There's a lot that goes into purchasing a new home. This usually includes a bevy of inspections, some of which are performed to guarantee that there aren't any lurking hidden problems and others are required by lenders before they will issue a mortgage. If your new home uses a septic system rather than city sewers, then it's likely that your mortgage company will request that the system be inspected. In some cases, insurance companies will require this as well.
It's easy to see these inspections as a simple formality and to choose the cheapest inspection that will meet your lender or insurer's requirements. There are several reasons why a full inspection is in your best interest, however.
1. Septic System Problems Are Expensive
Along with well failures and sewer issues, septic system problems are among some of the most expensive that a homebuyer is likely to face. Since your septic system is buried, repairing failed components usually involves digging up a portion of the lawn. This can cause costs to rapidly skyrocket, in addition to simply being highly disruptive to your property.
Even worse, septic systems which repeatedly back up can cause damage inside the house as well. Water damage can often be much more serious and long-lasting than it initially appears and repairing damage from a backed up septic tank is often a long process. Since septic water can contain harmful pathogens, even simple clean-up requires special measures to be taken.
2. Short Inspections Rarely Uncover Major Issues
Just because your lender finds a quick visual inspection acceptable does not mean that you should. Although they are mostly out of sight, septic systems are fairly complex, and there are a number of potential issues that can arise with one. These major issues are rarely evidenced with just a surface level inspection. In fact, a full inspection will generally involve pumping the tank out as part of the process. While this adds to the cost, it allows the inspector to get a much better understanding of the system's overall condition.
Many new homeowners balk at the idea of having their tank pumped as part of their purchasing inspection process, but this is effectively the only way for the inspector to determine if there are issues with the drain field. Additionally, pumping water back into the tank allows the inspector to check for problems with the connection between the house and the rest of the system.
3. Full Inspections Provide Useful Information
Many short inspections are performed entirely inside the house, without any attempt to locate or dig out the tank itself. This isn't necessarily a problem if the previous homeowners kept detailed records, but many homeowners may not even know where their tank is located or the exact bounds of the drain field. A full inspection will provide you with this information, which can both make future repairs go more smoothly and save you money over the long run.
To learn more, check out a website like http://sullivanseptic.net.
Share19 June 2019
If you seem to have piles and piles of clutter inside your home, you can read my blog to learn how you can declutter fast and painlessly. Hello, my name is Marion Bates and I also used to have a lot of useless stuff piled up around the house. One day I decided that I was going to get rid of everything that I didn't use. Before I began decluttering my home, I read several books so that I could have a plan and a goal when I started to declutter. I also learned why some people insist on cluttering up their home and how they can clean it all out with no regrets. Now that my house is free of clutter, it looks very clean and I'm not embarrassed to have guests over. If you need to get rid of the clutter in your house, please read my blog.
