that are my favorite excavators and favorite septic people and they can help guide us to make sure that the property that you’re going to buy is perfect for what you’re wanting to do on it. And for sellers, they can help make sure that you’re not gonna hit stumbling blocks during your transaction.