well, you COULD both be correct. if the leach field needs replacement, then the blockage is after you septic tank.

when was the last time you had the tank pumped? we had one of ours down a few months back, had a couple LARGE chunks of grease in it and a missing baffle. the grease would float up and cover the leach line, and instantly the house would start to back up. since then, no problems.

The tank was pumped 10/06. The reason I think there is a blockage is that the water level in the master bath toilet is often low when I come home from work.

How long is a leach field good for? Our home is 25 years old. My Dad's home was 45 years old and the lf was never replaced.

a LF can last a year or it can last 100 years, every one is different and depends on how YOU treat it. do you dump grease and other non biodegradeable things in your septic? this only things besides TP that should go down the toilet is stuf that came out of your body. no feminine hygene products should be flushed. in the kitchen no grease, and limited food down the disposal. we only run veggies down ours, meats go in the garbage.

first thing i would do is find out where the blockage is. open your cleanout between teh tank and the house and see if it is blocked there. if the clean out does not visibly have water standing in it, then the tank and field are ok and THIS problem is between the cleanout and the washer drain. if it does have water standing, you can snake it(with the proper sized snake) to the tank to see if there is a blockage there or not. if no blockage, then either the tank needs pumping again or your field has a problem.

my house has 2 tanks. as i said earlier i had to get one pumped a little while back due to grease build up. i myself snaked out the main drain line to the tank, only 20 ft long so no need to call a pro. the 4" pipe was down to about 1.5 to 2" opeing inside due to all the grease. i guess the previous owner of the house thought it toomuch trouble to dispose of grease elsewhere, so he just dumped it all down the kitchen sink. i did have some get into my field, and the septic guy at first said i may have to replace it. then he realized all that was on this system is a kitchen sink, dishwasher, and washing machine, no toilets. he said it should be okay for that light load, and what do you know, it is still working fine. even better than it ever has.

after 19 yrs, I"m glad I don't have to deal with the septic no more, city hookup at new house, my old place would back up from the washer when field was having problems, was too small to start with, one comment I'd like to make though, I wouldn't necessarily call all the water from a washer, dishwasher and sink, a light load, that is where your greatest volume of water is coming from. your right, have to pay attention to the system