Straight answers
Septic and plumbing questions,
answered plainly.
These are the things people ask on the phone. No scare tactics — a lot of the time the honest answer is that your system is fine and it is due for a pump out.
For most households, every three to five years. A family of four with a 1,000-gallon tank and a garbage disposal should lean toward three. Tank size, how many people live there, and how much laundry and grease go down the drain all move that number. If you do not know when it was last pumped, that is the answer: pump it and start the clock.
Slow drains through the whole house, gurgling in the pipes when water runs, sewage smell in the yard, or soft, wet ground over the tank or drain field. Any one of those is worth a call. Two of them together usually means the system is already backed up and you are a load of laundry away from a mess.
Wipes, even the ones labeled flushable — they do not break down and they are the most common cause of a stopped-up line we see. Also grease, coffee grounds, eggshells, paper towels, cat litter, and anything chemical that would kill the bacteria the tank depends on. A garbage disposal is fine to use; just do not treat it like a trash can.
Not enough to spend money on. A healthy tank builds its own bacteria from what you put in it. Additives do not fix a full tank, a failed field, or a line full of roots, and they are no substitute for pumping on schedule.
Usually an hour or two, depending on tank size and how easy the lid is to get to. If the lid is buried, plan for a little more time while we dig and set it back. If you know where the tank is, tell us on the phone — it saves time and saves your yard.
A snake is a rod with a cutter on the end. It punches through a clog and gets water moving, which is often enough for a one-time stoppage. Jetting is a high-pressure hose that cleans the pipe wall, so it is the right call for grease, sludge, roots, and any line that keeps stopping up. If a drain has been snaked twice in a year, it is time to jet it.
Yes — underground, rough-in and trim-out on new homes and additions. We would rather be in the conversation early, while the layout is still on paper, because that is where a plumbing job is cheap to get right.
Your name, the best number to reach you, the address or town, and what the plumbing is doing. For a septic call, whether you know where the tank is and when it was last pumped. For a stoppage, whether it is one fixture or the whole house. That is enough for us to tell you what to expect.