Hi.
I am building a house in rural Peru. It is a joint project between myself and the local land owners so many things have been done in a sort of willy-nilly before I joined the project or without my consent. One of these things is the location of the septic tank (hole) which they have place right in front of the back door where the patio is to be. The problem is that it is so huge, and so far out, that if I were to lay cement for the patio and to cover the septic (which was the original idea) I would have enough cement patio to hold a community square dance.
By the way, the front end of the septic, which is suppose to ultimately be the front end of the patio, is rock terrace, and a level higher than the rest of the yard.
Anyhow, I understand that you CAN grow grass on cement. But this cement is the lid to a septic hole and is part of a sort of terrace. Will I just as easy be able to grow grass on top of it without damaging the septic lid? The lid will be in cement, and pretty thick... but I am still wondering as I am new to these things.
Any comments?
Sincerely, Susan
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thanrose
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 716
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:01 am
- Location: Jacksonville, FLZone 9A
Depends on climate and grass type and how deep the concrete is.
All the septic tanks I've owned (maybe 5?) had lawn with grass over them or at least the potential for grass over them. Most of those concrete slabs were down more than a foot/30cm below the soil surface. That should be no problem for a lawn covering. Maybe in some savannah type grassy areas you'd need deeper roots than that for year round coverage. It just hasn't been a problem in my experience.
One yard and home that I was extensively renovating had a very dry area that didn't keep a grass lawn very well. Since it had ancient cedars with allelopathic roots, and I think lawns are pretty useless, I didn't worry. Found out after three or so years that there was a concrete driveway under the mat of roots and soil, six inches /15cm down. Too close to the soil surface in my climate for grass coverage, apparently.
All the septic tanks I've owned (maybe 5?) had lawn with grass over them or at least the potential for grass over them. Most of those concrete slabs were down more than a foot/30cm below the soil surface. That should be no problem for a lawn covering. Maybe in some savannah type grassy areas you'd need deeper roots than that for year round coverage. It just hasn't been a problem in my experience.
One yard and home that I was extensively renovating had a very dry area that didn't keep a grass lawn very well. Since it had ancient cedars with allelopathic roots, and I think lawns are pretty useless, I didn't worry. Found out after three or so years that there was a concrete driveway under the mat of roots and soil, six inches /15cm down. Too close to the soil surface in my climate for grass coverage, apparently.