I hope you aren't still useing that plumber if he can't solve your problem. I have 1.6 gallon per flush toilets that clear the bowels every time. I can't direct you to where there is a kit that flushes multiple times but I am certainly willing to try and help you as I'm sure others are as well. If you dump a 5 gallon bucket into the bowel,does it clear? When you flush,do you hear gurgling from the shower or tub drain? When someone flushes and showers upstairs,is there disturbance of water standing in the lower toilet? What about gurgling from lower tub/shower and sinks? Have you looked down cleanout for standing water in line when you are experiencing trouble? You said "septic",are you not on a public sewer system?

Just for reference, we have three quarter acre lot with am 8 year old, three bedroom, three bathroom, etc. house. Our septic system consist of a 1000gal digestion tank, and a 1000 gal, water holding tank. There is a line of about 80' to the distribution box which supplies 3 - 130' leach lines. The three leach line cover an area of about 4500 sqft. The length of the distribution line, plus the area of the two tank must also be consider when planting. The system snakes over 200 feet across our back yard. Also there is an area that is designate a rebuild area equal to the area of the leach bed. If you plant in this area, any thing there will be taken out when the digging is done to install the new replacement leach lines. Our system is a what is called a pressurized system. In our previous houses, as I remember, the non pressurize system's leach lines covered only a slightly less area, There are many different configuration for septic systems. When they are installed the topography of the lot, the type of soil, technology, and City, Local, State, and Federal regulation must be considered. Some systems take up more space that others. To my knowledge there is no ONE modern system. Before starting to planting you need to know what kind of septic system you have. With my house (8 years old in NC) the system is described in the County Health Department inspections which is part of the building permit. In NC this was provided to us as part of the closing paperwork when we bought the house. The septic system is one of the inspection that has to be performed during the closing. As for planting trees, If you don't plant a tree in the middle of the leach field or on top of the tanks you should be OK. We have a wooded lot. When the septic system was put in the problem areas were clear during the installation of the system. Since we moved in I have respected those area when considering what I plant.

We are planning to relocate the existing kitchen as part of a large scale remodel/addition and DH and I are concerned about kitchen sink drain line placement in regards to the main septic drain located in the basement. This photo shows (in the green) circle where the main septic drain is located and where the proposed kitchen will be. The kitchen area is currently a carport but will be dug out and crawlspaced so flooring joists can run either direction. The existing house's joists run east to west. Our kitchen sink options are, in order of preference: 1) South wall centered approximately on the 16' wall. 2) West wall centered 3) Island area centered With 1/4" drop per foot, the goal would be to get the drain line to the rear exterior wall as quickly as possible so the drain line falls along the wall instead of falling across the main walking area of the basement. My rough guesstimate has a fall of 18" from sink to drain line. Is that doable? Is it trouble waiting to happen, especially with two turns? Is their a pump type system that we could use to move the water/waste along? Am I crazy for even being concerned? TIA!

You missed an opportunity to fix the drainage (toward the garage) when you had the yard dug up. The yard should slant DOWN out to the grass line and then start to slant upwards again if you want. That would have required the removal of many, many cubic yards of soil. I'm not sure that I follow you there, @dchall_san_antonio :-O I hired a waterproofing specialist company to handle it for me. There's a hill on the left that was sloped to the garage on the right, and where I'm standing when taking the photo goes downhill until the bottom of the sidewalk. So all of the rainwater poured towards the garage. What they did was add a slope from the garage that aims everything towards those catch basins. Then the 4 downspouts from the back yard connect to a 6" drain pipe, and that pipe is on a downward slope for a little over 100' to where it shoots out into the woods. Here's the same pic, with some drawing so you can see what I mean. I spent about $5k on it, so I darn well hope it's done right!! I haven't had a major storm yet to find out, though.