It's helpfully marked in black goo.

ha new term, cool
or a rice paddy

Is that water atop the leach field, where a pipe connects the tank to the leach field, or the pipe that goes from the basement to the tank?

Black goo means texas tea. Ask to purchase the mineral rights.

It is two feet around the pipe in the field. Nothing is in the basement. Yet.

Never said anything about fluids in the basement. A basement reference was about where to look for a pipe (outside) that connects to the tank.

Likely is a clogged or broken pipe that flows into the leach field. Nothing short of digging will find or fix this type of problem.

Your ground perks so well that nothing short of a blocked pipe can result in surface fluids. Management is apparently trying to ignore or avoid the inevitable.

Any signs in your neighborhood that say, "Do not dig. Buckeye Partners."?

http://cellar.org/2013/septic1.jpg

http://cellar.org/2013/septic2.jpg

http://cellar.org/2013/septic3.jpg

http://cellar.org/2013/septic4.jpg

http://cellar.org/2013/septic5.jpg

Well the first thing ya know old Toad's a millionaire...

*guffaw*

Maybe start building a fertilizer factory. Raw materials already available.

Cannot say from pictures where the tank is located. Sometimes a tank is so close to the surface that grass above tends to die. So that the field is lower than the tank.

Septic systems typically have no vent. That 'vent' may be a cleanout installed because this has occurred previously. But again, what does the cleanout connect to? Pipe from basement to tank? Or pipe from tank to leach field.

Critical is for vents to exist instead on the roof (ie above bathrooms and kitchen).

Bacteria would not solve anything. A clog of some kind clearly exists. That water would be the daily useage by one person emptying onto sandy (good perking) soil. Virtually all sewage is empyting on the lawn. Nothing less (short of digging it up for inspection/repair) will solve it.

A cheap landlord wants to cut costs - ie bacteria. A landlord who saves money would have called a plumber immediately. With that cleanout, a problem might have been elininated in only one hour.

Rather surprised. In a location that urban, sewers would have long been required by the State of NJ. Your example is why so many towns had to eliminate septic systems. Too many cheatskates wanted to cut costs; refused to fix the actual problem. Caused too many health problems and polluted waterways.

Possible that problem has always existed. That fixing a leach field means he must connect to city sewers. So he just kept sending a guy out with bacteria - to cut costs and ignore an actual defect. To avoid having to connect to city sewers. Do sewers (ie manholes) exist?

Detail, plumber sent out earlier in thread was able to clear complete blockage overnight and establish drainage that lasted 4 months. Previous complete blockage had led to sewage backup into house.

RE company uses several different plumbers of generally low quality.

Female owns RE company, her daughter is the agent I work with.

Prefer to stay at this location, do not want to move again

Any area Dwellars need a roomie?

My credit score is 25. Is that bad?

All I need is a little cottage house in an area where I won't get killed. (And has high speed Internets)





*sigh* There's a good chance I have to bolt, because this place has met its match. It's an ex-dwelling, it has ceased to be livable.

Last summer they cleared up the septic issue that this thread detailed. That was good, because I was going to have to leave. At the same time, there appeared a leak in the roof. I forget if I told y'all that part.

The leak was pretty minor and I knew the owner did not have any money, so I told them, between the two issues, fix the septic first, because it's actually illegal. And in the mean time, I have never used the room where the leak is and don't intend to. I set up a tarp that drained all the leak water into a 5 gallon bucket.

So they never addressed the leak and now, as leaks always always do, it has gotten worse; until now there are multiple leaks, the room is a disaster area, my tarps can no longer hold, and the leaks fill a 5 gallon bucket in 8 hours.

Last week they sent a roofer out to look at the situation and he was appalled. On Tuesday I informed them that the situation had gotten worse with the last rain. They have not gotten back to me. It looks like I will have to move in a hurry, in the middle of winter, to a more expensive place.

This place is a shithole. But I don't want to leave. It's cheap for the area. Moving is a pain in the ass. There is a small chance they will figure out how to get the roof patched soon enough. I hope that happens.

Aw crap, sorry to hear that, if the roof is that bad a heavy snow could spell disaster. Unfortunately that damp location requires dedicated constant maintenance. Not something it's likely to get from a tenant who's passing through, property management company trying to keep costs down, or an absentee landlord.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but if I were the landlord, I'd fix the damn roof. Sister any rotten rafters and nail a new deck down. Shingle over that. Hiring it out would cost a few thousand, but it's money well worth it if he can keep a low maintenance tenant.

If they lose you and then fix the roof so they can rent it out again, they won't be able to find anyone as accommodating who can also pay rent.

I would rather not wait until the disaster to leave -- unless I am going to get a check out of it, in which case, let the damn thing fall, it will be exciting.

Can't afford much else. I should really start moving things into a storage unit but what if they decide to patch?

How long a commute can you stand?

Do you have a hovercraft or flying car?

sorry deleted other mesg

:confused:

I'm not in a good mood today. A cow orker put dirty water into the coffee maker and I about took his head clean off. Sawed about 2/3rds of the way through and realized, they will confuse me for a terrorist, so I stopped.

dirty fucking water in the fucking coffee maker?!?!?!?

GIVE ME the saw; I'll finish the job just on general principles. fucking fuck.

...

I would welcome another roomie. I've got one at the moment and two bedrooms to spare. the commute might be a factor, unless the message you deleted was "yes, as a matter of fact, I *do* have a flying car. why do you ask?".

sorry to hear about the fucking living arrangements, man. I commiserate at a distance. I, too, have a (small, but persistent and circuitous) leak in my roof. grrrrr.

Move to lovely East Cornflake and live with me. Jobs are scarce unless you do IT and shit like that.

Research tenants rights in your jurisdiction. Have you been communicating in writing/email/text? At the very least, document your situation and (if you legally can) stop paying rent.

It's all documented and photographed and emailed to them over time.

I can see no advantage to playing legal. It's all very complicated, all the possible plays, but what I believe it comes down to is this: I have a lot of rights, but using them to preserve my status in a shithole is a waste of energy.

OK what I should do is rent a storage place, if I can find a cheap one further out of town, and start moving shit out right now. If they patch the roof I could stay, but eventually I'll have to go, so it's not a waste of time. They say storage rental is for losers, but it's actually cheaper than a dumpster. And I don't even think they can put a dumpster on this property. Does anyone in the area want my big awesome dining room table? Didn't I already ask this in this thread?

Fucking tag sale dude. Think of what it will cost to store the shit for a year and what it is actually worth as in cost to replace.

Toss anything that isn't worth the sq. ft. cost of the space it occupies.

I made that mistake once.

I'm gonna have to use a sawzall to get rid of this dining room table. And it's beautiful. It's always been an amazing table. Just so big.

Wow three ceiling level bookshelves full of books and it's kindling?

IDK It's your call. Are they built in? Books are sacred, I get that. I don't know if you are a pack rat or not. I was storing hardwoods and furniture plywood and a bandsaw and shit. At the end of the year I figured I spent about two grand to store $800 worth of shit. I could have given it all away and been ahead of the game.

You have lots of experience selling stuff. You could sell the table if it's as nice as you say. It would be a shame to destroy it when it could make somebody else happy and give you a little cash in your pocket.

Not ebay, but I bet you could sell it fairly easily on craigslist if you priced it correctly.

Is there a hole in the roof? And if so, are you sure there isn't just a guy peeing into it to see what will happen? ;)

I think you should talk to the landlord. Or is that who hasn't gotten back to you? I originally thought you meant the roofer.....

I hope they get back to you. What a horrible situation. I have no experience of renting in the US. Is there anything you can do about your credit score? is it worse now than when you started this rental? Doesn't the new, real job help?

....and apparently I'm tailposting as I missed the last page of posts. sorry. I hope you get resolution soon

I have a bit of room in my basement. Why don't you come over tomorrow night and have a look. I can't take in a roommate, but if you need a place to stay for a few days, you know I got your back. I'll have the kids over this weekend, but then I have two weeks with an extra bedroom if your roof falls in on you.

Yeah, if it's truly a shithole don't fight for it. I'm just saying: don't keep paying for it either.

It's true, if you just didn't pay rent, what's the landlord realistically going to do about it? As long as the rest of the house is livable, you could keep squatting for a good while longer.

I'm liking this approach.... it can't make your credit any worse, right?


....but do you need references for the next place and if so is this one you will need?

LJ that is a marvelous thing of you to offer and you, as always, remain the man. (Footer is currently mah man but being the man is also very important. Look at all the people who the man is keeping down.) My main emergency home is, I hope, with J. I didn't ask her but you know.

I think if this ended OK they would be an OK reference for me. With no credit and no reference I do expect to find another shithole to live in. And in theory there is a security deposit, and obviously there is no chance that I have damaged this place worse than they have.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encycloped...ir-deduct.html

http://tenant.net/Other_Areas/Penn/harris/pa-part2.html

I am not a lawyer, I'm just some insomniac sending you words thru a series of tubes.

I appreciate it

I believe what happens in those cases is I don't pay rent, I put the money into an escrow account... which they can then totally have, if they take up repairs. In the past, I have just asked them to take a sector of rent off, which worked out way better for me, because I didn't have to pay the whole thing and I didn't have to set it aside in escrow.

That may be an option if they can only patch, and not repair; I'd be happy to pay half the rent for a few months until I could get my shit together again.

Anything I can do to help, I'll gladly do, brother. The offer to crash stands. Or if you need to pull a trailer, my jeep is equipped for that. Good luck, anyway. Just remember.... It's not what you know. It's who you know.

Tony, have you investigated Section 8, or other options?

I'm not that familiar with Montgomery county, but here's a list of "inexpensive housing" in Montco.

Whoa man, I'm not THAT bad off.

Or, really, to be more specific, if I'm gonna live in a dump, I prefer a private dump.

I don't mind shitting in a 5 gallon bucket, but I don't think it works out if we all do.

And like most Americans, I have immense sympathy for the poor, a charitable heart for the downtrodden, and I will do anything in my power not to interact with them.

I'm gonna eventually wind up in some sort of cottage house situation, perhaps in the West Chester area; which I think I would enjoy very much, if the roof doesn't leak.

Ugh sewage just died, it's not even freezing out, I think that's probably all she wrote on this ex-dwelling.

Backed up or overflowing outside?

adios loveshack

overflowing inside.

welling up with emotion? Oh the septic... ick

Sorry, it sounded desperate.

I've been told that there's section 8 housing that are twin homes in the 'burbs. Hope you find something suitable for a low price.

Based on what came out after my morning shower, my back of the envelope calculations say I have about 4 gallons of play in this system. It is very slowly draining. At this time, I can manage to stay here, under wretched conditions, while I get a new place. No need to panic.

Except for the slight potential of a massive snow storm coming this weekend. Well it's just a potential.

fuuuuuuuck.

I'm pulling for you UT.

For now, I'll resist trying to troubleshoot your pluming and roofing woes from this great distance, but I do wish to help. Please send me a message of any kind if there's something I can do for you.

Guess I should move the snow blower to the front of the garage. Don't want to be trying to get it past the motorcycle after it snows.

UT, consider doing what I did. Get a camper and live in that.

The rent is cheap and it's shelter until you can save up and find a better place. Neighbors in an RV park are surprisingly nice and friendly. I live right near Dallas and pay $255/mo plus electric. Water and sewer are included in rent.

I chose this route since I am only home four days a month and I cannot see my way clear to renting an apt for $800 a month when I will so rarely be there. Houses are even more around here. My camper is very comfortable with the a/c or heat on. I installed a 20 gal water heater so I can enjoy my showers longer than two minutes and replaced the mattress. I recently put in a 100 gal propane tank and can now get by with refilling it every three months or so for about $70.

RV living takes a bit of getting used to, but it's nice once you do.

Pam

"Get a camper," she said. Just get one.

No can do. Where there isn't so much cheap land, RV parks are not so plentiful. All of them within 45 minutes are seasonal and close down during the winter.

what town is work in again?

Trooper, they call it

My extensive craigslist research is turning up several cottage slash bungalow type situations. Some even slightly cheaper than what I pay now. A few apartments that seem interesting.

I don't think the search will be too bad. It's just hard to know the best way to move ahead. I should be calling some of these places right now. For some reason I just can't start it tonight.

do it from work tomorrow on a break. you will feel more worky. and that does sound like work to me.

I hope you get as lucky as I did. I still love my place and my neighbors are awesome.

Come on down to West Chester. You'll be 20 mins from here. Dan & I will have you over for dinner.

OK things are looking less bleak as, by midweek, the landlord contracted a bad contractor (IME, all her contractors are bad) to handle the septic system. He didn't fix it on the first try, but should be able to clear the problem on Monday.

I don't have to get out fast. I can try to be out March 1. I don't have to take the first place I find. Conditions are bad and the roof may fail, but I won't have to pay rent. There are fine places out there, better than this and not that much more expensive either.

Panic falling.

Now breathe. ;)

but not too deeply in case you inhale that mold or poop fumes.... ;)

Hope it all works out for you

Hooray for semi-good news!

Cools.

Excellant.