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The problem is that we need somewhere for the greywater to go, and we also don't have enough space for a legal greywater system.
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Dec 13, 2023 22:49
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How do you live on such a small lot but not have town sewers to connect to?
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Dec 13, 2023 23:45
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Spikes32 posted:How do you live on such a small lot but not have town sewers to connect to? It's a small rural lot. It was originally carved out of the surrounding farmland to be a general store.
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Dec 14, 2023 00:25
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Arsenic Lupin posted:The problem is that we need somewhere for the greywater to go, and we also don't have enough space for a legal greywater system. Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I thought the grey water went straight down from the mound. If experts are telling you about your problems they're obviously the ones who know what they're doing.
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Dec 14, 2023 00:59
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We have a positive cornucopia of exciting plumbing surprises! My finest MSPaint.  There is a road running past us, off which leads the road that borders our house. And I do mean borders; the property line stops at the exterior of our foundation. The far side of the road borders a 10' deep strip of my neighbor's property; farther out from that is a state park. The entire ground, including house, is .09 of an acre. There is a greywater pipe that dives down from the crawlspace, under our foundation, and stops somewhere in the state park We've never been able to find the outlet, and a lot of people have tried. Wherever the outlet is, it is now plugged with mud and our plumbing specialist cannot punch through it, even with his fanciest drill. "I nearly lost my camera." The septic tank is as shown. Where a leach field should be is a "leach pit", 8 feet by 8 feet by 5 feet deep. And that's it. The septic tank holds 1400 gallons. There is not enough land on the rest of the property to hold a leach field. The plumbing splits under the property. The toilets go into a pipe that leads to the septic tank. Everything else leads to the greywater pipe. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Dec 14, 2023 |
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Dec 14, 2023 03:16
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Welp, it's official. The septic tank runs into the 8x8x5 leach pit. The leach pit is no longer leaching. Our friendly local jetter came by and ran a camera through. The septic system outlet is not blocked. The pipe leading through the pit is not blocked. The jetter ran the camera all the way down to the road and started probing for a d-box. (The valve through which sewage is distributed into pipes.) There isn't one. About 1.9 feet below the surface he stopped digging because he felt strongly that there was a risk of effluent seeping up if he dug any further. So, our septic tank leads into a pit in clay soil, and the pit is no longer draining. I have passed this all on to the sewage engineers and hope to hear more from them soon. (Contacted them in July, met them in October and again in November. ) Waiting for next steps, but all the construction-related workers in the area are overloaded. Like my septic system.
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Dec 15, 2023 00:06
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At some point an engineer is going to tell you to eat poo poo
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Dec 15, 2023 00:24
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Just hook up to city sewer bing bong so simple
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Dec 15, 2023 00:55
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Park an empty cement truck on your property and use it as a Then, take the offer instead of going all 
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Dec 15, 2023 01:17
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IOwnCalculus posted:Park an empty cement truck on your property and use it as a Sound. We already have a hand cement mixer on the property, so we could just keep shoveling stuff into it after it overflows the septic tank. QuarkJets posted:At some point an engineer is going to tell you to eat poo poo Pretty sure it's already happened on these very forums. In any case, as of October the septic engineers had two plans: 1. Convince my neighbor to sell land we could put a leach field in (they're talking to her to find out if she's willing to consider the amount of space required, no price negotiations have happened) or 2. Start talking to the county, the state, the California Coastal Commission, and more I don't even know about yet, to allow us to put in a normally-illegal cistern and have it pumped regularly. The firm has a good reputation for knowing everybody who requires permits very well, and for being able to negotiate adjustments in policy when it's established the homeowner has no options.
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Dec 15, 2023 01:47
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Crazy idea, You might try making friends with someone high up at the state park and try asking for a variance allowing a 99 year lease from the state park to install a new leech pit or whatever on the other side of the property line. A 500 sq ft lease for a dollar or whatever. I doubt whatever is a stones throw away from your house (and a public road) is of extreme ecological importance
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Dec 15, 2023 02:40
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Hadlock posted:Crazy idea, You might try making friends with someone high up at the state park and try asking for a variance allowing a 99 year lease from the state park to install a new leech pit or whatever on the other side of the property line. A 500 sq ft lease for a dollar or whatever. I doubt whatever is a stones throw away from your house (and a public road) is of extreme ecological importance I agree, OP and one or more other people should agree to intentionally do a probably illegal thing then draft a contract in furtherance of the
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Dec 15, 2023 02:47
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Hadlock posted:Crazy idea, You might try making friends with someone high up at the state park and try asking for a variance allowing a 99 year lease from the state park to install a new leech pit or whatever on the other side of the property line. A 500 sq ft lease for a dollar or whatever. I doubt whatever is a stones throw away from your house (and a public road) is of extreme ecological importance What a stupid bullshit idea, christ OP should make friends with the governor
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Dec 15, 2023 02:55
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Possible stopgap solution if the shitter is full up: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009Z7EKIC Only half joking, considering the kafkaesque nightmare otherwise
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Dec 15, 2023 03:07
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QuarkJets posted:What a stupid bullshit idea, christ Catatron Prime posted:Possible stopgap solution if the shitter is full up: Hadlock posted:Crazy idea, You might try making friends with someone high up at the state park and try asking for a variance allowing a 99 year lease from the state park to install a new leech pit or whatever on the other side of the property line. A 500 sq ft lease for a dollar or whatever. I doubt whatever is a stones throw away from your house (and a public road) is of extreme ecological importance Sadly, we are only a little higher on the hill than the watershed that leads immediately to the sea. Yeah, asking for a lease from the park would be a third option. One I expect would take at least a decade to negotiate. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Dec 15, 2023 |
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Dec 15, 2023 03:14
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Still wouldn't help with the rest of the house's water! The septic system only has the urine and poop and such. At least greywater is much easier to deal with. Switching to the right biodegradable soaps and whatnot, you could divert it straight into suitable landscaping. Probably not a solution for you since you've already engaged professionals to fix the issue, but more to highlight that viable alternatives do exist, though they may require some level of changes in behavior.
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Dec 15, 2023 03:27
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Catatron Prime posted:At least greywater is much easier to deal with. Switching to the right biodegradable soaps and whatnot, you could divert it straight into suitable landscaping.
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Dec 15, 2023 03:39
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I realize it would be a hard sell at this point with these things you’d need to disclose, but uh have you seriously considered moving? Like .09 acre and all that sounds like this is a far from ideal place to live. Was this disclosed when you bought? It seems like the illegal septic/greywater is something you could take up with the PO if it hasn’t been too long?
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Dec 15, 2023 03:47
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TheBacon posted:I realize it would be a hard sell at this point with these things you’d need to disclose, but uh have you seriously considered moving? Like .09 acre and all that sounds like this is a far from ideal place to live. Was this disclosed when you bought? It seems like the illegal septic/greywater is something you could take up with the PO if it hasn’t been too long? I have consulted a lawyer, and the impossibility is proving that the PO knew about the greywater system. There's no way to prove that; it is under the house. The failing septic system just falls under "poo poo happens".
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Dec 15, 2023 04:15
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That’s rough, good luck on a solution
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Dec 15, 2023 06:27
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I have no real solution to offer other than to encourage you to list it and see what offers roll in. You might get someone to offer cash as-is. Just a few years ago (in a very different market) people were throwing around those offers all the time. You might not get one but then you're just where you are now so it's not like it can harm you.
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Dec 15, 2023 07:29
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I’m telling you outhouses are making a comeback in 2024. Just wait it out and you are golden.
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Dec 15, 2023 07:30
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MarcusSA posted:I’m telling you outhouses are making a comeback in 2024. Just wait it out and you are golden. I'm not going to take any catastrophic actions until I've heard from the septic engineers. They have an excellent reputation in the area, where there are a lot of old houses with historic (meaning illegal or failed) septic systems. It's time to wait for more information.
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Dec 15, 2023 17:05
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I’ve been following the video account of a lady digging out a mine from beneath the basement of her suburban home. Just something to think about. https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/entertainment/a45531598/tiktok-woman-building-tunnel-system-under-home/
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Dec 15, 2023 17:28
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Short of researching tax issues for involuntary condemnation, what about paying to tie into your neighbor's sewer/septic setup? That might be more feasible than buying land. I just don't know what else you can do on that size lot for the grey water from laundry and dishes. It also seems like there should be some sort of absolutely comical 30 foot tall septic mound option that would be extremely cost prohibitive. trevorreznik fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Dec 15, 2023 |
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Dec 15, 2023 17:36
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You don't know what to do about the property, but the soil engineers absolutely do. When they tell me to give up, I will. I haven't even gotten a plan yet, just two possible solutions. They have repeatedly evaluated the back yard, and when they tell me that you can't build a legal septic system on the lot, I believe them. Septic systems have to be built on undisturbed soil, and the amount of appropriate soil on my lot is roughly 16 feet by 8 feet, soil that is clay and doesn't perc well. Septic systems are sized for a single property. It would be silly to build a septic system larger than your house needs. Pumping my waste into my neighbor's system would guarantee that her system overloaded. My current backup plan is to live in a blimp tethered to the property, and have its RV-style tanks pumped out, as needed, by the simple process of lowering it to the ground.
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Dec 15, 2023 17:54
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Two other solutions. Just rent your neighbors toilet. This is a bit more expensive but I watched The Martian the other day and NASA has these toilets where when you poo poo it seals them into little bags. The bags get dumped in to a bin that you can just dispose of on trash day.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:02
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Have you considered very large litter boxes? Cats will train you for free during the sales presentation.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:16
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Build a second floor above the first floor. Make the first floor an above-ground septic tank. Build higher each time a lower floor fills up.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:17
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Ok you said it’s by the ocean right? Well fish poo poo in the ocean all the time so why can’t you? It’s literally right there.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:22
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The mind is a powerful tool, simply will yourself to stop pooping.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:31
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My parents and I have always enjoyed telling each other about the books we're reading or have read since I was a child. I've got fond memories of hearing about Dune in a restaurant when I was 8 and attempting to walk without rhythm through the parking lot. But for some reason, I kept remembering my mom telling me about this story where a woman could just think about pooping and bam! the poop would magically drop into the toilet from wherever she happened to be, no muss no fuss. When I was in college I remembered it again and realized how stupid I'd been. My mom must have read some magazine article about healthy pooping habits or what have you and told me about it and my child brain had conflated that with the sci fi stories she also told me about. I brought this up next holiday as an example of weird childhood memories. Only it turns out that no, my mom had read some weird-rear end 70s sci fi story about people developing psychic powers and one woman used her teleportation powers to just never visit the bathroom again. In conclusion, I own a home.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:42
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Can you park an RV on site? Or one of those luxury port a potty trailers with a shower? I wonder if that's cheaper than continuing to flush into a non functional septic system.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:44
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Sundae posted:Build a second floor above the first floor. Make the first floor an above-ground septic tank. Build higher each time a lower floor fills up. It would be a third floor above the second, but I think you've got it. The Alice's Restaurant solution.
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Dec 15, 2023 18:57
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emx59FNCy34 complete household sewage treatment plant that can make potable water, this old house put it in a basement, but they have containerized versions https://bussegt.com/systems-photos Found a few references to price, looks like $25K ballpark to install, $500/yr to operate
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Dec 15, 2023 19:07
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Qwijib0 posted:complete household sewage treatment plant that can make potable water, this old house put it in a basement, but they have containerized versions That's wild. And the pricing isn't the slightest bit believable or plausible because if that were correct/there weren't any catches literally nobody would have replaced a septic system from the very day that thing became available.
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Dec 15, 2023 19:15
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I've already asked the septic engineers about a similar system. The problem is that they still have to have a place to discharge water to! It doesn't matter that it's potable and so on, it matters that I have to have a legal place for it to discharge to. Which is a matter for multiple boards, including the California Coastal Commission. I think if we all become breathatarians it might work. If you don't need to eat, you presumably don't need to poop either.
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Dec 15, 2023 19:20
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I've already asked the septic engineers about a similar system. The problem is that they still have to have a place to discharge water to! It doesn't matter that it's potable and so on, it matters that I have to have a legal place for it to discharge to. Which is a matter for multiple boards, including the California Coastal Commission. holding tank and a solar-powered boiler to turn it into steam?
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Dec 15, 2023 19:35
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trevorreznik posted:Short of researching tax issues for involuntary condemnation, what about paying to tie into your neighbor's sewer/septic setup? That might be more feasible than buying land. Yeah, no need to buy any of their property, just pay them a bunch of $$ for an easement. We saw one recently where the septic pipe actually had a little bridge running across a ravine onto the neighbor's property (jurisdiction was aware / it was permitted).
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Dec 15, 2023 19:38
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Where abouts the california coast are you because this sounds wild as hell to me.
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Dec 15, 2023 19:59
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