Not all homes require their own septic system. Some have the luxury of connecting to their town's sewer system, and some don't. Our land is not connected to the town’s sewer so we will need our own septic system design. Before the Building Department can issue a building permit, we must provide them a Health Department approved septic system design. An Inspector from Health Department will witness the following: a deep hole test and a percolation test.
The Deep Hole test establishes two important factors:
Confirms the condition of the soil.
Confirms there's no rock ledge where the septic system is going to be located such that fluid can be absorbed into the soil.
What is a Percolation Test?
A percolation test is a test to determine the water absorption (or filtration) rate of the soil in preparation for the building of a septic drain field (aka leach field). Simply put, dig a deep hole, pour water in it, time how long it takes to drain, done by a professional from the surveyor company, observed by the Department of Health.
Scroll down to watch our video: Percolation Test Day
The excavator was on location by 8:00 am sharp. The perc test guy, his assistant, and the inspector from the Department of Health showed up at 10:00 am, as expected. A tropical hurricane stormed through just two days prior, which made Steve a little bit extra anxious about the soil condition. Steve had already flagged 2 possible areas for the septic system earlier. Down hill and away from the house, an area big enough for a tennis court.
The first test pit they hit bedrock about 3 to 4 feet down. Steve suspected it might be there. (I'm wondering if this is the reason behind the name Rockland County?) The alternate pit location worked out much better.
In the alternate site, they were able to dig down deeper, 8 to 10 feet, revealing this beautiful dry sandy soil. Just look at all that rich, fresh earth!
The perc test guy tried 4 different times. And all 4 times resulted in a similar 1 minute 10 to 24 second range. Less than 1 minute means the soil is too dry, and over 5 minutes is too wet. We've got Goldilocks perfect soil!
Steve FaceTimed me afterward, showed Archer pawing at the bottom of the first pit, circle once, tuck into a cozy pose. Super cute.
Steve had a chat with Dominic, the excavator operator. He said it was his father's company. He also mentioned they had a lot of extra fill - enough to give away. Only charge for grading, no delivery fee. If this is true, that can potentially save some $$ later on.
We got approved in record time. Submitted on Friday. Approved by Monday. Fantastic! We feel very fortunate that this process is going smoothly, swiftly, and successfully.
Watch our video!
Check out the next post: Topographical Map
Thanks for stopping by and watching our progress!
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