What Happens If Your Land Won't Perc? (Land That Failed #2)

The video

What happened

Eight acres. No public sewer within reach, which is normal out there, so everything about this property depended on one thing: whether the soil would take a septic system.

It would not. Not on the part that mattered.

In North Carolina that question gets answered by county Environmental Health through an Improvement Permit. They come out, evaluate the soil — depth, type, how water moves through it — and if it works, the permit tells you what kind of system the land will support and roughly where it goes. People call it a perc test. It is not something you order separately; it is part of the permit.

The evaluation came back and most of the parcel was out. What was left was a strip near one edge, and a septic system needs two areas, not one — the field itself and a repair area held in reserve for the day that field has to be replaced. The strip could hold one or the other. Not both.

Eight acres, and nowhere to put a septic system.

The land was fine. Open, dry, good access, nothing wrong with it to look at. The dirt was the problem, and the dirt is invisible.

If there is no sewer at the road, the soil decides whether you have a buildable property at all. Apply for the Improvement Permit before you close if the seller will allow it during due diligence. If the soil will not take a system, nothing else about the parcel matters.

The four checks

The same four questions on every episode. This property failed one of them.

1. 1. AccessNot the failure here

   Can the home physically get to the site? The road, the driveway, every bend, the width, what is overhead.

2. 2. ZoningNot the failure here

   Will the county allow a manufactured home in this district?

3. 3. WasteFailed

   Will the soil take a septic system, or is there sewer at the road?

4. 4. RoomNot the failure here

   What is left after setbacks, easements, the septic area and its repair area?