This buying a house thing is really starting to get stressful

[TwistedSerpent]

Yes we did know that about the earnest check, she just said she would let us know when she cashes it but she didnt so with that and rent comming out it emptied the account before we could transfer funds to cover it. I know its not a huge deal just kind of frustrating.

Out here its the seller who pays the commission for the realtor, so we're not out anything in that respects. We're going through a VA loan so there is no down payment.

With the cistern we'll actually be buying (probably from culligans) and transporting our water, or having it delivered, the property does have well access too but I'm assuming its not potable (I want to say it comes from the river nearby). The cistern is underground.

We knew it was going to be stressful but being our first this is all new to us, my BF is gone for about 4 days at a time making it hard to get things done. Him being in the military we have certain restrictions on where we can move to, with what we're looking for it has been very hard to find a place out of town but still close enough with a bit of land. Most of our options are trashy trailer homes in poor looking and very flat areas. This place we found is still a mobile, however very well put together with a nice yard, couple acres, and we love the area. It has many features we wanted and some we didnt even know we wanted. It just feels good to vent and get other's advice.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

So your cistern then needs cleaning, or at least a bleach rinse. Let it empty and then spray the walls with bleach and then water, empty and fill again. You can add bleach then too and let stand before use, people often bleach a full cistern when they are going away for a few days. Bleach naturally evaporates out even in a tank, you have vents.

Often people trucking water in will experience contamination from all the things the water touches first and then the standing time. Best if the house, or at least the sinks are on an ultraviolet water cleaner or other types, we have the whole house Maytag unit that is no longer made. This prevents any illness between the times you treat your cistern.

Someone mentioned going into the tank, this is really dangerous if you don't have the right training and equipment and not done at all with underground tanks. They have a cave in risk when empty and for the most part should not be allowed to be right empty, the soil surrounding them puts too much pressure on the tank sides. Water in them equals the soil pressure outside so they are not stressed then. All confined spaces have risk, especially when using chemicals to clean them. Bleach fumes can overwhelm you so work from the outside.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

Could water standing in the cistern be a cause of the bacteria? The house has been vacant (but the grounds still looked after by the owner) for an unknown period of time so I'm assuming the water in there has been sitting for awhile.

 

[Me & My Peeps]

If he's in the Military, then I assume you are getting a VA (backed) loan? If so, they hold the property to pretty high standards and I doubt you would have any problems with them involved.

The downside to having a VA loan, is that they hold the property to a pretty high standard and you may miss out on one because the seller will not/cannot change some things to accomodate a VA insepction.