Septic Repair
We repair cracked lids, broken baffles, crushed lines and tipped distribution boxes on existing septic systems. We also tell you when a repair is enough and when the job needs more.
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Summerville keeps adding homes. Inside town, Summerville CPW, the town's Commissioners of Public Works, sells water and sewer service. Past the end of the sewer lines, a new home needs a septic system and a state permit. Much of the land around town is flat with a high water table, so the soil decides the design.
Levelset2 handles septic system installation around Summerton, and Summerville is part of our service area. Each new system covers the tank, the drain field and the lines, set to the state permit. We also handle septic system repair and septic system replacement on existing homes. Call or text (803) 478-2620 for a free estimate.
Tell us about the job and where the property is. We look at it and put your free quote in writing.
Summerville reaches into Berkeley and Charleston counties, but most of the town sits in Dorchester County. About 44,700 of its 53,177 people live on the Dorchester side, by the Census Bureau's 2025 estimate. Outside town, most of Dorchester County falls in the sewer service area of Dorchester County Water and Sewer.
A service area shows which utility may serve a lot. Only the utility can say whether a sewer line reaches your lot. Where none is available, the home needs a septic system. SCDES, the state environmental agency, must approve the site and issue a septic permit first.
A new subdivision on septic gets one more check in this region. Five or more lots on septic need a water quality certification from the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments. Where public sewer is available to the site, the council's FAQ says septic will not be permitted. Small builders can read about commercial septic systems for subdivisions up to about 25 units.
West and northwest of downtown, from Knightsville out to Jedburg, Givhans and Ridgeville, the land is mostly flat and wet. The federal soil survey maps much of it as Jedburg loam, Izagora silt loam and Daleville silt loam. It rates all three very limited for septic drain fields. Its reasons are a shallow seasonal water table and slow water movement.
On about 72 percent of Dorchester County's land, the survey puts a wet layer within 29 inches of the surface. A conventional system needs that wet layer at least 29 inches below the natural ground. The survey is a national screening tool, though. SCDES decides each lot from soil borings on that lot.
Under the state's traditional method, an inspector takes at least two soil borings where the system will likely go. Soil color shows how high the water table rises in the wettest season. Wetter lots may need a shallow-placement system or an engineered design, and some lots cannot hold a system at all.
About 13 percent of the land inside town limits sits in FEMA's 1 percent annual chance flood zone. Those zones follow the Ashley River and creeks such as Sawmill Branch, Dorchester Creek and Eagle Creek. Dorchester County's flood maps carry an effective date of July 18, 2017. The state lists flood-prone land as a warning sign when you shop for a lot.
State setbacks decide where a system fits on the lot. Apart from solid pipe, no part may sit within 25 feet of a drainage ditch or detention pond. Streams, canals and retention ponds need 75 feet, and so does a private well. Only solid pipe may run under a driveway or parking area.
The permit also holds back a repair area half the size of the drain field. After a flood, the state says to keep heavy machines off a wet drain field. If silt clogs the field, a new system may be needed. Soggy ground over a drain field is a failure sign the state names, and drain field repair covers it.
Summerville grew from 43,392 people in 2010 to 50,915 in 2020, by the Census count. The Census Bureau's permit survey shows 489 single-family permits in town in 2025, about double the 2024 count. Outside town limits, unincorporated Dorchester County issued 1,105 that year. About half of the town's homes went up in 2000 or later.
Inside town limits, Summerville's tree ordinance covers clearing. Any tree 8 inches across at chest height needs a town removal permit, dead trees included. Trees 16 inches and up go before the Tree Protection Board.
The town's first council passed a tree ordinance in early 1848, and the town still enforces it. For new construction, the tree removal permit goes in with the building permit. Land disturbance in town also needs stormwater submittals to the town and to SCDES. Plan homesite lot clearing for a septic field with those rules in mind.
Communities and areas we serve around Summerville: Hutchinson Square, Azalea Park, Sawmill Branch Trail, Newington Plantation, Oakbrook, Knightsville, Old Trolley Road, Bacons Bridge Road, Dorchester Road, Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site, Givhans, Ridgeville.
Summerville ZIP codes served: 29483, 29485, 29486.
Summerville is part of our service area. Call or text, and we look at the job and put your free quote in writing.
(803) 478-2620 We repair cracked lids, broken baffles, crushed lines and tipped distribution boxes on existing septic systems. We also tell you when a repair is enough and when the job needs more.
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A soggy yard over the drain field or a sewage backup can mean the field has failed. We re-lay failed lines in new trenches and replace a cracked distribution box.
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When an existing home's septic system is past repair, we replace it with a new tank and drain field. Call or text for a free estimate and a written quote.
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Septic systems for mobile home lots, set clear of the home's pad and the drive. We plan the work with the buyer and the dealer around the state permit.
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We install septic systems for small subdivisions of up to about 25 units, and for churches and businesses off sewer. Bigger flows get larger tanks and more drain field, set to the state permit.
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We clear homesite lots up to about five acres for a new home, a mobile home or a septic field. Trees, brush, stumps and debris come off the build site and the drive.
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We take down houses, mobile homes, outbuildings and storm-damaged structures across the east side of South Carolina. Debris removal is part of the job, and the free written quote comes first.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Summerville. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us where the lot is and what you plan to build, or what is wrong with your system. Call or text (803) 478-2620, or send the form for a free estimate.
Tell us about the job and where the property is. We look at it and put your free quote in writing.