QUESTION

What should new homeowners request for an inspection?

ANSWER

Last summer I participated in a webinar sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about septic inspections at the time of real estate transfer. It was one of the most highly attended webinars held by the MOU Partnership, a collection of agencies and organizations that have entered into a memorandum of understanding with the EPA to promote the use of decentralized wastewater treatment practices and to help educate the public about onsite treatment systems.

At about the same time, a person relatively new to the industry bought a new house with a septic system and he knew enough to ask a few questions. He related that after an inspection it was suggested that his tank be pumped when his family moved in to give an accurate reading about their use of the system and how often it would need to be maintained. While this is a very good suggestion, it highlights what we found during the webinar: There is no consistency between states or even counties about the kind of inspection required at the time of real estate transfer.

THOROUGH INSPECTIONS NEEDED

In my view, the description by this new homeowner is not the kind of inspection a homebuyer should have before signing on the dotted line to purchase a house. The good news here is that someone at least looked at the system and opened the tank to see if the effluent in the tank was at the proper operating level. However, what is the homeowner’s situation if he has the tank pumped after moving in only to learn that it has a huge crack, is not watertight and not structurally sound; or maybe even worse, that effluent poured back through the outlet upon pumping indicating that the drainfield is full and needs to be replaced?

At this point the buyer probably has little recourse and will have to bear the cost of replacing the system. If they are like most first-time homebuyers, their finances are likely leveraged to the maximum, which creates a hardship in terms of finding the money to repair or replace the system. This is why I am a strong proponent of having a complete operation inspection of the system at the time of sale. An operation inspection requires all system components to be identified, located and evaluated to see that they are operating properly.

One of the first things a buyer should ask when the real estate agent provides an inspection report on the system is, “Was the person who conducted the inspection a septic professional or was it done as part of the routine home inspection?’’ It has been my experience that home inspectors are good at their area of expertise, which is evaluating the interior and exterior condition of the house itself, but have only a cursory knowledge of the onsite system in the backyard.

This is not a criticism of home inspectors; however, it is important for all inspectors to be familiar with the technologies they are looking at. This is more and more important with the growing number of systems incorporating more than a septic tank to gravity drainfield configuration. You want the person doing the inspection to know what they are looking at, which means hiring a professional.

PROVIDE A SCALE MAP

A buyer should have confidence that the inspector located all the system parts and opened and examined them to make sure everything in the house is connected to the system and all components are structurally sound and operating as they should. An inspection report should have an accurate to-scale map of the system components that can be used to locate them in the future. An evaluation of the condition of each component should be provided.

Potential problems should be identified in the report, even if they are not currently affecting the operation of the system. This may even take the form of suggested upgrades to the system, such as bringing risers to the surface to make location and future service easier. If the risers are at the surface, the inspection should consider safety: Is there a secondary containment device to make sure someone like a child would not be able to access the tank and fall in?

Evaluating each component and providing information on current operating levels and conditions can be important for the buyer in other ways. In the situation mentioned earlier, the family moving in also provides home-based child care services. This most likely means increased usage when the family of five moves in and then has added use through the day care business. Opening distribution and drop boxes to evaluate liquid depth in the drainfield portion of the system is necessary.

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

If the trenches are already close to being full, increased use is probably going to exceed the system capacity. Being able to factor this into the purchase price and plan for adding to the system or making changes can help avoid significant unexpected expenses in a few weeks or months. A complete inspection should include information on current household water-use patterns and anticipated changes as the new family moves in, and the information should be factored into the final assessment of system condition.

I would really like to hear from service providers about what they tell their customers and the types of inspections they see conducted. These ideas can be explored in future columns.