Septic System Installation in Franklin, MI

Which Franklin Homes Are on Septic, and Which Are on the Sewer?

Failing septic fields pushed Franklin to build a sewer in the mid-1990s. Under a federal court order, the pressure line went into the right of way along every street. After a village-wide vote, some homes had to connect for sanitation. Others were allowed to opt in.

Each connected home has its own grinder pump. It pushes sewage into the line in the street, toward a pump station at the village edge. The Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's office runs the system and handles the billing. Grinder pump questions go to that office.

Franklin sets rules for the homes still on septic. Every septic tank must be pumped and inspected every three years. Proof of the pumping goes to the village with a Septic Operating Permit. A pumping company handles that visit, and we build and repair the systems themselves.

Franklin Soils and the Oakland County Septic Permit

The village's master plan maps two kinds of ground. The rolling north and west are loamy fine sands, with slopes of 20 to 40 percent in places. Some of those sands drain too fast for a septic field. The flat east and southeast hold Blount and Lenawee silt loams, which drain poorly and hold high groundwater.

Federal soil surveys rate 99 percent of the village very limited for a conventional drain field. The plan warns that a perc test can pass one season and fail the next. The groundwater rises and falls with the rain. The plan also notes that slopes of 24 percent or more make poor drain field sites.

Septic permits here come from the Oakland County Health Division, under the county's own sanitary code. The code wants soil that is at least half sand. It rules out silt loam below original grade for a conventional system. The county can refuse a permit where groundwater sits within 24 inches of that grade.

The county witnesses the soil borings that start a permit. We call MISS DIG 811 before we dig those test holes. Every Franklin lot also has a well to plan around. The code keeps a septic tank and drain field 50 feet from a private well.

Does a Failing Franklin Septic System Mean a Sewer Hookup?

Oakland County's code counts a public sewer within 200 feet of a house as available. It names an available sewer as a reason to refuse a septic permit. When a system fails, the Health Division can call for a sewer connection. It can also approve a repair or a replacement under a permit.

Franklin has its own application for that hookup, including a connection for a failed septic system. The Village Council approves every first-time connection. The county's water resources office then sends a contractor to set the grinder station and pressure line. That contractor makes the tap and restores the ground it disturbs.

The owner hires a contractor for the building sewer, the pipe from the house to the station's stub. The village requires a plumbing permit for that line. Its form bars ground water and storm water from the grinder system. We dig that trench and backfill it in lifts after the inspection.

Once the house is on the sewer, a septage hauler pumps the old tank. The tank is then crushed or filled with sand and compacted. Where the county approves a fix instead, we handle septic system repair on the tank or the drain field. An addition on a septic lot needs Health Division approval that the system can support it.

Teardowns and New Homes on Franklin Lots

Franklin grew fast after it became a village in 1954. The median home was built in 1958, by Census estimates. The master plan notes older homes razed and replaced with larger new ones. A teardown starts with the village's demolition application.

The Historic District Commission and the Building Official review it, and the Village Council approves it. Its checklist calls for the well to be capped and the septic tank crushed or the pressure sewer capped. The rules say buildings and foundations come out completely, within 30 days of the permit. Fill must be clean of wood and debris, with six inches of black topsoil on top.

We take on house demolition and leave the lot graded and seeded for the new build. A new home's plot plan shows the well and the septic system or pressure sewer. Final grade must slope 2.5 to 5 percent away from the house. Adding or removing 10 cubic yards of fill takes a village landfill permit.

We handle excavation and grading to those rules. Franklin's tree ordinance calls for barriers that guard trees during construction. Removing a protected tree takes a village permit, and a tree service does that work. Site surveys also show a 25-foot setback along flagged wetland lines.