Help me with my garage problem - Another septic question

[Low50s]

Hello everyone I am running into a bit of a pickle here wife and I are planning on starting on our 30x40x14 Garage build here soon. We have contacted a builder and he is thinking around June for construction.

We are building this mainly as a shop for me and a garage for her car but we are running into a bit of a issue with the land for this Come to find out our septic tank is about 15 ft off the corner of the house and our leach field is directly under our driveway so the footers of the garage may come in contact with the field.

I was determined to see if I could figure out where the field was and how deep it went so I started digging

My tank discharge is about 4ft under the ground and I follow the lines for about 20 ft south of the house then they make a turn and head east. I stopped at where they turn to head under the driveway

my question is would you even consider building over this? the concrete estimate has a 4ft footer so I run the risk of him hitting the lines.
Could I have him just do a 3 foot footer and be safe? Location is NE Iowa
I have contacted every septic person in the area 6 and have only gotten a phone call back from 1 of them. I have considered just keeping the tank and installing a new leachfield out of the way of the garage if that would be a option.


I attached a picture of the digging and one of the property if anyone can see what I am semi talking about I have just been stressing about this entire septic mess and I am unsure what to do

 

[jetnow1]

Footing depth is determined by building codes. There is no way I would build over the lines, and I do not believe the local authorities will allow it anyway.
Where I am I am not allowed to build within 15 feet of the system, and would not feel comfortable having heavy equipment that close. Talk to your local
health dept, most likely moving the lines will be ok using the existing tank provided you have enough reserve area.

 

[GMCGarage]

Not a good idea. The ground could be soft, causing issues with the building.

Might need to change out from leach lines to something else

 

[kd3pc]

as mentioned, may not be allowed by AHJs.

Personally I would avoid the area around the drain field at all costs, short of putting a new system elsewhere on the lot. Even that may be problematic, as most health departments require THE Site where the septic is, as well as alternate - should the primary system fail and have to be replaced. Seldom can you use the same area for a new system.

Where we are, with engineered systems, the septic costs could well exceed your garage costs. Installers will not even install the septic systems first, for fear of damaging it while the home/garage is built.

Tread lightly, and speak to some installers to see what they think.