Conventional or aerobic: what the lot decides
Which system you can install is not a preference. It is determined by your soil, your lot size and the county. A licensed site evaluation settles it before anyone quotes a price.
Conventional systems
A tank followed by a gravity drain field. Effluent leaves the tank, flows into perforated laterals, and filters through the soil. Simple, no moving parts, nothing to maintain but the tank. It requires soil that percolates well and enough open land for a full field plus a reserve area.
Aerobic treatment systems
An air compressor injects oxygen into a treatment chamber, so aerobic bacteria break down waste far more thoroughly than the anaerobic process in a conventional tank. The effluent that comes out is clean enough to be distributed by surface sprinklers rather than buried laterals.
Aerobic systems are common across Montgomery County because they solve two local problems: heavy clay soil that percolates too slowly for a conventional field, and lots too small for one. They cost more to install, need a maintenance contract, and require inspection reports filed with the county three times a year. In exchange, they work where conventional systems cannot.
Before you budget: the soil evaluation determines the system type, and the system type determines the cost. Any number quoted before that evaluation is a guess, from us or from anyone else.
Replacing a failed system
A conventional system whose drain field has sealed cannot be repaired. Effluent surfacing on the lawn, sewage backing up after every rain, or a field that will no longer accept flow all point to the same conclusion. The question becomes whether the lot can support a new conventional field or whether the replacement has to be aerobic.
Usually the answer is aerobic, because the original field consumed the best drainage area on the property and the reserve area was never as good. We evaluate both options and show you the cost difference before you commit.
Permits and inspections in Montgomery County
On-site sewage facilities in Texas are regulated by the TCEQ and administered locally. Installation requires a permit application with a site evaluation by a licensed professional, a system design sized to the number of bedrooms and the soil, county approval before construction begins, and an inspection before the system is covered.
We manage all of it. You are not driving to a county office or chasing an inspector. Aerobic systems also carry an ongoing maintenance contract requirement, and we can hold that contract or hand it off to whoever you prefer.