vanity: possible sewage line break in my Mom's yard: how do I tell?

self | 05/19/2010 | Racebannon

[RaceBannon]

yes, and that is why I doubted it mostly! :)

[SJSAMPLE]

Taste is the only real way to be sure.

[digger48]

Well, the best way I know how to do it and pretty cheap, too ... is to get your shovel out “dig it up” in that spot.

Beat me to it! If you get down 18"-24" and the soil is or isn't significantly moister, you'll have an answer.

Besides, if it was a small sewage leak , it'd make the grass greener, not kill it off. If it were a large sewage leak, you'd know it.

[cripplecreek]

But don’t step in it. That would be nasty.

[rednek]

Call the gas company now. Yhe photo looks like a potential natural gas leak. Don’t take any chances, they will now and for free!!!!!red

[cripplecreek]

My grass is a jungle over my drainfield. I mow it twice as often as I mow the rest of the yard.

[rednek]

woops - not your photo. call the gas company anyway. 1st sign of a gas leak is dead vegetation......red

[RaceBannon]

no gas in the area

but the grubs thing, what we had 2 years ago was like a central spot of dead, with a wagon wheel arc of dead, not a large patch

however, I am off to the yard people tomorrow, treat it as grubs anyways since that is what was diagnosed last time, they may be back

I guess the birds feeding should have been my first warnig it was bugs of some kind!

[Revelation 911]

were in rochester ny (cold) and they were done in early may

[vigilante2]

Do you have a dog? It can also be caused from too much fertilizer there or rain water puddling there. Grubs, tree roots.

[manonCANAL]

UFO LANDING MAYBE

[digger48]

[Red_Devil 232]

It does sound a lot like grubs (June Bug). Their grub stage is three years long and they are down there eating the roots of the grass all that time. Grab the brown grass and if you can pull the grass out of the ground in the form of a brown sod you just may have grubs.

[AFreeBird]

Oh come on... No one is THAT crazy....

[SJSAMPLE]

Sounds like the old Cheech and Chong skit.

“Smells like dog chit.
Feels like dog chit.
Ooooohhhhhh. Taste like dog chit.

Good thing you no step in it.”

[SampleMan]

Lot’s of birds and a round brown spot. You’ve got bugs. Probably cinch bugs.

[willk]

Sewage effluent will usually always have a strong odor. Usually the ground will be spongy with overgrown vegetation before sewage in a leachline starts surfacing.

[rsobin]

Taste.

[2111USMC]

I hope you have better luck with the “blue mulch/seed” stuff than I have. I’ve never been able to get that stuff to take hold.

Sounds like grubs.

[Cyber Liberty]

I knew from the instant I saw this in “Latest Posts” that this would be the kind of thread that makes FR fun.