Groundwater

A recent study by geologists at Western Michigan University has concluded that the stability of a building site on a hill or bluff has a direct relationship to the presence of groundwater and/or lacustrine clay within the soil. Should either or both be present, you probably should not be building there. In order to make sure that is not the case, you should get a professional evalution of the property by an engineering geologist or a civil engineer. Costs can run from a simple on-site inspection at $500 to as much as $10,000 for a thorough evalution. The other thing you can do is search well records. For those interested in a low cost method of determining if there is ground water perched on their property, search county well records. While time consuming, and I quote, “if your hill is 65 feet high and well records show your neighbor's well hit water at 30-35 feet, it’s a safe bet your property has ground water at that level as well”.

Offered by John.