Living Near a High Water Table

If you live near water, you know that there are positive and negative aspects to it. It’s beautiful, but likely more expensive. It provides endless fun opportunities but can also damage your home. Let’s talk about that last part. 

Living near a body of water, whether it’s an inland lake or Lake Michigan, means your area naturally has a higher water table. The water table is essentially the level of water in the soil - it’s a baseline of saturation.  

Here’s what a high water table means: the soil has less capacity for absorption since there’s already quite a bit of moisture, which means it oversaturates and floods faster and more frequently. It’s also less likely to dry out between rain events and therefore even quicker to flood next time. 

Without a waterproofing system in place, this flooding can put your home at risk with every storm, and even in between. Whether you have a basement or crawl space, this flooding potential can ruin possessions, harbor mold, and make your home unpleasant.  

While your system design specialist will build a system specific to your home’s needs, there are a few things we often recommend for high water table areas. The first is a powerful sump pump, like our TripleSafe. The TripleSafe has three pumps in one crock to control and abate even high influxes of water. The second is a robust drainage system like our WaterGuard below-floor drain. WaterGuard is installed around the perimeter of the space and feed line can be installed across the middle of the rooms to ensure quick discharge of water. 

While living near the water has plenty of perks, the high water table does create some inherent risks. But with the right waterproofing system, you won’t need to worry what’s happening outside, because your home will be dry and comfortable.