septic tank language

[The Tipsy Butler]

Happy Easter Everyone.
Does anyone have language they use in their bathrooms to educate guests on what they can and can't dispose of when there's a septic tank?
Septic tanks are new to us. It's a 21 room property and the previous owners had no "rules" in the bathrooms - which I think is asking for trouble. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I'd come to the experts for advice
Thanks

 

[Samster]

"Country plumbing (or whatever you want to say here) not like town, only toilet paper will go down!"

 

[The Tipsy Butler]

"Country plumbing (or whatever you want to say here) not like town, only toilet paper will go down!".

cute .... Thanks Samster

 

[Samster]

"Country plumbing (or whatever you want to say here) not like town, only toilet paper will go down!".

cute .... Thanks Samster
.

You're welcome...not original though.

 

[user 26]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad.

 

[The Tipsy Butler]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad..

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.

 

[NW BB]

I printed my small signs on photographic paper using a pretty border. I taped them above all toilet paper dispensers.
"Please do not flush anything but toilet paper. All other items should be placed in the trash can. Our septic system thanks you!"

 

[Morticia]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad..

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.
.

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.

If most of the rooms are laid out like the one we had, perhaps directly across from the toilet? I'm not remembering where the TP holders were, but if they are at all 'behind' and the person is reaching, they won't see the signs. Then again, if someone is just tossing something in the toilet, they won't see the signs wherever they are located.
Where you are you might want to add a photo to the background of the sign, showing the pristine shoreline and add soemthing like, 'Let's keep it this way!'
BTW, how goes the new place?

 

[The Tipsy Butler]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad..

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.
.

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.

If most of the rooms are laid out like the one we had, perhaps directly across from the toilet? I'm not remembering where the TP holders were, but if they are at all 'behind' and the person is reaching, they won't see the signs. Then again, if someone is just tossing something in the toilet, they won't see the signs wherever they are located.
Where you are you might want to add a photo to the background of the sign, showing the pristine shoreline and add soemthing like, 'Let's keep it this way!'
BTW, how goes the new place?
.

Yes - I plan to do the "sit test" to find the point of greatest visibility for each bathroom. I LOVE the idea of putting a background showing the shoreline.
Things are going well. The amount of stuff that needs to get done has been relentless and I'm going to have to put my foot down soon and take a day off, but I can report that there have only been occasional bouts of crankiness. The first thing we did was completely overhaul the Staff Quarters which were dank, dingy and miserable.
We spent all last week cleaning, organizing .... laundering EVERYTHING and moving it to a better location. We have our first whole house booking in 10 days and our first wedding rehersal dinner at the end of the month.
Other than that it's all the usual stuff that goes with taking over an existing business .... accounts, directories, advertising etc etc and making sure that we have a handle on the things we're not familiar with like well testing and septic pumping. Of course the sheer scale of things is very different - Sysco sized deliveries of TP as opposed to Sam's Club sized purchases.

 

[Samster]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad..

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.
.

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.

If most of the rooms are laid out like the one we had, perhaps directly across from the toilet? I'm not remembering where the TP holders were, but if they are at all 'behind' and the person is reaching, they won't see the signs. Then again, if someone is just tossing something in the toilet, they won't see the signs wherever they are located.
Where you are you might want to add a photo to the background of the sign, showing the pristine shoreline and add soemthing like, 'Let's keep it this way!'
BTW, how goes the new place?
.

Yes - I plan to do the "sit test" to find the point of greatest visibility for each bathroom. I LOVE the idea of putting a background showing the shoreline.
Things are going well. The amount of stuff that needs to get done has been relentless and I'm going to have to put my foot down soon and take a day off, but I can report that there have only been occasional bouts of crankiness. The first thing we did was completely overhaul the Staff Quarters which were dank, dingy and miserable.
We spent all last week cleaning, organizing .... laundering EVERYTHING and moving it to a better location. We have our first whole house booking in 10 days and our first wedding rehersal dinner at the end of the month.
Other than that it's all the usual stuff that goes with taking over an existing business .... accounts, directories, advertising etc etc and making sure that we have a handle on the things we're not familiar with like well testing and septic pumping. Of course the sheer scale of things is very different - Sysco sized deliveries of TP as opposed to Sam's Club sized purchases.
.

I don't know how you do it. Kudos to you!

 

[Morticia]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad..

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.
.

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.

If most of the rooms are laid out like the one we had, perhaps directly across from the toilet? I'm not remembering where the TP holders were, but if they are at all 'behind' and the person is reaching, they won't see the signs. Then again, if someone is just tossing something in the toilet, they won't see the signs wherever they are located.
Where you are you might want to add a photo to the background of the sign, showing the pristine shoreline and add soemthing like, 'Let's keep it this way!'
BTW, how goes the new place?
.

Yes - I plan to do the "sit test" to find the point of greatest visibility for each bathroom. I LOVE the idea of putting a background showing the shoreline.
Things are going well. The amount of stuff that needs to get done has been relentless and I'm going to have to put my foot down soon and take a day off, but I can report that there have only been occasional bouts of crankiness. The first thing we did was completely overhaul the Staff Quarters which were dank, dingy and miserable.
We spent all last week cleaning, organizing .... laundering EVERYTHING and moving it to a better location. We have our first whole house booking in 10 days and our first wedding rehersal dinner at the end of the month.
Other than that it's all the usual stuff that goes with taking over an existing business .... accounts, directories, advertising etc etc and making sure that we have a handle on the things we're not familiar with like well testing and septic pumping. Of course the sheer scale of things is very different - Sysco sized deliveries of TP as opposed to Sam's Club sized purchases.
.

I can't imagine the scale of buying! And, wow! a whole house booking + a wedding rehearsal! Were those the people who were there looking in January?
It's very nice of you to upgrade the staff quarters. It will make for happier employees!

 

[The Tipsy Butler]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad..

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.
.

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.

If most of the rooms are laid out like the one we had, perhaps directly across from the toilet? I'm not remembering where the TP holders were, but if they are at all 'behind' and the person is reaching, they won't see the signs. Then again, if someone is just tossing something in the toilet, they won't see the signs wherever they are located.
Where you are you might want to add a photo to the background of the sign, showing the pristine shoreline and add soemthing like, 'Let's keep it this way!'
BTW, how goes the new place?
.

Yes - I plan to do the "sit test" to find the point of greatest visibility for each bathroom. I LOVE the idea of putting a background showing the shoreline.
Things are going well. The amount of stuff that needs to get done has been relentless and I'm going to have to put my foot down soon and take a day off, but I can report that there have only been occasional bouts of crankiness. The first thing we did was completely overhaul the Staff Quarters which were dank, dingy and miserable.
We spent all last week cleaning, organizing .... laundering EVERYTHING and moving it to a better location. We have our first whole house booking in 10 days and our first wedding rehersal dinner at the end of the month.
Other than that it's all the usual stuff that goes with taking over an existing business .... accounts, directories, advertising etc etc and making sure that we have a handle on the things we're not familiar with like well testing and septic pumping. Of course the sheer scale of things is very different - Sysco sized deliveries of TP as opposed to Sam's Club sized purchases.
.

I can't imagine the scale of buying! And, wow! a whole house booking + a wedding rehearsal! Were those the people who were there looking in January?
It's very nice of you to upgrade the staff quarters. It will make for happier employees!
.

Not the same ones as January. We have a fair number of whole house wedding bookings through the summer. The staff quarters HAD to be done. They are still small and basic but at least now they are pristine.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

TB you have me worried with the title of this thread, I thought you had had it with us Americans! ha ha

 

[Morticia]

Yes. I bought postcards from vistaprint (very inexpensive) - on a plain, solid color background I had these words centered
Country plumbing isn't like town
only toilet paper will go down
Then further down in much smaller letters over to the left I had
Please put q-tips, tissues, dental floss, tampons and condoms in the trash. Flushing these items is bad for our septic system.
The font I used was round and 'cute'.
I taped one of these postcards directly below the bathroom tissue dispenser on the wall in every bathroom. You couldn't miss the message. Each time a card looked a little worn, I just put up a new card. I wondered if anyone would take offense to the very specific wording but no one did. You might not want to be so specific. We had such problems, I decided to.
I also had a brief explanation in the guest info books in each room so that folks would understand.
There is some kind of trap you can have installed that prevents things, if flushed, from clogging the works.
Also, if you tend to clean with bleach and other chemicals, you have to change to septic friendly products and laundry detergents because you don't want to kill off the good bacteria that makes the septic system work. Strange ideas when all the ads say bacteria is bad..

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.
.

Perfect. Good suggestions from start to finish. I'm either going to laminate the signs in the bathrooms or put them in frames on the wall.

If most of the rooms are laid out like the one we had, perhaps directly across from the toilet? I'm not remembering where the TP holders were, but if they are at all 'behind' and the person is reaching, they won't see the signs. Then again, if someone is just tossing something in the toilet, they won't see the signs wherever they are located.
Where you are you might want to add a photo to the background of the sign, showing the pristine shoreline and add soemthing like, 'Let's keep it this way!'
BTW, how goes the new place?
.

Yes - I plan to do the "sit test" to find the point of greatest visibility for each bathroom. I LOVE the idea of putting a background showing the shoreline.
Things are going well. The amount of stuff that needs to get done has been relentless and I'm going to have to put my foot down soon and take a day off, but I can report that there have only been occasional bouts of crankiness. The first thing we did was completely overhaul the Staff Quarters which were dank, dingy and miserable.
We spent all last week cleaning, organizing .... laundering EVERYTHING and moving it to a better location. We have our first whole house booking in 10 days and our first wedding rehersal dinner at the end of the month.
Other than that it's all the usual stuff that goes with taking over an existing business .... accounts, directories, advertising etc etc and making sure that we have a handle on the things we're not familiar with like well testing and septic pumping. Of course the sheer scale of things is very different - Sysco sized deliveries of TP as opposed to Sam's Club sized purchases.
.

I can't imagine the scale of buying! And, wow! a whole house booking + a wedding rehearsal! Were those the people who were there looking in January?
It's very nice of you to upgrade the staff quarters. It will make for happier employees!
.

Not the same ones as January. We have a fair number of whole house wedding bookings through the summer. The staff quarters HAD to be done. They are still small and basic but at least now they are pristine.
.

Not the same ones as January. We have a fair number of whole house wedding bookings through the summer. The staff quarters HAD to be done. They are still small and basic but at least now they are pristine.

Wow! Good for you!

 

[The Tipsy Butler]

TB you have me worried with the title of this thread, I thought you had had it with us Americans! ha ha.

LOL !!!!

 

[scrambled_eggs]

We are on a septic system and have never put up a note about anything. There hasn't been a problem that I know of but then we pump our tank once a year. My grandmother puts old raw hamburger and flushes it down the toilet to help with the septic system at her house. The hamburger is supposed to make more bacteria to eat everything up. They put their tank in around 1975 and have never had it pumped.

 

[user 26]

oceans, you have been very fortunate that you've had no issues (knock on wood) ... we had to take aggressive action with our guests. we had the system pumped once a year, tried reintroducing bacteria and also had to have service calls mid summer to unclog. the guests were mostly city folk who thought 'flush and forget it' and were using the toilets as trash cans. they didn't mean any harm, they just didn't understand. i suspect the septic system where i was needed to be upgraded and expanded. i have never heard of the raw hamburger flushing as preventive maintenance.

sounds icky. but, if something works i'm sure she will continue to do it.

 

[Copperhead]

Tipsy - good to hear from you. Had been thinking about you and wondering how things were going. We too are on a septic system and have a sign as well. We decided to incorporate other 'earth saving' issues all at one time so the sign is entitled 'Protecting Mother Earth' - regarding the flushing - it says
"Please only flush toilet paper, a sanitary can and bags are provided for all other personal waste."
We have a can with a lid next to the toliet. The bags fit in the lid. Our septic tank has been much healthier since the notes went up. The worst thing we found was the tampons which would get tangled in the agitator and cause it to quit working.
Oceans - found the story of the ground meat very interesting as we were told by our repair guy that food products were not good for the system and told us to forgo using our garbage disposal. I know have traps on the sink for food and just let small particals go into the disposal.

 

[Morticia]

Tipsy - good to hear from you. Had been thinking about you and wondering how things were going. We too are on a septic system and have a sign as well. We decided to incorporate other 'earth saving' issues all at one time so the sign is entitled 'Protecting Mother Earth' - regarding the flushing - it says
"Please only flush toilet paper, a sanitary can and bags are provided for all other personal waste."
We have a can with a lid next to the toliet. The bags fit in the lid. Our septic tank has been much healthier since the notes went up. The worst thing we found was the tampons which would get tangled in the agitator and cause it to quit working.
Oceans - found the story of the ground meat very interesting as we were told by our repair guy that food products were not good for the system and told us to forgo using our garbage disposal. I know have traps on the sink for food and just let small particals go into the disposal..

I think grease is bad for a septic system but other food particles will rot and shouldn't be a problem. I've lived with septic systems on and off thru my life and never had a problem with them. And I wasn't careful. I think it's the 'abundance' of users that's the issue at most B&B's. Our last house had a system sized for a 4-bedroom house. There were only 2 of us, tho, it was less of an issue. EXCEPT, that if the system is sized too large that is also not good.

 

[egoodell]

We have a septic and have no notes, but only two rooms right now. We will be putting in a new system when we add the other rooms, and I will be sure to have the trap put in that catches the stuff that should not go down like tampons, etc. I would find out if you have it and if not, can you add it. Then you don't have the worries. I don't know what it's called but any professional will know what you're asking for.
Riki