If your home is not on county sewer, you own a small wastewater treatment plant: your septic system. It works quietly for decades when it is treated well and fails expensively when it is ignored. Here is the guide we wish every Hall County homeowner had on the day they closed.
How a septic system works
Everything that goes down your drains flows to a buried septic tank, usually 1,000 to 1,500 gallons in our area. Solids settle to the bottom as sludge, grease floats to the top as scum, and the liquid in the middle flows out to the drain field (also called the leach field), a set of perforated pipes in gravel trenches where soil bacteria finish the job.
The tank's job is to hold solids back. The drain field's job is to let water soak into the ground. Almost every septic problem comes from one of those two things not happening.
Red clay changes the math
Much of Hall, Jackson, Banks and Habersham counties sit on dense red clay that drains slowly. That means drain fields here are often larger, shallower, or built with chambers or engineered fill, and they are less forgiving of overload. A week of heavy spring rain can saturate the field so that it cannot absorb more; add a houseful of guests and you get backups. Newer homes in tight clay sometimes have pump-assisted or mound systems, which add a pump and float switches you need to know about.
How often should you pump?
The usual rule of thumb is every 3 to 5 years, but the right answer depends on tank size and how many people live in the house. A family of five with a 1,000-gallon tank should lean toward every 2 to 3 years; a couple with a 1,500-gallon tank can often go 5. A garbage disposal roughly doubles the solids load, so pump more often if you use one. When we pump, we also check the baffles, the effluent filter (if you have one) and the liquid level, which tells us how the drain field is doing.
In Georgia, septic installers and pumpers are regulated through the county environmental health office. Hall County keeps records of permitted systems; if you do not know where your tank is, that is the first place to look, and we can locate it for you.
Never flush these
• "Flushable" wipes (they are not), paper towels, feminine products, dental floss.
• Cooking grease, coffee grounds and large amounts of food waste.
• Paint, solvents, motor oil, and large doses of bleach or drain cleaner, which kill the bacteria the tank depends on.
• Medications.
Also go easy on water softener backwash and long laundry marathons; spreading loads across the week gives the field time to drain.
Early signs of drain-field trouble
• Drains that are slow everywhere in the house at once (a single slow drain is usually a clog, not septic).
• Gurgling toilets after rain.
• Soggy ground, unusually green grass or a sewage smell over the field.
• Sewage backing up into the lowest tub or shower.
Caught early, many field problems can be addressed with pumping, a new effluent filter, or repairing a crushed line. Ignored, a failed field means a new system, which in our clay can run well into five figures. Pumping on schedule is the best insurance you can buy.
Buying or selling a home on septic
Lenders and buyers in Hall County increasingly ask for a septic inspection. A proper inspection opens the tank, checks the levels and baffles, and runs water to watch the field. We do these for buyers, sellers and agents across Northeast Georgia.
Due for a pumping or seeing a warning sign?
Call 770-718-1063
or book online.
See our septic pump services, read 5 Septic and Well Pumping Tips for Hall County, or return to the North Georgia Plumbing Guide.
