We did install an aerobic system in September 2014. The system was inspected two different times by the McLennan County Public Health District, OSSF Division. The system is inspected during the interim of installation, upon filling the tank with water to ensure it does not...
leak. No leaks were found. The system is again inspected by the County upon completion of the job. No issues were found or noted. At present, we have responded to this location four times. There is fact in the statement, we couldn't fix the issue at a particular time. I indicated during the holiday season, we were booked solid and could not attempt to troubleshoot an issue, that at present, is unknown, during that time period and we would address it after the new year. However, prior to Christmas, I was able to send an associate to troubleshoot the issue, based on a presumption that was made about what the possible problem is. Never was it indicated, that I, the manager, have ever "confirmed a leak" with this system. Once again, I made a presumption at an issue we could look for to potentially be the problem. The guys did not have a clue, this is correct, as neither did I have a clue as to what we were looking for.The notice that was received in the mail, was an inspection report left in the mailbox upon completion of an inspection February 5, 2015. We are required to mark a card on the system upon inspection. The tag is located inside the control panel. It is marked 02-05-15. The inspection was performed, we visited the site and the system. I confirmed with [redacted] during my visit 02-09-15. It was agreed due to the fact the time clock had been reset upon inspection and he recognized the change and the inspection report. The husband of the complainant has confirmed this.The first call I received about issues with this system was in November 2014. I was told that a bathroom in the house was not draining properly, and it was wet around the tank, therefore I must have done something wrong. I visited the site, confirmed there was moisture around the tank, wet is a bit of an overstatement, as the soil is obviously moist, however water can not be extracted from it with excavation. After further investigation, we confirmed, the bathroom not draining, had nothing to do with my work, but with a blockage under the foundation of the house. This just happened to coincide with the moisture around the tank. I visited with [redacted], and a friend of his, which are both hydraulic engineers and understand to a great extent, the properties of water. We all agreed the moisture was strange, confirmed on what MAY be a possible issue causing this, and agreed to the fact that we would be back to investigate after the first of the year. As noted earlier, I was able to get a couple of associates on location to investigate the matter in December 2014. We shut off each of the spray heads on the distribution system and then pressurized the system, in an effort to force a small leak to show itself. After thirty minutes of running the pump with NO change in water level, in the pump tank, it was determined the distribution system was ok.The next call I received regarding this system was on 02-09-15. I was asked to investigate this moisture issue, again. I was told, my guys didn't know what they were doing and requested that I personally investigate. I agreed. I was on location within an hour and spent two hours on site. I personally uncovered a length of pipe that feeds the distribution system, as well as having uncovered the drain line from the house to the tank. I noted in the course of my uncovering these aspects, after about 18" in depth, the moisture disappeared. I noted this, because, if moisture is rising from underground, the deeper you dig, the wetter it will get, to the point of total saturation and water in the excavation, that did not happen. I again, visited with Mr. [redacted], and we agreed, the situation was very strange. Most conclusively agreeing on the fact, this did not appear to be an issue with our system, or installation. We agreed to keep an eye on the situation and see if it got more dry as we moved into summer. Ultimately, I left there on February 9, believing we were all in agreement, and there were no issues with the present stance. I informed him of our desire to solve any issue directly related to the installation of this system that is covered by warranty, up to and including complete replacement of the tank, if it was determined to be leaking. However, I could not invest thousands of dollars into troubleshooting a situation that may very well have nothing to do with this system, or our work. He again, agreed. We shook hands and parted ways. I then sent my associates back to the site to uncover one more place to make sure it was not leaking. It was determined not to be. When replacing septic systems, you never know what you will encounter. One thing we have encountered on more that one occasion in this particular neighborhood, is moisture. The neighborhood is a relatively flat neighborhood, and site drainage was not incorporated into much of the design of the lots. Many of the lots including this one have less than 2% slope, which basically means they are super flat. Water stands and pools and ponds and doesn't evaporate well out of much of this neighborhood. I suspect this is part of the problem in this situation. We have a fresh excavation that is back filled with gravel, a perfect conduit for moving water. We have had a fair volume of rain the last four months. I believe between the old failed lateral lines in the ground, the fresh excavation and the recent rains, a little bit of moisture is going to be present in low lying areas of the yard, as a matter of fact, we found some, they were no where near the location of the septic installation. As far as settling is concerned, there will be some settling in the areas of excavation as the soil settles in and becomes compact. That is the nature of an excavation, and there is little we can do to solve that. However, we try, during our backfill process, we utilize a fine pea gravel that goes in compact to with 18" or so of final grade. We do so to minimize the long term effects of settling. It does not prevent all settling, however it does greatly minimize the effects. Our construction contracts indicate we are not responsible for settling, or the addition of future soils.I close with this, we take great pride in solving problems for our customers. Matter of fact, that is how we receive most of our work. Our reputation, is that we are problem solvers. We operate our business on an ethical level that is second to none. We believe in providing more quality during our installations in an effort to ensure problems don't arise. And, we have the confidence in our work, so we GIVE an additional year warranty on our installations. This is not a warranty you buy, it's a warranty we give you as a special thanks for doing business with us. We sincerely hope this issue is alleviated with some sunshine. However, if it isn't and we need to further investigate we will.
We did install an aerobic system in September 2014. The system was inspected two different times by the McLennan County Public Health District, OSSF Division. The system is inspected during the interim of installation, upon filling the tank with water to ensure it does not...
leak. No leaks were found. The system is again inspected by the County upon completion of the job. No issues were found or noted. At present, we have responded to this location four times. There is fact in the statement, we couldn't fix the issue at a particular time. I indicated during the holiday season, we were booked solid and could not attempt to troubleshoot an issue, that at present, is unknown, during that time period and we would address it after the new year. However, prior to Christmas, I was able to send an associate to troubleshoot the issue, based on a presumption that was made about what the possible problem is. Never was it indicated, that I, the manager, have ever "confirmed a leak" with this system. Once again, I made a presumption at an issue we could look for to potentially be the problem. The guys did not have a clue, this is correct, as neither did I have a clue as to what we were looking for.The notice that was received in the mail, was an inspection report left in the mailbox upon completion of an inspection February 5, 2015. We are required to mark a card on the system upon inspection. The tag is located inside the control panel. It is marked 02-05-15. The inspection was performed, we visited the site and the system. I confirmed with [redacted] during my visit 02-09-15. It was agreed due to the fact the time clock had been reset upon inspection and he recognized the change and the inspection report. The husband of the complainant has confirmed this.The first call I received about issues with this system was in November 2014. I was told that a bathroom in the house was not draining properly, and it was wet around the tank, therefore I must have done something wrong. I visited the site, confirmed there was moisture around the tank, wet is a bit of an overstatement, as the soil is obviously moist, however water can not be extracted from it with excavation. After further investigation, we confirmed, the bathroom not draining, had nothing to do with my work, but with a blockage under the foundation of the house. This just happened to coincide with the moisture around the tank. I visited with [redacted], and a friend of his, which are both hydraulic engineers and understand to a great extent, the properties of water. We all agreed the moisture was strange, confirmed on what MAY be a possible issue causing this, and agreed to the fact that we would be back to investigate after the first of the year. As noted earlier, I was able to get a couple of associates on location to investigate the matter in December 2014. We shut off each of the spray heads on the distribution system and then pressurized the system, in an effort to force a small leak to show itself. After thirty minutes of running the pump with NO change in water level, in the pump tank, it was determined the distribution system was ok.The next call I received regarding this system was on 02-09-15. I was asked to investigate this moisture issue, again. I was told, my guys didn't know what they were doing and requested that I personally investigate. I agreed. I was on location within an hour and spent two hours on site. I personally uncovered a length of pipe that feeds the distribution system, as well as having uncovered the drain line from the house to the tank. I noted in the course of my uncovering these aspects, after about 18" in depth, the moisture disappeared. I noted this, because, if moisture is rising from underground, the deeper you dig, the wetter it will get, to the point of total saturation and water in the excavation, that did not happen. I again, visited with Mr. [redacted], and we agreed, the situation was very strange. Most conclusively agreeing on the fact, this did not appear to be an issue with our system, or installation. We agreed to keep an eye on the situation and see if it got more dry as we moved into summer. Ultimately, I left there on February 9, believing we were all in agreement, and there were no issues with the present stance. I informed him of our desire to solve any issue directly related to the installation of this system that is covered by warranty, up to and including complete replacement of the tank, if it was determined to be leaking. However, I could not invest thousands of dollars into troubleshooting a situation that may very well have nothing to do with this system, or our work. He again, agreed. We shook hands and parted ways. I then sent my associates back to the site to uncover one more place to make sure it was not leaking. It was determined not to be. When replacing septic systems, you never know what you will encounter. One thing we have encountered on more that one occasion in this particular neighborhood, is moisture. The neighborhood is a relatively flat neighborhood, and site drainage was not incorporated into much of the design of the lots. Many of the lots including this one have less than 2% slope, which basically means they are super flat. Water stands and pools and ponds and doesn't evaporate well out of much of this neighborhood. I suspect this is part of the problem in this situation. We have a fresh excavation that is back filled with gravel, a perfect conduit for moving water. We have had a fair volume of rain the last four months. I believe between the old failed lateral lines in the ground, the fresh excavation and the recent rains, a little bit of moisture is going to be present in low lying areas of the yard, as a matter of fact, we found some, they were no where near the location of the septic installation. As far as settling is concerned, there will be some settling in the areas of excavation as the soil settles in and becomes compact. That is the nature of an excavation, and there is little we can do to solve that. However, we try, during our backfill process, we utilize a fine pea gravel that goes in compact to with 18" or so of final grade. We do so to minimize the long term effects of settling. It does not prevent all settling, however it does greatly minimize the effects. Our construction contracts indicate we are not responsible for settling, or the addition of future soils.I close with this, we take great pride in solving problems for our customers. Matter of fact, that is how we receive most of our work. Our reputation, is that we are problem solvers. We operate our business on an ethical level that is second to none. We believe in providing more quality during our installations in an effort to ensure problems don't arise. And, we have the confidence in our work, so we GIVE an additional year warranty on our installations. This is not a warranty you buy, it's a warranty we give you as a special thanks for doing business with us. We sincerely hope this issue is alleviated with some sunshine. However, if it isn't and we need to further investigate we will.