Hi! When we flushed our toilet ,water started coming up in the sink that smelled like sewage.Then water started seeping out from under the toilet when we flushed it. They drained our septic tank & are now saying that we should have a gravel pit added.Is this necessary? We've been in this house for 10 years & never had a problem till now. Thanks!

If you have sewage seeping from under your toilet you have other issues as well. A failed wax ring seal for starters needs replaced. Not much of a septic system expert even though I grew up with one at the family house... per chance did they call the "gravel pit" a leechbed? They can and do get clogged up after enough years. When was your house built? And do you know if the leechbed was ever replaced?

Hi! Thanks for your response.Our house is almost 60 years old.This sounds terrible but we've lived here almost 11 years & never had the septic tank drained.We've also never had any problems with it until now. My small son had been flushing wipes down the toilet without us knowing it so my husband said when they drained it,there was a build up of baby wipes. I'm thinking that it will be o.k. now but they're insisting that we let them build the gravel pit. I obviously don't now a lot about plumbing & we don't want to spend $1300 on a gravel pit if we don't need to. Thanks!

I used them for years and put in a couple, but have no idea what they mean by "gravel pit" you have your tank, and then it leads out into the drain fields. Now the drain fields have gravel under them, and often those fill up over the years.
But can be added if the drain of the tank does not work.