Buying a home with cess pool

Does anybody here own a home or know info on owing a house with a cess pool vs a regular septic tank.
I am looking to buy another house soon, and I'm looking to buy something secluded. So in most cases secluded means no public sewer. I found a piece of property that appears perfect for what I want except the description says it has a cess pool instead of septic tank. Is this something I should cross off the list of possibilities, does anybody know what it would cost to add a regular septic tank system? At this point I'm just browsing for info before wasting time on setting up a showing

 

Primitive wastewater disposal systems are hit or miss when it comes to longevity. I have seen primitive drainfields last 50+ years because the owners were conservative in using water and/or only used the house on the weekends. These primitive systems often fail when a new owner with a larger family moves in and uses several times the amount of water the previous owner did.

The cost of a new septic system will depend on the underlying soils, seasonal water table, and how much room there is on the property (distance from springs, drinking water wells, streams, etc.). A conventional system (i.e. septic tank and drainfield) will be $5,000+. If soils are bad or seasonal water table is high, additional treatment will need to be added, which could easily push the price over the $10,000 mark. There are a LOT of variables, and regulations vary from state to state.

So in summary, if you're conservative with water usage, the existing cesspool may last a long time. If not, then it might be a good idea to see if the land will perc for a conventional system before buying it. Here in VA, the state health department will check the land (for a fee) and issue a certification letter determining what kind of system, if any, the land will support, including diagram showing size and location. You may be able to negotiate something like this into the house contract.

 

depends...

 

Thanks for the input. From what a few folks are saying its all pretty much hit or miss. It looks like there is a family currently living in it, so it's currently seeing use. I noticed the house was purchased 2 years ago so who knows what the previous owners did. The house is already priced about 25k below similar properties that are on septic. I might just cross it off the list, I don't want to move into something knowing I may need to drop several thousand if the crap tank craps out.

 

What state are you located in? Some states have regulations prohibiting the sale of a house with a cesspool until it is replaced with a septic. It varies from blanket across the board no cesspools to only if you are located x distance from the water or watershed.

 

The property is located in PA.

 

Check to see if your county requires bat technology. If that's the case of it fails you might look at a 20k septic system. I just had to replace the septic on a foreclosure I just bought and was only $5700 because I got grandfathered in.

Cesspools could fail in a few weeks or a few years, really is a dice roll.

 

PA has pretty exhaustive requirements for waste/waste water management. Ensure that transfer of the property doesn't trigger a requirement to establish a conforming on-lot system. We built in PA in an area that did not have sewer access and had to put in a sand mound system. Your realtor should be able to steer you in the right direction.

 

I thank everyone for the input, I'm crossing this property off the list