Deal or no big deal/Laundry drainage?

[KYLECODY]

Recently did a home, purchase/non FHA, where the laundry machine had been moved to a back section of the home and there was no washing machine drain. They are running the drain hose outside through the wall to drain in the backyard....Needless to say theres a few inches of water up against the slab and its about 3 feet wide by 10 feet long. I think the occupant works on cars and the water smells like theres some gas mixed in there too.

Ill probably call it an adverse site condition and disclose with photos. Would most of you leave it to the UW to call for any repairs or make it "subject to" providing adequate drainage away from the home?

 

[Ken B]

Discharge from a washing machine is considered "gray water." You need to check with your environmental health department to verify the proper treatment procedure.

 

[Mountain Man]

Oh man, being on a slab that's a pain to fix... crawlspace would be no big deal, cost a few bucks for PCV to run a new drain line. It is gray water, and in GA that would be a BIG environmental issue due to mosquitoes and diseases. That's one I couldn't do as is.

 

[Ken B]

Oh man, being on a slab that's a pain to fix... crawlspace would be no big deal, cost a few bucks for PCV to run a new drain line. It is gray water, and in GA that would be a BIG environmental issue due to mosquitoes and diseases. That's one I couldn't do as is.

Arizona may be different. However, as described, it is a health and sanitation issue and likely illegal. HUD or not, if there is standing graywater, I would make it a repair requirement. The "why" of the situation is likely due to a failing drainfield. (I assume the property is on a septic system.)

http://www.co.gila.az.us/DepartmentFiles/CommunityDevelopment/Wastewater/GrayWaterBrochure.pdf

 

[PLCG]

Not necessarily a failing drainfield. If you get out in the country in my area folks sometimes decide it's not necessary to over-tax the septic system and they just run an illegal drain line from the washing machine to a place that suits them. What the heck there is no one around to see what they've done.

 

[CANative]

Condition the appraisal on repair. You can't have standing water against the foundation. I'm not so sure it would be an environmental problem unless there were some strict local ordinances (mosquito vector). Gray water is good for landscaping. They just need to redirect away from the house, I would think.

 

[Mountain Man]

Here's an idea since you are in AZ, an arid region... get a water butt or storage tank to use the water in the garden or landscaping. That may be the cheapest fix, and a good way to recycle water in your region. Can't do that in GA, the enviro-natzis won't let us use grey water at all.

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

I prefer using the gray water to water my back yard. My washing machine sits on the back porch just for that reason. It drains into a laundry tub, then there is a pvc pipe that runs out into the yard, at the end of the pvd pipe is the flexible hose that people use to drain swimnning pools (or at least there was until the javalina's ate it). Been doing that for over forty years, we have a huge mulberry tree and very tall elm tree that completely shades our backyard. Both trees have gotten so big because of the soap in the wash water. We move the swimming pool hose around from tree to tree with each load, so there is no standing water and no lint on the grass. But I am located in Graham county which doesn't have any objections anyway.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Not necessarily a failing drainfield. If you get out in the country in my area folks sometimes decide it's not necessary to over-tax the septic system

Yes.

and they just run an illegal drain line from the washing machine to a place that suits them.

They are not always "illegal". When my parents built the house, that was an accepted practice for exactly the reason above, you didn't want to tax the septic system which in those days was only a 100' lateral. It worked for 30 years without maintenance until replaced a few years ago. Meanwhile the gray water goes into a pipe and into a hole in the ground filled with rocks. It was covered by soil and doesn't normally surface at all. The old USDA pamphlet everyone handed out in Home Economics clubs in rural parts of the world even showed how to build such a cesspool. from http://www.backwoodshome.com/advice/rb62.html

The authorities might even let you build a tank out of dry-laid block, no mortar, with the core holes set horizontally, allowing the effluent to seep immediately into the ground. Such construction used to be made out of fieldstone and was called a cesspool; the design basis was that both anaerobic and aerobic digestion could take place in the same container, and the final effluent would be just as clean as in the more modern two-step system. If you go this route, you’ll most likely want to emulate the old-timers and build two or three cesspools, directing the sewage flow into one for a few years, while the others are allowed to “rest” and the sludge build-up in the surrounding soil to biodegrade.

 

[PropertyEconomics]

In New Mexico it is allowable to drain grey water for irrigation purposes and many are now doing it in an effort to save water ... grey water for irrigation means no domestic water for irrigation ... it sounds like the situation you describe needs to be modified to drain the water away from the house .. if using grey water this way is acceptable in your jurisdiction.