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KKay62 t1_jckvetp wrote

Septic systems are sized to number of bedrooms. The closet doesn't matter, there are specific requirements for a bedroom (ventilation, exits, minimum size...) . There is bedroom count rule in Mass Title V that says if there are more than 8 rooms in the house, you have to divide the total rooms by 2 to get the bedroom count. So an 8 room house could have 3 bedrooms for septic purposes, but a 9 room house will 4, a 10 room house will have 5... Rather than denying a construction permit because an additional room will push the house over the size of the septic system, a town will often add a deed restriction stating the number of bedrooms and allow the construction.

Your town's health department should be able to help you figure out how it will work in your specific situation.

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thafunkyhomosapien OP t1_jcldftx wrote

Thanks. This is helpful. Excluding bathrooms, we have 8 rooms, 4 of which are bedrooms. Our septic definitely covers 4 bedrooms, but may possibly be big enough for 5. I need to call our septic company and find out. In the end, it doesn't really matter because this extra room we're putting in in the basement doesn't necessarily have to be a bedroom, but for resale, if our septic covers 5 bedrooms, and bedrooms don't necessarily have to have a closet, we'll probably call it a bedroom.

The 4th bedroom we do "officially" have is small as hell. It meets all the requirements to be considered a bedroom, but unless you're only putting a twin bed in there and a super small dresser, it doesn't really work.

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bv8ma t1_jclhye4 wrote

But, like they said, if you go over 8 total rooms you divide by 2 and round down to the lower whole number to get the bedroom count for Title 5 purposes, or you put a 4 bedroom deed restriction on the property. Now, if the town catches the room count is another story, some would and others wouldn't. I'd guess that your system is sized for 4 bedrooms, my experience with new construction is 4 is pretty standard, you only see 5 or more if you are in a wealthy area where the extra bedroom has a bigger return.

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KKay62 t1_jcmk101 wrote

Yeah, at least in my area, a 4 bedroom seems to be more desirable than a 3, but a 5 bedroom doesn't get much more than a 4 and they even seem to linger on the market longer.

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