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Has anyone had the experience of building an additon over an old/unused septic field? If so, any tips/recommendations would be appreciated. As far as I know the field hasn’t been used for 5+ years. My next step is to phone the jurisdiction building dept., but would like more info. on this subject. The additon will be on a crawl, with conventional trench footings and conc. block. Generally is a soil compaction test necessary??
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Hi J.R.
You would need to remove all of the weeping bed right down to the native soil and replace it with imported material, free of any organic matter.
The footings would have to be founded on native soil as long as it has sufficient bearing capacity.
The cost of removing the bed and buying imported fill may cause you to consider putting in a full basement instead.
A compaction test goes a long way to give peace of mind and the cost is negligeable. At the same time you will get an opinion from the soil inspector as to the founding of your footings.
Gabe
*Gabe,Thanks for the response.J.R.