Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Real Talk with Sterling Real Estate Group is your go-to resource for all things real estate. In our episodes, we break down the latest market trends, share insider tips, and provide expert insights to empower your property journey. Whether you're buying, selling, building, or investing, we're here to help you navigate the dynamic world of real estate in New York's Capital Region and beyond. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover in a future episode, we’d love to hear from you! Reach out to us at info@sterling518.com.
Sterling RE Group (00:36)
Welcome to Real Talk at Sterling Real Estate Group. Today, I'm excited to have with us Mike Isles from Spa Septic. Welcome, Mike. Thanks Lisa, it's nice to be here. Good, I'm glad, I'm glad. So before we got started, you told us that your company has a little tagline, right? Yes. You wanna share what that is? Yeah, it's kinda become our own official thing and it's, don't let poo be a problem for you. That's great. ⁓
So septics, Mike, I know a lot of people, you know, right, they get a little worried about septic systems. So let's talk about how do you properly maintain a septic system so people are not scared? Yeah, so they're really it's not a complicated thing and there's no reason for anyone to be concerned. There's really not even a lot of thought that has to go into it. Your typical septic system maintenance is, you know you want to have a professional come and pump that tank out every
We generally say three to four years. Sometimes in certain situations it might be a little bit less. Sometimes in certain situations it might be a little bit longer. That's why it's important to have somebody that can look at it and say, you know, in your situation, this is the interval that I think you should go with. But as a general rule of thumb, three to four years is typically safe. Outside of that, there's really not a whole lot you have to do to maintain a septic system.
You know, you want to be careful of the things that you flush down the toilet. Even things that are advertised as flushable like wipes, which are very common nowadays. Those really shouldn't go into a septic tank. Tell us why. If it says that, it's safe for a septic. And you're saying it's not. So what would happen? So I think when people read flushable in their mind,
You know, you think, this is going to break down. It's going to, it's going to degrade and just be, you know, turn into the rest of the contents of the septic tank. But they don't. When we go and we pump out a tank for someone and they've been using a lot of flushable wipes, they're just sitting in the tank in a giant glob, which a lot of times isn't detrimental, but they can cause clogs and blockages and things of that nature. So, we recommend trying to stay away from those.
but also you know excessive amounts of grease. You really don't want to put a ton of grease into a septic system. Feminine hygiene products. Big no-no. Big no-no. Basically, just the bare bones of what you imagine going into a septic system are what should be in there. And if you do that, pump it regularly, you're generally not going to have be okay. What about your washing machine?
going into your septic. I've heard various, it should not, it should go into like a dry well, because there's something, right, with all of the soap, the fabric softeners, the bleach is not good. Is that a myth? What's your opinion on that? Well, fabric softener and bleach can be concerning for a septic system. You know, have a certain amount of bacteria and microorganisms in a septic system that help to break down the waste. So,
If you're putting excessive amounts of anything in there that could alter that environment, it's gonna change the way the system functions. Okay. That being said, back in, you know, years ago, it was common to have your washing machine and even sometimes some sinks and things that would go out to a dry well or even just a pipe running out the side of the house. Because that's what they would call gray water. Yes, yes, very familiar with that. With codes nowadays.
It's not allowed. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but with a system that's up to code, that all has to be routed through the septic system. And a properly designed septic system is going to be set up and sized to handle that. So it's really not an issue. And it's sized by the square footage of the house? Typically, sizing for a septic system will be based on the number of bedrooms in a house. ⁓
septic system design overall in most areas around here has to be done by a professional engineer. They have to provide drawings that show the specifications for the system, tank size, leach field size, all of the specs. they typically base it off of the number of bedrooms. Sometimes there may be other criteria depending on what they find during their process, but that's your usual deciding factor.
Okay, that's good information. So let's talk about when a buyer is buying a home that is on a septic system, why is it important to have a septic inspection? And what do you look for for a septic inspection? Sure, so you know, septic, you have to figure a septic system, it's a critical part of your home's infrastructure, and it's an expensive part of your home's infrastructure.
A typical septic system these days, if we were putting in a complete system, meaning tank, distribution box, leach field, your starting price for that is around gonna be in the neighborhood of $15,000. And that's for traditional, that's not for raised. Correct. And I know we'll talk about that a little bit later. Yes. Okay. So the numbers go up from there depending on the circumstances. if you, you know, when you're going in to buy a home, which is a significant investment for most people,
and you've got this critical piece of infrastructure, if you don't inspect it, you may find out a month or a year or not that long down the road that now this system is failing and now you have this very large repair bill. Whereas if you do the inspection ahead of time, it gives you a potential bargaining chip to negotiate on the price or...
the option to just say no, this isn't something that I want to get into. So it saves a potential lot of stress and large bill down the road. Which it could be. I know and a lot of agents, if you're looking at a home and this market is competitive, we all know that. But when you're looking for a home and you keep getting beat out on multiple offers and some people waive inspections and some people waive septic, I know our agents here like don't waive septic.
That's a pass or fail. It doesn't come with that $2,000 threshold. And you're right, it could be a major, major expense. So for all of you out there, do not waive a septic inspection. It's extremely important that you do have one. Yeah, absolutely. Couldn't agree more. What do you look for? So you locate, hopefully they know where the cover is, the tank. What do you look for on a septic inspection? Yeah, so ideally there's someone that can...
tell us where the tank is. If there's not, we will locate the tank. have, you know, methods. We have a probe that we use or other tricks, you know, to find out where the tank is. We're always obviously going to access the tank. So what we like to do is, you know, we open the tank and see where the level in the tank is. The level in the tank can be an indicator of different things. If it's not at what we would consider a normal level, if it's above normal,
That can indicate problems with the leach field or the outflow from the tank. If it's below normal, you could potentially have a crack in the tank as the tank leaking out into the surrounding soil ⁓ or a number of other things. So we want to see what that looks like when we first open it. ⁓ We also know what material the tank is made out of. ⁓ Commonly nowadays, septic tanks are made of concrete. ⁓
years ago they used to make them out of metal. Cinder blocks, an old, you've heard the term cesspool. Yeah. So back when people had cesspools, they were often laid up out of cinder blocks by a mason. ⁓ Sometimes now, more recently, you'll also see plastic tanks. The newer septics going in? Yeah.
Neuroceptics, yes, but where we run into the most and where we use the most is when there's limited access to a site. ⁓ A concrete tank is typically set with a boom truck or a crane because the tanks are heavy. So if you can't get a truck in next to where you're working, you need a different way to do that. So the plastic tanks are much lighter. We can move them with a smaller machine and they fit more easily in those places. So at any rate, we're going to note the
the material of the tank, the overall condition of the tank, ⁓ then we're going to pump the tank. And, you know, there's some inspectors that don't pump tanks. Our feeling is you can't get a true picture if you don't pump the tank. So we're going to pump the tank down. then, you know, that also will show us, know, if we pump that tank down and there's a very thick layer of what we refer to as solids in the bottom of the tank, that makes me think, OK,
This is a system that has probably not been pumped routinely or maintained well. And that could be an indicator of other problems that we may find. So we're going to pump the tank down. We're going to inspect the baffles. Hopefully there's baffles in the tank. Baffles are an important part of your septic tank. They help prevent solids from leaving the tank because you want your solids to stay in The only thing that should leave the tank is the effluent, the liquid portion. So we're going to look at your baffles.
we're going to confirm flow from the house. So we're going to flush a toilet or we're going to run water. bathroom water or sinks run. Make sure that everything is moving into the tank like it should. And then we typically do a camera inspection on the outlet side of the tank. We'll run our camera from the outlet down into the distribution box. We want to just see the general condition of that line. Make sure it's not filled with sludge or there's standing water. When you get into the distribution box,
you're kind of looking for the same thing. Overall condition, sometimes you get root growth if there's trees or bushes nearby. That's not something we like to find. Roots cause problems in the septic system. just looking for anything of that nature. And then lastly, we typically do a flow test. We run water directly into the outlet line of the tank and we want to make sure that leach field is able to accept a flow of water without backing up.
That's our main thing that we we run into with our inspections is Oftentimes the tanks are okay, but the leach field because it's aged or because of poor maintenance or other factors sometimes Isn't able to accept the flow of water and that's a failure because that's a leach of the leach field. Yeah, right, Interesting. So I have a crowd when when a buyer is purchasing a home in the winter and the ground is frozen
How do you do a septic inspection? Are you using a jackhammer to dig up? I I've been on that side of it. I mean, it's not fun, but. Yeah. So you are correct. It is not fun. ⁓ But we have to get the job done. So in an Occupy, if the home is occupied and the septic system is in use, septic systems generate heat just from that microbial action that's going on in the tank. So typically the ground above a septic tank.
is not going to be completely frozen. So we're able to shovel the snow off and dig down to access it. ⁓ If we run into situations where the tank is too deep or the ground is just too frozen and people really, you know, they want an inspection, they should, then you know, we'll typically bring in a machine to dig to get through the frozen ground. ⁓ Last winter of all of the inspections that we did,
I think we only had to bring a machine in for one. Okay. And all of the other ones, we were able to get through the frost and everything just with basic hand tools like we typically would. So, RID -X. Agree, disagree, and also I heard yeast. You should throw, are these a myth or is it something to help maintain your tank? That's ⁓ a tough one. ⁓
Depends on who you talk to. ⁓ You know, there's a lot of information out there, you know, especially nowadays with everybody's ease of access to the internet. It's at our fingertips. am not ⁓ a fan of RID-X. OK. Is there a reason why? So one of my, I have a friend who is a professional engineer. basically all he does is septic systems. He's been in the septic business longer than we have.
and I trust his judgment. ⁓ He's a friend and I trust him, so that's really all I need. And his explanation to me was Ridex, I think they market it as though it helps to break down the solids and the scum in the tank, which it may do. It essentially emulsifies it. The problem with that is if you turn that into an emulsion and it's mixed in with the liquid,
the chances of it either clogging an effluent filter or leaving the tank and going out into your leach field are increased. Interesting. I would rather, when we come to pump a tank, I would rather see a distinct layer, we call it a scum layer, not a very glamorous term, but that's what we call it. So you have that layer on the top of the tank, you have a center section which is your effluent, which is what's leaving the tank, and then you have your solids on the bottom.
Really, we like to see that definitive separation of those materials. My concern with RID-X is that you could potentially eliminate that. ⁓ Yeast is, that's another one that I've heard ⁓ for years. mean, ever since I was a kid, I my father used to buy the little packets of yeast and flush them down the toilet. Do I think it's gonna hurt? Probably not. But generally speaking, you know,
healthy septic system, it's got a good amount of, you know, microbial activity already. Right, right. That's funny. I'm glad I asked because I use RID-X Yeah. It's probably not much anymore. Here's the thing, if you go and Google it, I'm sure you could find arguments for and arguments against. But for us, it's, I'm not one, I don't recommend really any septic additives. I haven't found one yet that I'm like,
This is a good product. This is what we need. Just do the natural way and stay away of what we talked about earlier. have another question for you. ⁓ Marking your septic tank with a separate lid so it's easy to access instead of digging up the ground, right? You're putting a lid on top so when that gets popped, it's a direct access to the lid of the septic.
Do you think that's a good idea? think it's fantastic idea. So we call those risers. Yeah. And, know, it's. We know the explanation we give to our customers is so if we have to come and we pump your tank, if we have to dig it up, that's an additional fee. Right. And right now, I think we charge 125 dollars to dig up a tank. Is it an hour or flat fee? It's it's a flat fee for up to 24 inches deep. We don't hand dig over 24 inches. So if the tank is,
very deep, which sometimes they are, then we're looking at a machine to get in there to access that tank. Whereas once we put a riser in, you have the cost of the riser installation, but after that, there's no additional fees ever going forward. It's just the fee to pump. So it really pays for itself in a short period of time. And the riser is not that expensive. What, a couple hundred bucks? Yeah. So it's worth... Typically, you know, within two or three pumpings, it's paid for itself.
The other thing with a riser that is worth considering is most new systems, all new systems really nowadays, they have what we call an effluent filter. And that goes on the outlet side of the tank. And it's an extra measure to help prevent solids from leaving the tank and getting into the leach field. But that requires maintenance. Typically every 6 to 12 months, you need to access the tank, clean the filter, put it back. It's not complicated. Right. All in all.
Literally probably takes five minutes But if you don't do that and the filter clogs up your tank will back up and you'll have problems. ⁓ okay, alright. So by having the riser, it's it's easy process and you're on your way So I recommend them to everyone on system when we install a new system It's not even an option. We just this is part of right as part of project Yeah, that's what sets you guys apart too and and the camera
but on many aseptic inspections and a lot of them don't have the camera. So it's, you know, that's good that you're using that so you can see, you know. Oh, we don't leave home without it. know, a picture is worth a thousand words, you know, and you want to see what's going on down there. Yeah, you know what you're dealing with. Tell me, how do you know if there is something wrong with your septic system? Like, what should a homeowner be looking for? So usually,
Inside the home, what you'll notice is, you know, if your drains are draining slowly, if you're hearing gurgling noises, ⁓ sometimes if you're getting some, you know, some odors coming back, that might be an indicator that there's a problem. Typically, the slow drains and the gurgling are what people will hear the most. And that's an indicator that, you know, stuff is not moving into the tank. So you might be due for a pump or maybe you haven't cleaned your effluent filter recently, so your tank is backed up and full.
Typically, if that's the case, people end up calling us because they're not sure what's going on anyway. Other things outside the home that you would look for, usually people have an idea of where their leach field is. Right. So it's greener. I know exactly where mine are. Mine is similar. But if there's excessive amounts of vegetation, if there's standing water, if there's, again, odors from...
coming from that area, that would be a sign that the water isn't dissipating into the soil like it's supposed to, it's just pooling there. And that's a sign of trouble with your leach field. Yeah, pick up the phone right away. Yeah, absolutely. Before it gets too worse. So we talked about the benefits of a septic inspection, we talked about the risk, if you skip one. We have a lot of people that are buying raw land, right? And whether they're building stick-built or putting a modular.
How do you test? We know it as a PERC test, but explain what the PERC test is and what it will indicate in this where we talking about traditional and a raised set. Yeah, sure. So you have to consider when we put in a new system or a system anywhere, we're gonna do a PERC test and then also a deep hole test. So PERC is short for percolation. So what they wanna see with that is how...
how quickly or how long it takes essentially for a designated amount of water to be absorbed into the soil. And that helps to determine the specs of the leach field. Also then we do what's called a deep hole test. So we have to bring in a machine because the hole has to be typically five to six feet deep. You're not digging it. You're not going to hand dig that, At least we're not. Somebody might, but we're not.
⁓ So there's always the engine. This is something that the engineer is involved with. So we have to coordinate with the engineer because they're the ones that actually perform the testing. come with the machine and dig the hole because we have the machine. So when we dig that hole, the engineer is actually looking at the layers of the soil and he's looking for groundwater, signs of groundwater. So if you have a wet property, a low lying property, something that's near a pond or near a swamp,
You can actually see, think the term for it is modeling, and it indicates where the groundwater, seasonal high groundwater, I believe is the term that they use. You have to have a minimum separation there from your leach field for that to be compliant. So what we hope for is the soil perks well, the percolation test is within spec, and that's a pretty broad range. But then we also hope that there's sufficient soil that we can get that separation.
And then you could go with a traditional system, a more traditional system. What we see when you talk about the mounds, the raised beds, things of that nature is when you don't have that soil and you've got water problems. So you actually have to bring in material and build a literal mound to put your leach field in so that it can leach properly. ⁓ And those are the systems that can get quite expensive.
And that's why... raise it. Yeah, it's much more expensive than traditional. Yes. Easily twice the cost. Sometimes more depending on the circumstances. important things to know if you're looking at buying land because everybody has a budget and you'd hate to budget for a traditional system and find out that now you need a raised bed system and it's going to cost a lot more. And it's important having an agent that's familiar.
how to buy raw land, because there's so much that goes into it. Everyone's just like, I'm going to buy raw land and build a house. No, I mean, we've heard horror stories where I bought this land and I can't do anything with it. We had a call just the other day from somebody that was buying some land, not far from us actually, and wanted us to come and just take a look, give some feedback, see what we thought as far as where you could even do something. We drove by the property just to get a...
do a little homework and all you see is standing water and cat tails and just signs of significant amounts water. away from the land. Did they walk from it or did you guys? I'm not sure. My business partner is going on that appointment. Is that Ron? That's Ron. Hi Ron. He's going on that and we'll see what comes of it. People will put houses in some...
interesting places these days. yeah. I don't see a lot of raised, a lot of raised septic. It's somewhat rare. I mean, you can always tell when you're driving out in the country, you're like, they're raised, they're raised. You kind of, you know, point them out. And that's why some of our builders get, you know, so excited when we're doing developments, you know, developments and like, the soil's great out there, you know? Yeah. Okay. So you're doing, you know, traditional. Yeah. Mike, is there anything that we missed about septics that anybody else needs to know about?
⁓ You know the the only the one other thing I think that I wanted to touch on is you know I see I've seen this a lot I'm sure you guys see it. You know our area here is very popular right now There's a lot of people moving to this area that you know that are from maybe a city somewhere or someplace where they've been on sewer and they get a little uneasy about Having a separate system. It's unknown. It's this foreign thing and they just have these ideas You know of I don't know they think it's gonna be this
Difficult to maintain thing that's gonna potentially cause them problems and headaches and I've seen I've seen you know several deals fall through because of that base issue that they're nervous about it right and you know I think that's the one thing I would say to people is it's really it's nothing to be worried about 9 times out of 10 as long as you don't abuse it It's gonna it's not gonna give you any problems. It's gonna function exactly as intended for you know
20, 30 or more years. Obviously there's extenuating circumstances, but by and large, it's not something to be afraid of. It's an easy thing to manage and I wouldn't let it deter me from buying a house that I otherwise liked. So if a septic system is operating properly, you've set a camera down, everything looks good. And it's the original septic that could be 50 years old. Do those...
like expire if everything's working good? Have you seen septic systems that are, you know, working well that are that old? 50 years might be a stretch, but I mean, we do come across systems that are 20 to 30 years old and they're still doing their job. You know, the difficult thing with an inspection and with a system of any age is when we go to look at a system, it's one singular moment in time. And, you know, it's
Difficult you can look at it and say today this system is in good shape But you don't know what happens after you leave There's any you know lots of different things can happen There's been situations where you know somebody does work on the land next door and it changes the way the groundwater flows the drainage and now this previously dry area sees more runoff and that changes things or some we had one system recently a
customer called us because I think it was a landscaper drove their truck across the leach field. Oh yeah. So there's a lot of different things. I do think when you get into a property that has a system that's, you know, 25 plus years old, even if it's functioning very well, you do have to kind of think in the back of your mind that somewhere in the not too distant future, that might require some attention.
So let me ask you question. The septic is in, the leach fields are in. You start to have a problem with the septic and you have to replace it. Do you still have to go back through all the engineer drawings and everything, or can you just, you know, collapse the current, get everything out of there and just place the new septic where the old one was? You have to have the engineer. when you put in a new system, you have to get a permit, you know, from the town or...
wherever it is that the house is located and they all are going to require engineered plans. Even if the system was previously engineered, you still have to have a current set of plans to replace it. And about how much are those? Any idea? The engineers, so it depends on the engineers. I don't want to speak too far outside of my area, but generally $1,500 to $3,000, I would say, is the range.
where your planning costs are gonna be. And that's gonna be dependent on the complexity of the system. If it's a basic system, it's gonna be on the lower end. If it's a mound system with pumps and other things, then it's more involved to put together. So there's gonna be some extra costs there. And can the septic, the new one, go where the old one was? Or does it have to be located in a different area?
It depends. ⁓ So there are some circumstances where you put the new one in the same area. We run into a lot of situations like that in a lot of the subdivisions around here. They're small lots. There's just not enough room to go to a completely different area. you really don't have a choice other than to put it in the space that's available. ⁓ And then in situations where we can, we will try to move it to a different spot.
Just because that's gonna, it's gonna make the system function better. Yeah, function a little bit better. Increase its longevity. And people, do not build a deck over your septic tank. No. Don't put a driveway, don't put a paved walkway. Right, we see that all the time. You know, where's your septic? It's under the deck. Mm-hmm. Okay, so now we gotta rip apart the deck. Mm-hmm. To get to the septic, so that's another complaint. Yes, I've had times where...
people built a hatch into their deck so that we could service the septic tank. Yeah, you never know what you're gonna find. Yeah, so when planning for the septic, think ahead if you plan on having a deck or a patio or anything like that. maybe putting an addition on. We often talk about putting an addition on our house, but we can't because where we wanna put it is where the septic tank is. I'm not hoping that the septic goes anytime soon, but.
If it does, and I asked you a question about how old is the tank, I might be calling you soon. It's coming. You know the number. I know. Yeah, I got you on speed dial. All right, so Mike, RMMI, that's the overall name of your company. Yes. So you have a couple other businesses. So share with our viewers, know, what else you guys do? Sure. So we started our company in ⁓
We started what is now RMMI in 2020. And originally we called it Equine Site Solutions. And so my wife and I are horse people. We have a horse farm up in Greenfield. And I actually ended up Ron, my business partner, I met him because he was doing some work when we were building the farm. And the needs of equestrians are very unique. ⁓ know, what makes a facility safe, what makes it efficient.
You know the surfaces that you ride the horses on the footing that's they're all these it's very particular type stuff and We had a difficult time finding anyone in the area that could really Weigh in on that so we were left to our own devices. There's lots of great contractors around. I'm not saying that. Right. but They and they'll do exactly what you ask, but you have to ask for it so our idea with Equine Site Solutions is
We can come in as experienced horse people who know both construction and horses. And we're happy to do whatever you want if you know it, but we can also offer some insight as far as what works, what might not work, things you might want to consider. In addition to that, we've invested in the technology for our equipment to be able to grade arenas so that we get uniform riding surfaces, which is important for the horse, the health of the horse. exactly. ⁓
So in a nutshell, that was Equine Site Solutions. Great business, extremely niche. You're in a good area though for it. We are, we are. But almost too niche, even with the area we're in. And the name itself kind of pigeonholed us in the horse world. So last year, we rebranded into RMMI, which is literally just our initials. Had a logo.
made and changed things around. We still have Equine Site Solutions. We still do the equestrian focused work. But with RMMI, we're able to also market more towards general excavation, construction, things of that nature. And then, you know, Spa Septic which is part of the whole family, is there. you know, we operate that just, you know, as an entity of RMMI, mostly just for record keeping purposes so that it's all under one roof. So excavation.
construction, equestrian focused work, and Septic. That's a lot. It's a lot. That's a lot. Keeps us going. Small company, which is good. All right. Are we missing anything? Anything? No? I don't think so. I feel like we covered a pretty fair amount of material. Well this was fun. I know Septic is, you know, some, not everyone wants to talk about it, but I think it's a good educational piece. 100%. So, Mike, we're going to end with, before, you know, you tell everyone your contact ⁓ information,
Don't let poo be a problem for you. I love that. I'm gonna be walking around for the next week saying that. I know, right? These are, that was, it's catchy. These are great, and thank you for bringing these in. It's catchy, for sure. So Mike, if you could tell the viewers, you know, how can they get ahold of you? How can they get ahold, you know, Spa Septic? And also, we're gonna have all your contact information, you know, embedded into the episode.
Great. Well, thank you. But first, before I forget, thank you for inviting me here. This was fun. you know, there's nothing glamorous about septics, but it is kind of interesting to talk about. And it's important. It's very important. We all have them. And it's important to know. ⁓ So you can find us on social media. We're on Facebook, Instagram, Spa Septic, RMMI, Equine Site Solutions. You can call the office 518-584-5473. My wife.
answers the phone. So should you be happy to take your info and make an appointment for you or answer any questions you might have? Yeah. And you guys are very responsive. We try to be. It's important to us. Customer service is top on our list. It has to be. There's actually a live person on the other There is. Yes. You speak to somebody who's as close to the owner as she can be. Right. There you go. And when we first met, you know, right, you're like, you know they're married. Ron had said that. was like, I was kinda
getting the sense, you know, so that was a good event. That's how we got to meet you guys, know, face to face. the one gentleman who we did the videotaping outside, I ran into yesterday at an event. Oh did you? Yeah, and he goes, hey, I remember you. And I was like, I thought you looked familiar. So that was great. So Mike, again, thank you so much for coming in. Tell Ron, tell your wife, you know, I said hello. ⁓ And that wraps up our episode at Real Talk with Sterling Real Estate Group.
Thank you.