Leach field problem, question

[mary67]

My husband and I recently bought a house that's been vacant for over a year. It was built in 1960 and was occupied by 2 people the entire time. The Septic was pumped regularly since 2005 according to receipts that we found.

We decided to have an inspection and the company dug out the box right after the tank, put a camera in the pipe that went to a distribution box and said there was dirt in it. They dug down aways and found the cover was breaking apart when they were taking it off.

They're due to come back and replace the outlet cover, outlet baffle, outlet pipe, and distribution box.

In the meantime my husband cleaned out the distribution box and discovered after filling it with water that only one of the 2 pipes is evacuating the water. The other is positioned an inch or more higher plus it has dirt inside about 3 feet in. We're guessing that it must be broken.

Was it common practice back in the 60's to have only 1 of the 2 leach field pipes be active or was it installed wrong?

We're hoping this doesn't turn into a really expensive repair and are hopeful it won't. They said the tank is okay which was good news.

Do you have any advice for us before the repairs begin?

 

[Twowaxhack]

Sounds like you have a qualified professional doing the repairs. That’s good. You’ll have to weigh the cost difference between the attempt of repair vs replacement. Replacement may be needed soon, maybe not. It’s pretty old but that’s not the only factor.