I grew up in a small town, and my entire adult life has been spent in cities. What I knew of septic systems was that the ‘country people’ had them. Beyond that I never thought about one. Fast forward some decades later and I found myself becoming the owner of a septic tank, and learning all there is to know. Who knew that one day I would become one of the ‘country people’.
The first thing to know if you are building a cabin on a rural property is that you will need to think about where your waste water goes. Our property is forested land that had never been built on and was not tied into a city system of sewer, water, and electricity. These are all things as a city dweller we take for granted. As a rural property owner we had to choose which systems would be installed and find someone to help us install them.
Soil Testing
One of the first steps of the build process was to work with our excavator to do soil testing. This step was done at the Crash Pad in late July 2022, before the excavation work began on the property to clear for the cabin (August 1, 2022). There was a certified soil tester from the state on site with the excavator. Our excavator went into the woods with a mini excavator to dig testing holes. The soil tester then evaluates the soil composition of the holes and advises if the soil composition will allow for a drain field (the ideal system). Three testing holes were dug on our property within a range that would be far enough from the cabin for drainage, but close enough for the system to be installed for a drain field. Unfortunately all three holes revealed clay soil, which can not be approved for a drain field (the optimal choice).
The Options
What is a drainfield?
In conventional, or soil-based systems, the liquid (known as effluent) is discharged from the septic tank into a series of perforated pipes buried in a leach field, chambers, or other special units designed to slowly release the effluent into the soil. This area is known as the drainfield. (epa.gov)
A drainfield would have been the cheapest option for us, but unfortunately after the soil test it was no longer a possibility. This meant we had two other options:
Kurt talks through in the video the different options and about what we chose ~ a Septic Tank.
Septic Tanks
Septic tanks come in different sizes. The bigger the tank, the higher the price. We went with a 2,000 gallon tank based on both cost and need. Kurt estimated that we would need to have the tank pumped twice a year and that cost savings far outweighed a bigger tank or a mound system.
Think about the Visual
We strategically drew out a plan for our excavator showing where we wanted the tank. Visually, we didn’t want the septic tank to be part of the view from the main living area or from the kitchen. We would highly advise that you are involved with the decision process for tank placement ~ you often see horrible placement on rural properties. If you are going through the work to build your dream cabin ~ don’t assume your builder or excavator will put your tank where you want it. You don’t want to be sitting looking at your beautiful view with a tank and pole in the middle of it reminding you of your waste, and you also don’t want that to be the first thing you see when you drive up to your ‘dream’ cabin.
Also, your tank needs to go where it makes sense. We have our tank placed directly behind our bathroom. It is definitely not the first thing you see on approach to the Crash Pad, in fact you may never even know it is there (until we tell you to flush with the green button and why).
Build Process
Before any step in the build process, the excavator installs the septic tank and digs the area for the foundation. That is why soil testing was one of the first things we did before even clearing the land for the building. If we had decided we wanted a drain field, that would have meant testing the property in locations further back, which if successful would have meant a longer driveway - which means more expense both during excavation, but also snow plowing. The likelihood we would have found acceptable soil for a drainfield further back on our property seemed slim, so we stuck with the original spot we had chosen with our architect for the Crash Pad.
Once the foundation was in, the excavator then came back and hooked up the septic tank through the foundation and then filled in the interior of the foundation and graded the exterior.
After that, the plumber comes at it from the inside and connects all the water and waste pipes leaving the building to the septic tank.
Water Usage
We were lucky to live in Colorado in our twenties, where we saw first hand how important water conservation is. It left an imprint in us. To this day, whenever we see water being wasted it drives us nuts. Water Conservation takes on a whole new meaning when you have your own well water, and a septic tank. We oversaw the installation of both and are keenly aware of how vital they are for the Crash Pad. Monitoring every single drop of water we use is particularly important because we don’t want to fill up our septic tank unnecessarily.
We have made conscientious decisions when picking out fixtures and appliances that use water.
Shower:
The Shower unit we installed is a low flow unit; it is a watersense product ~ which means it is efficient and helps us save water. Our plumber said he could take out the ‘low flow’ part of the unit if we felt the pressure was too low, but we love it as it is and it actually has better flow than our unit at home.
To get hot water to the unit, we let the initial water flow go into a bucket and rarely fill the bucket up more than 1/3 per shower before we have hot water. But using the bucket helps us to additionally save water from going into our septic tank. We take the water and dump it outside, or can repurpose it for other things like cleaning our bikes or the windows.
Toilet:
We chose a dual flush toilet. In the video Kurt talks about how much water we believe we save by using the green button to flush instead of the full flush lever. Having a dual flush toilet helps you save a half of tank of water per flush!
Washer Dryer:
In our plan with our architect we had spec’d out a combo washer/dryer unit to save space. But we were also interested in a unit that efficiently used water. This Summer we are happy to have our Washer Dryer combo unit in place for our longer stays at the Crash Pad. But we only wash essentials, like bike kits. We still take our bigger loads of sheets and towels and most of our clothes home to wash after a visit so that our water usage continues to remain as low as possible, limiting what goes into the septic tank.
Washing Dishes/Dishwasher:
If you do the math on washing dishes in a sink by hand or using a dishwasher, using a dishwasher is more efficient for water usage. We currently save up our dishes during the day to wash at one time in a camp sink inside our utility sink to limit the water used. Next on our purchase list when we get closer to the kitchen build will be a water efficient dishwasher.
It’s the small things:
And there are common sense small things we can do. Like when we wash our hands, brush our teeth, etc. ~ we don’t stand there with the water running.
Monitoring
We have peered down into the septic tank much more than I ever thought we would, because as a cabin owner in charge of our own build you pay attention to every single detail ~ including where your waste water goes. We also have looked down it a lot because unfortunately an important step was missed during the build, the box with the alarm system went missing and was never installed. So we have to visually monitor the septic tank to decide when it needs to be emptied.
On the tubing in the tank there is a ‘float’. I have learned from ‘our septic guy’ that when the float is basically horizontal, it is time to call them. After that point there is still room, but the tank is almost full and needs to be emptied. If the alarm had been installed, a red light would go off in the cabin (likely by the toilet) alerting us the tank needed to be emptied. But since the alarm has not been installed, we have to manually pull off the lid of the septic tank and look in. I’m sure our septic guy has never seen two people as interested as we are when they come out, and asking so many questions and taking pictures!
We hope to eventually get an alarm and get the electrical hooked up for it, but it is further down the list of things we need to get done.
Off Grid?
So are we off-grid? I guess in this respect, yes. People often think of being off-grid as one thing, mainly electricity comes to mind. But off-grid can be a combination of things, and can be partial. The Crash Pad water and waste is indeed off-grid because we have a well for water and a septic tank; so in that regard ~ this is what it means to be partially off-grid.
Future?
We currently have no plans to live at the Crash Pad full time, but if we ever did we would likely have to consider another septic tank, or a larger one, or a mound system. For now our system is working great (sans the missing alarm system).
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