Yes. You should do something to grow bacteria in your septic system, because that’s what makes it work.

This is a big one, and it doesn’t necessarily apply to only plumbing. You should never receive a price sight unseen. If a plumber is able to tell you how much something costs before they even look at the problem, I wouldn’t trust the price they gave you.

At the very peak of the mountain, plumbing can appear to be very simple. However, there’s a lot of liability when you’re dealing with things like water. It’s easy for something to be done wrong if the person doesn’t know what they’re doing or if they don’t take the time to do the work correctly. All of a sudden, everything blows apart and causes a huge (and expensive) mess. Hire a professional if you want the job done right. A professional does cost more than a non-professional.

This is something that’s definitely variable. It depends on many different factors. For example, water quality and how much the system is used will make a difference on how long it lasts. We typically say that a water heater installed today will last around 8-12 years. That’s very different from a water heater that was installed 25 years ago. Things just don’t last as long as they used to.