What is a Septic Tank?

Verity Cantrell Septic Services , , , , , ,

Domestic sewage from toilets and wastewater from sinks, showers and washing machines flow into the septic tank. Heavier solid matter sinks to the bottom of the septic tank and forms sludge, while lighter materials like fats, oils and greases float to the top and form scum.

Septic

Effluent water exits the septic tank through perforated pipes into a constructed absorption or “leach” field. Bacteria in the leach field further break down any residual pollutants. Contact The Septic Guys for professional help.

A septic tank is a system for treating wastewater on your property, usually in rural areas where you’re not connected to the main sewage network. It’s made up of a series of components that collect and retain household sewage, remove wastewater pollutants, and return the treated effluent to your soil or environment via infiltration.

Wastewater from your toilets (called black water) and from your kitchen sinks, bathtubs, laundry machines, and dishwashers flows into the septic tank. Heavier solid matter sinks to the bottom of the tank and forms sludge, while lighter matters such as fats, oils, and greases float to the top and form scum. Anaerobic organisms in the septic tank break down these organic wastewater pollutants, converting them to inert matter. This process is very slow and can only be done by a combination of biological and mechanical processes.

When the septic tank is full, it will discharge into a perforated pipe that leads to an absorption field, also called a lateral field or drain field. The partially-treated wastewater flows into this area, where it’s absorbed into the soil and groundwater by microorganisms in the gravel and grass above.

Some septic tanks may also have an effluent filter, which is a device that reduces concentrations of organic materials, suspended solids, pathogens, and nutrients like phosphorus or nitrogen. If your septic tank has an effluent filter, it’ll need to be regularly cleaned, ideally when you have the tank desludged.

A septic system should always have a vent stack. It’s important to ensure that the system is properly vented so that gases can escape, which prevents them from contaminating the surrounding environment or causing problems with your home plumbing.

A septic system needs regular maintenance, including pumping and inspections. Pumping is important, because the septic tank fills up with sludge and scum over time, which can then leak out of the tank into the absorption field. This can be messy and costly, so you should have your septic tank pumped on a regular basis. It’s recommended to have your septic tank pumped twice over 2 or 4 years, with sludge level measurements taken so that you can determine how often your septic system needs to be pumped.

How Does a Septic Tank Work?

Wastewater from toilets (called black water) and drains from your kitchen, bathtub, sink, washing machine and dishwasher (called grey water) run through a main drainage pipe to your septic tank. Solid materials in the wastewater like hair, soap scum, fats and oils sink to the bottom of your septic tank and form sludge. Liquid wastewater passes through an effluent filter near the septic tank outlet and is pushed to your septic system’s drain field by gravity.

A baffle wall, sometimes called a partition wall or divider wall, directs the incoming raw sewage downward to the mid-level of your septic tank. This design keeps surface scum from entering the septic tank and reduces wastewater agitation, which makes it easier for solids to settle on the bottom of your septic tank.

As wastewater flows into your septic tank, bacteria inside the septic tank begin to break down these organic wastewater pollutants. Some of this breakdown occurs in the sludge layer at the bottom of your septic tank while other bacteria (anaerobic) in the scum layer at the top of your septic tank feed on fatty acids and other floating debris. The resulting liquid wastewater, called effluent, exits the septic tank into your septic system’s drain field where soil bacteria and sand filtration finish the treatment process.

If too much sludge or scum accumulates in your septic tank, it will overflow into the drainage field and cause the sewage to seep out onto the ground surface where it exposes people and pets to disease-causing organisms. This is why it’s important to have your septic tank pumped regularly.

You may have seen hardware stores selling septic tank additives that claim to provide additional bacterial activity or promote faster septic tank emptying. However, these bacterial spores need oxygen to grow and are typically used in conjunction with other tank cleaning products. Adding them on their own will only delay your septic tank pumping. You should also avoid flushing anything other than toilet paper and human waste into your septic tank. Items that you flush down the drain like handi-wipes, grease, oil, paper towel and feminine hygiene products can clog the pipes that lead from your septic tank to your septic system’s leach field.

What is a Septic System?

A septic system is an on-site wastewater treatment and disposal system used to manage waste from household plumbing like toilets, kitchen drains, laundry, and more. It uses natural processes and technology to purify wastewater and drive it into the soil for absorption. Almost one in five homes in the US is on its own septic tank instead of connected to the public sewer.

A Septic System contains a series of components including a septic tank, an absorption field or leach field, and a sand filter. A septic system must be located on a site with adequate depth and suitability of soil to effectively treat the wastewater.

Wastewater enters the septic tank through an inlet pipe and is kept there until bacteria decompose some of the waste materials. Heavy solids, such as feces and toilet paper, will settle to the bottom layer in the septic tank called sludge. Oils and grease float to the top and form a layer called scum. The liquid portion of the wastewater flows through a perforated outlet that should have a screen or filter to block large debris.

Once the septic tank is full, it is pumped out to the distribution box via the inlet and outlet pipes. The distribution box is a small, round or rectangular watertight container made of concrete or plastic that sits underground. It is connected to the outlet pipe on the septic tank on one end and a series of pipes leading to the drain field on the other end. The distribution box’s role is to receive the septic tank effluent and evenly distribute it into the pipes that disperse it in the drain field. Uniformly distributed wastewater ensures the drain field works effectively and prevents one area from becoming overloaded with sewage.

An effluent filter is a device that sifts out the remaining waste materials, allowing the bacterial process to finish breaking down harmful pollutants. A septic tank with an effluent filter requires regular cleaning. Depending on the size of your septic system and how much you use it, you may need to clean your effluent filter every time your septic tank is emptied (desludged). If not cleaned regularly, the filter could clog and allow sewage to enter the home or yard.

How do I Maintain a Septic System?

The wastewater that flows from your home’s toilets, showers and sinks goes down a drain and into the main pipe that leads to your septic tank. The septic tank is typically a large concrete box. Heavier solid waste sinks to the bottom of the tank to form sludge while oils and greases float to the top of the tank to form scum. Bacteria inside your septic system decompose the sludge and scum into inert matter that can pass through the outlet of the septic tank.

When the septic tank is full, it must be pumped out. You can extend the life of your septic tank and system by limiting what is poured into it, including kitchen, bath and laundry products.

It is also important to have your septic tank inspected by a professional and pumped out as needed. Your septic technician can check for baffles that may be missing or broken which can lead to clogs.

Keeping an accurate maintenance record for your septic tank, including dates of pumping and inspections is crucial. This will help you avoid problems, such as the awful odors that can occur from a failing septic system. This record will also come in handy if you decide to sell your home in the future as it can show prospective buyers what has been done to keep the septic system in good working order.

A properly functioning septic system can protect your family’s health and the environment. However, septic systems that are not well-maintained or are failing can contaminate nearby drinking water wells and surface water bodies. The pathogenic bacteria and viruses that septic systems can release into waterbodies can cause illness in humans and animals. Excess nutrients from septic systems can also lead to harmful algal blooms that use up oxygen in water, threatening fish and other aquatic life.

Some simple steps can greatly improve the condition of your septic system and prevent it from needing to be pumped or replaced. Do not flush items that do not break down, such as feminine hygiene products, paper towels, cigarette butts, dental floss and cat litter. These items can enter the septic tank and clog it or the lateral field and cause wastewater to seep into the groundwater.

Finding the Best Dentists for Quality Care Near You

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When it comes to dental health, your dentist is one of the most important members of your healthcare team. You’ll likely need to visit this person multiple times throughout your lifetime.

Choosing the right dentist can be difficult. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help make this process easier.

Ask for Recommendations

The best way to find a good dentist is to ask for recommendations from friends, family, and coworkers. This will help you get an idea of how well they treat patients and whether or not they’re a good fit for your needs. You can also find out if they accept your health insurance or offer flexible payment plans that accommodate your budget.

When asking for recommendations, be sure to specify your needs and what you’re looking for in a dentist. For example, if you need to get your wisdom teeth removed, you’ll want to make sure the provider has experience with this procedure. Also, make sure to check online reviews to see what other patients have to say about the dentist you’re considering.

You’ll also want to ensure your doctor has good communication skills and is willing to answer any questions you might have. This is important because it can help you feel more comfortable with your treatment plan and prevent any misunderstandings. Additionally, a good dentist will prioritize consistent care to give you the best outcomes possible.

A quality dentist should also have affiliations with hospitals that offer high-quality care. To find out if a physician has hospital affiliations, click on the “All Filters” menu and select “Affiliated Hospitals.” This will narrow your search results to physicians who have the necessary credentials to provide you with safe, effective care.

Check Online Reviews

Many dental practices have a website where you can learn more about them and see what other patients have to say about their experiences. This is a great way to get a feel for whether the practice is right for you and can help decrease your overwhelm when trying to find a new dentist.

If you have recently visited a dentist, don’t forget to leave your review! You can do this by visiting the provider’s profile and selecting “Leave a Review.” Healthgrades utilizes patient reviews to highlight top-rated providers, making it easier for you to find quality care.

In addition, you can also check out the average experience levels for Dentistry Practitioners in your area by selecting the filters on Healthgrades’ search results page and looking at how well each doctor has performed across key factors like communication, listening skills, and professionalism. Healthgrades also provides a list of doctors who are designated as “Healthgrades Choice,” which means they have been recognized for their expertise and commitment to superior patient care.

Finally, you can also choose to narrow your search for a Dentistry Practitioner by selecting the filter in the upper-right corner of the search results page and choosing “Language.” This will allow you to select physicians who speak your preferred language, helping you to more effectively communicate with your physician during your visit.

Check Their Qualifications

Dental health is often overlooked in a busy lifestyle. However, it is a crucial element in overall wellness. Neglecting oral health can lead to gum disease and tooth decay, which can impact your quality of life. A skilled dentist can identify early indicators of these issues and offer preventative care to reduce the onset and progression of more severe conditions.

To determine a physician’s qualifications, consider the number of years they have been practicing and their training in their specialty. You may also want to look at how they stay up-to-date on the latest advances in their field. This may include subscribing to medical journals, attending in-person or online seminars, or earning Continuing Medical Education credits.

Another important consideration is how a physician’s practice prioritizes patient safety. This may include adherence to protocols that reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections, as well as cleanliness and sterilization of instruments. It is also helpful to see a physician’s hospital affiliations, as this can indicate their commitment to patient outcomes and quality of care.

In addition, a quality provider will have a comprehensive understanding of your insurance coverage and offer options for financial assistance. This can be beneficial if you’re seeking expensive treatment or have limited access to healthcare. A good way to check this is by looking at a provider’s public record, which is available through the website.

Check Their Reputation

Finding a dentist you trust is important, especially if you have a dental emergency or need a routine procedure done. By asking for recommendations, checking online reviews and hospital quality ratings, and making appointments with candidates, you’ll be able to narrow down your options to the dentists who are right for you. Make sure to ask questions during your consultation and to bring your dental records, if necessary. And don’t forget to check with the provider directory to see which dentists are in your network and eligible for your dental benefits.

This list is updated regularly, but some providers choose not to participate in the provider directory.

Improving Your Home With Landscaping

Shaun Copeland Landscaping , , , ,

Imagine stepping out into your backyard to find a burst of colors, soothing sounds and invigorating scents. Landscaping can do more than just add beauty – it can also improve your quality of life and increase property value.

Landscaping

Landscapes are created by adding plants, changing the terrain and building structures. The elements of color, form, lines and texture are all important in a successful landscape design. Visit https://oceaniclandscaping.com/ to learn more.

Color is a powerful design element that can set the mood and draw the eye. Warm colors like red and yellow evoke excitement and make objects feel closer, while cool colors like green and blue offer a sense of balance and harmony. Landscaping companies can use color to communicate their brand’s personality and create a distinctive look that customers will recognize.

Colorful, diverse plantings and seasonal color programs are popular with many clients because they add an extra pop of curb appeal to properties. Heroman says he typically installs spring plants in late April or early May and switches to fall colors in late October or early November.

In addition to planting and gardening, landscapers can also incorporate hardscapes into their projects. This includes walkways, patios, and other outdoor living spaces that provide value to homeowners by making their homes more livable and entertaining friendly. Landscaping can also incorporate safety enhancements that channel people away from busy streets and towards safe pathways.

A well-designed and developed landscape increases the resale value of a home, provides a place to relax and entertain, encourages healthy lifestyles, and makes everyday tasks easier. Building a strong branding strategy and implementing consistent messaging throughout marketing channels helps ensure your landscaping business stands out from competitors, builds credibility, and wins customer loyalty. Using the same logo across all materials, ensuring consistency in NAP (name, address, phone number) on all platforms, and keeping language consistent on your website are just a few of the ways you can establish a strong brand identity.

Form

Form focuses on the shape and structure of plant and hardscape elements. Like color, this element evokes emotion and creates a distinct style for the landscape. Form also creates structure and ties everything together. Upright forms like trees and retaining walls delineate a space while spreading shapes guide the eye around the landscape. Form can also be used to highlight or complement other design elements, for example using a pyramidal tree as a focal point for a bed of rounded shrubs or flower heads.

Texture is all about the visual and tactile quality of plants and materials. It’s how something looks and feels when touched – rough or smooth, coarse or fine. Texture contrasts with and enhances the other design elements in the landscape. For instance, juxtaposing a coarse-textured agave with a fine-textured ground cover adds visual excitement to the garden. It also provides a pause for the eye, breaking up the broader landscape into a series of smaller compositions.

A balance between function and form is essential for creating a successful landscape. This requires careful attention to details, balancing plant selections with appropriate watering and irrigation practices, and proper maintenance throughout the seasons. Regular trimming, soil aeration, mulching and fertilization keep plants looking polished and pristine while promoting healthy growth. Properly installing hardscape features like paving, planting beds and garden walls ensures that they are both visually appealing and structurally sound.

Color tends to capture the most attention, but form is an equally important component of the landscape. Lines set the framework for a space, and they can reinforce a style or evoke a mood. Rectilinear forms feel structured and formal while circles are soft and graceful, triangles are strong, and irregular shapes can have a relaxed, casual appeal. Form also impacts the appearance of a landscape during different seasons, with winter bark, spring fullness, summer blooms and berries adding interest and drama to the garden.

Landscapes are often enriched by purely aesthetic elements, such as reflective pools or bold sculptures. These elements serve no practical purpose in the traditional sense, but they add depth and a richness to the garden experience that is important to the overall design. Using form and texture to balance these purely aesthetic elements translates into thoughtfully designed landscapes that are beautiful, engaging and meaningful.

Lines

Landscape lines help create the overall composition of your yard and are vital to a successful design. These lines can be real (actually present) or perceived (implied from the arrangement of objects). In landscaping, they can take on a variety of shapes and sizes. Lines are used to develop spaces, create forms, control movement, establish dominance and communicate a sense of scale.

In a landscaping context, lines can be created by the edges of materials, where surfaces meet or contrast, or as part of a linear feature like a walkway, driveway, fence or hedge. They can also be formed by plant shapes, including round, vertical and sprawling types. These lines work to define and connect elements, creating visual harmony and a strong sense of balance.

Lines can be used to evoke different feelings in your yard, from movement and excitement to relaxation or a more natural ambience. They can be created using straight, angled or curved shapes. The type of line you choose depends on the desired feeling for the space – for example, a formal design may use straight and angular lines while a natural garden might be more relaxed with curved shapes and meandering pathways.

Form plays a fundamental role in landscape design, establishing the shape and layout of outdoor spaces while emphasizing both beauty and functionality. It involves the three-dimensional configuration of plant material and hardscape features, which are key to establishing an inviting and cohesive landscape. A variety of different forms in your yard, such as a mix of shrubs and perennials, taller trees, trellises or climbing plants, helps to add dimension and visual interest.

Proportion is another important aspect of form, and it relates to the size of an element in relation to other elements. It’s important to ensure that proportion is balanced throughout your landscape, so that it doesn’t become overly busy or crowded with too many elements.

Horizontal lines work to expand the view and tie the space together. They are often formed by taller trees and larger structural elements, such as arbors. They are complemented by lower lines that move your eye across the ground plane, such as walkways, gravel paths or a clean line between turf and plants.

Lighting

IMPROVED SECURITY AND SAFETY

Besides adding visual appeal, well-designed landscape lighting makes your property safer. Criminals are less likely to target well-lit homes and properties, and motion-activated lights can scare off unwanted intruders by producing a sudden burst of light. Plus, outdoor lighting highlights pathways and reduces the risk of trips or falls in dark areas.

AFFORDABILITY

If you’re considering putting your house on the market in the future, landscape lighting is an excellent investment. It enhances the beauty of your home, which will make it more appealing to prospective buyers. Additionally, a properly designed lighting system can highlight architectural features and create a sense of curb appeal that will set your property apart from the competition.

LEVELS OF ECO-EFFICIENCY

A properly designed landscape lighting system uses energy-efficient LED bulbs that minimize energy consumption and provide long-term savings on electricity bills. Plus, these bulbs emit less heat than traditional incandescent bulbs and last longer. That means you can enjoy your landscape long after the sun goes down without worrying about high energy bills or unnecessary maintenance costs.

LIGHTING TYPES

A landscaping designer will help you decide which type of lighting is best for your property and its goals. For example, path lights are ideal for illuminating walkways and driveways. Floodlights offer a wider illumination that’s perfect for highlighting large spaces. Post lights are also great for enhancing the beauty of trees and shrubs in your garden, while spotlights are an effective way to illuminate special features like fountains and ponds.

The most important consideration when choosing a landscape lighting designer is finding someone who shares your vision and understands how to achieve it. Ensure your design partner is willing to work with you to find the best solutions for your needs, including discussing your budget and timeline. Moreover, be sure to discuss your priorities so that the designer knows what aspects of your landscape are most important to you.