Home advice for San Diego County lots on septic. County DEHQ regulates these systems. A contractor installs and repairs. The system design still belongs to the designer of record.
Why it fails on the first storm
Through a dry summer the soil around the laterals has air in it. The tank sends water out, and the ground takes it. A burst like Rachel fills that soil. Once the pores are full, more water from the house has nowhere to go. It backs into the drains, surfaces over the field, or both.
Older fields, undersized fields, and fields driven on by trucks and horses fail first. So do fields that already had a wet spot you were ignoring in September.
What you will notice
- Slow drains or a toilet that gurgles when a sink runs.
- Odor near the tank lid or over the leach lines.
- Spongy or soggy ground over the field, sometimes with grass that is suddenly greener than the rest of the lot.
- Sewage at the surface. That one does not wait.
What not to do
Do not keep running laundry, long showers, or a hose on the field “to test it.” Do not drive on the wet laterals. Do not bury a surface break with dirt and hope it seals. Do not treat a pump-out as the repair. Pumping makes room in the tank. It does not make the soil accept water. If the field is drowned, the tank fills again.
If sewage is inside the house, stop water use and get the mess out of the living space. That is separate from fixing the field.
What a repair actually is
Sometimes the field needs days to drain and the house needs to use less water. Sometimes a line is crushed, a distribution box is tipped, or the field is done and has to be replaced under a county permit. You cannot tell those apart from the kitchen sink. It takes a look at the tank, the box, and the ground over the lines.
Call 619-928-3445 or email tayler@tgige.com with the town, whether anything is surfacing, and a photo of the wet area. California CSLB #1162722, Class A. SDVOSB is in process.