Speaking of wrenches in your plans

[waterlily]

Our septic is flooded. With the spring thaw and the rain the last 4 days our lawn is completely saturated, nothing is draining. I have to bring a weeks worth of clothes for 6 people, sheets and towels to the laundromat.

After the ground dries out dh wants to put in french drains so it doesn't happen again. No guarantee they will work. But it's better than putting in a new septic design for 20K, he says. Bye-bye tax return.



Oh and dh's car needs a wheel bearing too.

You know what I really hate. That the tax return and the bonus have to go for fixing things, things that we should have had savings for. Lesson learned already!!!

[Katie]

Oh that stinks.

I was thinking about this the other day. For every good budget, there waits the dentist. murphy's law.

good luck with the french drains. I really hope it works.

[ThirtySomething]

Oh man....that's so frustrating.

I hope a solution can be figured out without a septic overhaul.

[juliebelle]

darn....there seems to be something like this all the time.

[brayg]

Our tax return went to the well being repaired instead of for savings or debt. I was so excited to get it, too, and catch up.

[mamabear]

Can you somehow give the septic a complete rest for a few days? Often that helps. We limped through w/an overloaded septic for a long time so I empathize. I would be happy to help w/more strategies, just lmk. We made it through without needing a new one.

Sorry...it does seem like that happens on cue sometimes. Extra money gets sucked away before you can do anything with it.

[ThirtySomething]

Our septic contains a tank + a leach field. We have the tank pumped every two years based on its size + the size of our family.

The leach field takes care of itself.

Is this not how every septic system works? I'm just asking. How does a septic system get flooded or unusable? I'm just asking because I've always wondered.

[LisaC]

Oh I am so sorry! My dad just retired and my mom is still working but would love to retire. She recently had her basement flood, her electric knocked out (and the electric company says she has to pay for the repair to the line since they said that the person who built the house 30 years ago, didn't do something right underground) and part of her roof blew off in the last storm. My mom is just completely depressed right now.

It sucks how hard it is to get ahead!!

[waterlily]

The leach field works in reverse and sucks water into the tank. Our development has poorly draining soil on top of a ledge. So we have melting snow plus rain and the ground is saturated. The drainfield is saturated. There's no sewage, just water pooling above the tank when we shower and do laundry. I have stopped doing laundry.