Eleven septic services, and which one your situation calls for

Jobs that begin with an inspection result

Most requests start with a Title 5 report, and the result on the form usually names the service. A Title 5 inspection is the job when you are selling, adding bedrooms, or want to know where an older system stands; only a MassDEP-approved System Inspector may sign it, and a pass is good for two years. A conditional pass points to failed Title 5 repair and upgrade work on the one component named, which is often a septic tank replacement when the tank is metal or cracked. A fail on the leaching area means a leach field replacement if the tank is sound and a reserve area exists, or a full septic system replacement when it does not. The Title 5 guide explains the four results and the two-year clock that follows a fail.

Jobs a local rule or a map decides for you

Some work is set by the town, not the inspector. Cesspool replacement is required at sale in Wareham, Duxbury, Pembroke, Mashpee and Eastham by local rule, and in every town before a bedroom is added. Innovative/alternative septic systems come into play in the Cape’s nitrogen sensitive watersheds, under Falmouth’s new-construction rule, and on small lots where a board of health trades a smaller field for nitrogen treatment. A sewer connection with proper abandonment is the compliant answer once a pipe reaches your street in Barnstable, Chatham, Orleans, Dennis, Yarmouth, Provincetown or Marshfield. Every one of these starts with septic design and soil evaluation, the witnessed deep hole and perc test that size the system and set the groundwater separation.

Maintenance and the smaller repairs

Septic pumping every three years or so, yearly with a garbage disposal or an I/A unit, is the one job that prevents most of the others, and the receipts extend a passing report from two years to three. Septic repair covers baffles, tees, effluent filters, pumps, floats, alarms and broken lines, each of which still needs a permit and a Certificate of Compliance from the board of health.

Which town you are in changes the price, the permit office and the money available, so the service areas page and each town’s own page sit beside every service. Two programs pay for a large share of most upgrades, the state tax credit everywhere and AquiFund in Barnstable County; the replacement cost guide shows what moves the number.