A large share of Georgina outside the Keswick and Sutton service areas is on septic, and so is almost all of Brock, Uxbridge and Kawartha Lakes. New builds, additions that add bedrooms, and old systems failing after forty years all lead to the same project. Here is how it works in this area, from permit to backfill.
Step 1: The permit
Septic systems in Ontario are regulated under Part 8 of the Ontario Building Code. You need a sewage system permit before any work starts. In Georgina and the rest of York Region, apply through your local municipality's building department. In Brock, Uxbridge and Scugog, sewage system permits go through the Durham Region Health Department. In Kawartha Lakes, through the City. The application needs a site plan showing the house, wells, property lines, water bodies and the proposed tank and bed, plus the design, which is based on the number of bedrooms and fixtures, not the number of people living there.
Step 2: Soil and site
The design depends on how fast your soil absorbs water, measured as a percolation time. Sandy soils around Pefferlaw and Udora perc fast and allow a conventional leaching bed. Heavy clay, common across much of Georgina and Brock, percs slowly and often requires a raised bed with imported sand or a treatment unit. The bed also has to meet setback distances from wells, property lines, the house and any watercourse. If the property is within the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority regulated area, which includes land near the lake, rivers and wetlands, LSRCA review is required before the municipality will issue the permit.
Step 3: Who can do the work
Most permits in this area require the installer to hold the Ontario Building Code sewage system installer qualification (a BCIN). Confirm with the permitting office before you plan to do any of it yourself. Even where an owner is allowed to do part of the work, the inspections are mandatory and the system cannot be backfilled until the inspector has seen it open.
Step 4: The dig
This is where we come in. A septic install needs a tank hole, typically eight to ten feet deep depending on the tank and the inlet depth from the house, a trench from the house to the tank, and the bed excavation or the raised bed pad. Our Kubota U35 has the ten foot dig depth and the breakout force to open the tank hole in clay in an afternoon, and the SVL75-3 track loader spreads and levels the sand and stone for the bed. Many installers rent the pair for the week. If you are a homeowner working with a licensed designer and installer, an operated rental, where our operator runs the excavator to the installer's grades, is the safest option.
Step 5: Locates and safety
Ontario One Call locates are required by law before any digging and are free; request them at least five business days ahead. A tank hole is deep enough to kill someone if the wall collapses, so nobody enters an unshored excavation, and the tank is set with the excavator, never by hand.
What it costs
A complete conventional system in this area, design, permit, tank, bed, materials and installation, commonly runs in the low to mid twenty thousands, with raised beds and treatment systems higher. Renting the equipment is a small part of that: U35 from $350 a day or $1,500 a week, SVL75-3 the same, delivered.
Planning a septic in Georgina, Brock or Kawartha Lakes? Call or text 905-251-2521 and we will get the right machines on site for your installer's schedule. See also what equipment a septic excavation needs.