• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

New well... flooded basement

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

ShawnaS

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?
Michigan

Our well died on us on May 25th. We had a company come out at look at it and he agreed to put in a new well (not the first guy we had previously researched this due to well problems in the past). After getting a health department ok, he started drilling on May 30th.

He called my husband later that afternoon (we were both working) and notified him that he had a problem and got our carpet a "little wet and that your wife wont be happy when she gets home". He said this was from back pressure and that it forced the water up through where our wold well was installed (old 1 1/2 inch well, the pump is in the basement).

When I got home that evening, he was gone and my basement was SOAKED. He flooded the whole room. Our basement was newly remodeled, just installed the carpet and trim 2 weeks prior. The carpet was covered with not only water, but sand which at the time I had no clue why there was sand. The entire utility room had flooded a few inches full of water and went through that wall, into our 208sq ft room. (16x13) and the drywall (also new) had soaked the water up a few inches. The water also passed through a second wall to the exterior of the house (we have a walkout basement). I got plenty of pictures, dont worry.

It took him 4 days to finally call us and say he was coming over to talk to us. At that point I had already called the Home owners insurance and started to process the claim. He insisted that he would take care of it and that he would rather not go through his liability insurance so I had the claim placed on hold (we were not planning on spending 4,000 on a well and we have 1000.00 deductible we would have to front so we wanted him to take it off the bill because we could not afford it. Really stupid...... I know ok......) . Come to find out, he hit a vein of peastone and that made all the water they were pumping down the new well as they drill come up under the basement floor and through every crack it could bringing sand and mud with it.

He re-drilled a new well on June 4th. We had a few problems with the well so he had to make a few house calls (the pump he put in didnt work right) he was actually VERY rude to me when I called him. Spoke to me like I was 8. Yes I am female but I do know my way around a BREAKER BOX and a SHUT OFF VALVE..... he has tried to blame everything on us that he can.

He called yesterday and asked for some of the money for the well (he isnt finished yet, he has to bury the line going to the house, the ground had to dry before he could do that) and has yet to even give us a bill. He told my husband over the phone about how much it would be, 50.00 less than the quote he gave us for a 100ft well (the one he put in was 85ft, you subtract 14.00 a foot for anything under the 100ft price). I asked why it was so much and he said because he had to charge us for coming to the house on Friday to bury the line and the doors was locked so he couldnt do it (I guess he hauled equipment over also I dont understand why he couldnt dig anyway and what that has to do with being in my house?). We had NO CLUE he was coming over and I dont generally leave my door unlocked.

Anyway, my husband asked him about the basement again (I had asked him a week ago, stating that if I needed to process a claim that I needed to know, he got very rude with me and said I just needed to calm down a wait he would take care of it, just calm down. I informed him that my homeowners was going to do the work, replace the carpet and drywall ect. He said my drywall didnt get wet and I was being ridiculous). He asked my husband how much the carpet cost and that was how much he was going to compensate us. My husband asked about installation, disposal ect. he said not charging us for the first well (the one that flooded the basement) was compensation. So all in all, he wants to give us a few hundred.

I know I was stupid on my part for not going through the homeowners but this is my first home and I was under the impression that it is bad to have claims on the insurance. I thought it would be better to handle it and have it taken off the bill since we have to scrape pennies to pay for it. Any advice on how to handle this would be great. Again.... I know I am stupid.... I just didnt know how to pay for the well AND a deductible.What is the name of your state?
 


justalayman

Senior Member
Don't take this as athoritive but I don;t believe the driller has any liability for the damage. Unless there is proof he did something negligent that caused the water to pump back or it is standard practice to seal a pre-existing well prior to drilling a new well because of this being a known problem, you may simply be stuck with the damage.

This may get chalked up to one of those things that have no blame attributable to anybody.

I would suggest speaking with your insurance company. You already filed the initial claim so they are already aware of the situation. They may be able to advise you as to any liability the driller does have without actually going through with collecting on the claim.
 

ShawnaS

Junior Member
I would suggest speaking with your insurance company. You already filed the initial claim so they are already aware of the situation. They may be able to advise you as to any liability the driller does have without actually going through with collecting on the claim.
Both my insurance company and the well driller himself said he was at fault. Thats why he wanted to settle this on the side because he didnt want the claim on his liability insurance.

I just think it is kind of fishy that he is waiting so long to deal it out. I think he either
A. wants to charge us as much as he can on the bill first or
B. wants it to be to late to file a claim on the insurance

Im just not sure how to handle it. I think that maybe we should pay the bill for the well and then bill him for the damage or go through our insurance company if he doesnt pay. Then he cant really go back on us and charge us for the first well he considered "compensation" can he? Especially if its not in writing?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
If the well driller believes it to be his fault that is good. From what you have posted, I still don't see it as his fault but that is neither here not there so...

since the driller wants to play games, I would simply get an estimate for the damages and subtract that from what the well system cost. As far as not charging for the first well, unless you had some agreement that if he didn't hit good water or whatever that would infer he was able to charge you for both wells, I would not consider that in as any charge to you.

If he doesn;t want to pay that, file a claim with his liability insurance.

If he is truly at fault, your insurance should not have to pay a thing. You could speak with your insurance as to their position in paying the claim and you subrogating the claim to them. It may not be considered a claim against your insurance if that is possible.

It;s too bad the insurance ladies haven't been around here lately (moburkes and betty). They would be able to give you the best direction as to how to deal with the various insurance companies and the problems in each situation.
 

ShawnaS

Junior Member
We never really had any agreement other than he would drill us a well.

I dont really see how this is his fault either but he did say he was liable. Im not going to argue. Thats what he has insurance for.

My only thing is this guy is really sketchy and makes me nervous. Like, if we mess with him, he will mess with us and frankly, with all the stuff going on with the neighbor, I almost want to just settle it and go on. My only concern is that awhile from now, we will get mold or something and then what do we do. We cant go back on him. I am also concerned that if that much water pushed up under our basement floor did it mess up the foundation?

I was thinking about seeing if he would sign an agreement that if we have any mold problems in three months or foundation problems in a year he would compensate us. But I dont think it will fly with him.....
 

justalayman

Senior Member
if you think you may have problems later on if you need to continue to deal with him, I would suggest getting everything you can now so you won;t have to fight for it later.

as far as mold and such, water remediation should be part of the work performed and I would expect some sort of warranty from whatever company performs the service.

You definately should watch the area to prevent things before they would get too bad anyway.

Rather than asking him to provide a warranty up fromt, I would rather hesistate to sign a release that releases him from any such future claims. Be forewarned though that any future damage will have to be determined by a professional if you ever need to consider court to make a claim.

Again, your insurance company may be your best friend in this as they would understand the future implications as well, if not better, than anybody else involved.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top