Damage to lawn/septic system

[britfish]

I need some advice. I have a company car and it needed to be towed from my driveway so my employer contacted a tow truck to come remove. I was not home when it was towed but later DH noticed a large amount of damage to our lawn. The area is where our leech field and distribution box from our septic tank is. There are huge ruts (about 6 inches deep) in this area, the truck must have sunk down when picking up the car. This grassy area was avoidable, I am sure it was just easier to use the lawn than manuver about in our drive. Anywho... DH contacted the tow company and they came out and looked at it. Apparently the owner is on vacation but the person in charge said they take full responsibility for it and will fix our lawn in the spring and will pay to have our septic system checked.
Should I contact homeowners too? I did tell my employer but they said it sounded like we were handling it w/ the tow truck company. I just want to cover all bases so we don't end up w/ a huge septic problem.

 

[seasheller]

A large truck can definitely damage your septic system pipes. It happened to us. Unfortunately, you may not know until months later when it's too late to do anything to the truck company. Get your system checked out.

 

[Hygiene99]

You should contact your Surveyor and ask them to come lay out where the pipes and D Box is . To better know now, They should be able to put marks on the ground at the Rutted area ONLY. If there are any pipes
they will also be able to tell you how much Fill is over the pipes and weather a six inch rut Very small in my .02 will make any difference..

That is the kind of info we gather when we do an asbuilt of a septic system,

You may already have a plan with this info on it..
and maybe able to measure off of the house or something else shown on the plan?

or it could be so old and or may not be required in the area you are in, I live in Mass and every town is different 6 " rut from a standard tow truck does not sound like alot!
Peter

 

[aprilgail2]

I can't get past the "leech field" --- what in the world is that???

 

[ChickieToo]

A leeching field is just what is sounds like: a place where water is drained. That is, water moves from the septic tank down pipes to a distribution box further away from the house, and the D-box has pipes leading away from it that "leech" the water into the ground. In this case, the word "leeching" means "draining". IT is the proper term.

 

[aprilgail2]

A leeching field is just what is sounds like: a place where water is drained. That is, water moves from the septic tank down pipes to a distribution box further away from the house, and the D-box has pipes leading away from it that "leech" the water into the ground. In this case, the word "leeching" means "draining". IT is the proper term.

ok--I was thinking of the wormy looking leech animal....we don't have anything like that around here- we flush and it goes in a pipe down the street and to a sewer plant- we don't have things in our yards like that.

 

[Kayka]

Why wait until spring?

I would want to be compensated for the damage now.
By spring the company could be out of business.

 

[daemom]

I would have them pay for an inspection to check your leech field and the pipes now. They probably want to wait until spring to fix the ruts and reseed the ground. It will be awhile before you notice a problem and most likely that problem will be sewage backing up into your house. Good luck with this!

 

[britfish]

thank you all for your replies I appreciated the advice, I definitely don't want to be dealing (and paying for) a septic back up in the future. Thanks again, Oh, and would you report to homeowners or just go directly w/ the company?

 

[kaytieeldr]

ok--I was thinking of the wormy looking leech animal....we don't have anything like that around here- we flush and it goes in a pipe down the street and to a sewer plant- we don't have things in our yards like that.

Ah, okay. The actual spelling is L E A C H.

Please note, this is NOT an attack on the OP's spelling in any way; it is simply to provide the quoted poster with the 100% accurate information.

So many words sound alike but are spelled differently and mean different things, it can tend to confuse others

 

[ChickieToo]

Ah, okay. The actual spelling is L E A C H.

Please note, this is NOT an attack on the OP's spelling in any way; it is simply to provide the quoted poster with the 100% accurate information.

So many words sound alike but are spelled differently and mean different things, it can tend to confuse others

I believe either spelling is correct. I just hope she gets it fixed soon!