Rural Homes Around Middlesex County: Wells, Septic and Crawlspaces

Rural home water damage in Middlesex County tends to come from three things town houses do not have: a private well system, a septic system and, in many farmhouses, a crawlspace or old cellar. Each one fails in its own way. Help is also farther away in the country, so prevention and a fast shutoff matter more than they do in town.

How a well system causes water damage

A house on a well has its own small waterworks in the basement or utility room: a pressure tank, a pressure switch and often a softener, an iron filter or a UV light. Every one of those adds fittings and hoses that can leak. Treatment equipment also has discharge lines that have to drain somewhere, and a discharge hose that pops out of its drain will pump water onto the floor every time the unit cycles.

The bigger risk is a break while nobody is home. When a pipe or fitting lets go, the pressure switch senses the drop and starts the pump. The pump keeps feeding the leak for as long as the well can supply it. There is no neighbour to notice and no water bill to tip you off.

Well water is also cold. In humid summer weather the pressure tank and cold lines sweat heavily, and the drip is steady enough to keep the floor and nearby framing damp for months. Insulating the cold lines and running a dehumidifier in that room deals with it.

Septic backups are a different kind of water

A septic system can back up into the house when the tank is overdue for pumping, when the outlet is blocked, when a pump chamber fails, or when the leaching bed is saturated after a wet spring. The lowest drain in the house is where it shows, usually a basement floor drain, shower or toilet.

Sewage is the most contaminated category of water under the IICRC S500 standard. The cleanup is different from a clean leak. Carpet, pad, drywall and insulation that touched it are removed, and the hard surfaces left behind are cleaned and disinfected before drying begins. Keep children and pets out of the area.

If you see a backup, stop using water in the house right away. Every flush and every load of laundry adds to it. Call a licensed septic pumper to deal with the system itself. The mitigation work inside the house comes second.

Crawlspaces and old farmhouse cellars

Many rural homes around the county are older farmhouses with fieldstone or rubble foundations, low cellars, and additions built over shallow crawlspaces. Some still have an old cistern in the basement. These spaces were never dry by modern standards.

A crawlspace with a bare dirt floor releases ground moisture all year. Vents in the foundation wall, meant to air it out, pull in humid summer air that condenses on the cooler joists and ductwork. The signs are easy to recognize once you get a light in there:

• Fibreglass insulation hanging down or lying on the ground.
• White or grey fuzzy growth on joists and the underside of the subfloor.
• Rusting ductwork, hangers and nail heads.
• Floors above that feel soft, cupped or cold.
• A musty smell in the rooms over the crawlspace, strongest in summer.

The lasting fix is a sealed vapour barrier over the soil, carried up the walls, with the moisture source dealt with and the air in the space kept dry. Moldy framing is cleaned first, under containment, so the spores are not carried up into the house.

Hydro outages and distance

When the hydro goes out on a rural line, the well pump stops, and so does the sump pump. Storms that cut power are often the same ones that fill the pit. Rural outages can last longer than those in town, so a battery backup may not be enough for a house that depends on its sump. A generator with a safe, properly installed connection covers the sump, the well pump and the furnace.

Distance matters too. It takes longer for anyone to reach a concession road than a city street, and a house set back from the road may sit empty all day with no one to see a problem.

Preventing rural home water damage in Middlesex County

1. Install an automatic shutoff valve with leak sensors on the main line after the pressure tank. It closes the line when a sensor gets wet, which also limits how long the pump can feed a leak.
2. Put sensors at the pressure tank, water heater, softener and laundry.
3. Have the septic tank pumped on the schedule your pumper recommends, and keep a record.
4. Test the sump pump every spring and fall and plan for backup power.
5. Check the crawlspace with a flashlight twice a year, once in late summer.
6. Shut off the well pump at the breaker when you leave for more than a couple of days.
7. Ask your insurance broker how your policy treats septic backup and sump failure. These are often add-ons.

If you are not sure what shape the crawlspace or cellar is in, a moisture inspection with a thermal camera and meter runs $249 to $549 and gives you readings to work from.

Common questions