Howard County ยท ZIP 20777
Highland, MD water damage restoration for country homes on wells
The roads around Highland run past split-rail fences, paddocks and big lawns, with a house set well back from the road every few hundred yards and a long drive leading to each. Most of those homes have a basement, a well and a septic system, and that decides how a water loss goes.
Page reviewed
Highland basement wet? Tell us what you're seeing.
Water in the Basement? Call NowWhere Highland pipes freeze
A pipe freezes where cold air reaches it, and a country house on an open lot has plenty of those places: supply lines in exterior walls on the windward side, crawl spaces under additions and porches, garages with a sink, outdoor faucets, lines to barns and detached garages, and the well line where it enters a cold basement wall.
Ice expands, and the pressure usually splits the pipe between the ice and a closed valve rather than at the frozen spot. Nothing leaks while it's frozen. The water arrives on the first mild day, often inside a finished wall or ceiling, and on a well the first sign may be a pump that keeps running with every tap closed.
Houses left empty over a holiday are most at risk, because nobody hears the pump or sees the stain. A neighbor with a key, a temperature alert on the thermostat, or drained lines for a long absence all prevent the worst of it.
Prevention is mostly heat and air: steady thermostats through cold snaps, closed crawl-space vents for winter, insulated lines, disconnected hoses, and cabinet doors open on outside walls in bitter weather. If a pipe bursts, switch off the well pump's breaker, close the main and call.
Line split in the cold? Give us your Highland road and we'll send someone.
Ask for a Crew VisitHighland at a glance
Highland is a rural community in southern Howard County, centered on the crossroads of Route 108 and Route 216, with Clarksville to the north, Fulton to the east and Dayton to the west. The crossroads has a few shops and services, and the land around it is a mix of horse farms, fields, woodlots and homes on large lots.
Most of the housing was built from the 1970s onward: colonials, custom homes and some ranches on lots of an acre or more, nearly all with full basements. Many of those basements are finished with family rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms. Older farmhouses remain along the original roads, often enlarged with additions over crawl spaces.
Almost every Highland property draws its water from a private well and sends waste to a septic system. When a pipe bursts, the pump keeps feeding the break until its breaker is switched off, and a big leak or backup can overload the septic field. With no utility meter, a pump cycling while every tap is closed is the giveaway for a hidden leak.
We connect Highland homeowners, farm owners, landlords and tenants across ZIP code 20777 with local restoration crews.
The land rolls toward the Middle Patuxent and its side streams, and the soils hold clay that keeps water against foundations after long rains. Summer thunderstorms bring down branches and power lines, stopping both well pumps and sump pumps, and winter wind across open fields reaches exposed walls and crawl spaces.
Homes sit well apart down private drives, so travel takes longer than in Columbia or Fulton. Knowing your shutoffs, keeping a flashlight near the pressure tank and describing your entrance clearly all make the first hour easier.
Some properties have a barn, a guest cottage or an apartment over a detached garage on the same well. Those buildings need their own labeled valves, and anyone living in them should know where the pump breaker is.
Many owners have lived here for decades and renovated in stages, so plumbing from several eras can sit behind finished walls. Readings, not appearances, decide what gets removed after a leak. Crews serving Highland know the area's long drives and gated lanes well.
The sump pit in a Highland basement
Where a Highland house has a full basement, it usually has a sump pit, where drain tile around the foundation collects groundwater and a pump sends it outside. On clay soil in a wet spring, or during a stalled summer storm, that pump may run for hours.
That's when it tends to fail: the float catches on the pit wall, the motor wears out after years of cycling, the check valve lets water fall back, or the power goes out with the storm. On rural lines, storm outages are the failure most worth planning for.
A battery backup pump buys hours, and a high-water alarm that alerts your phone gives warning before the finished floor gets wet. A standby generator installed by an electrician is another option where both the well and the sump matter.
Test the pump each spring by pouring a bucket of water into the pit, keep it clear of silt, and make sure the discharge empties well downhill. If water has reached outlets or the panel, stay out and call your utility. Otherwise, get a working pump in the pit, then extract and dry.
Sump quit in tonight's storm? Call and we'll tell you when a crew can get there.
Call, Even After DarkThawing a frozen pipe without making it worse, and when to shut the main off
A faucet that slows to a trickle on a frigid Highland morning usually means the line feeding it has frozen somewhere along its run. If it hasn't split yet, it can often be thawed carefully, and the whole point is to keep it from bursting.
Before adding heat, stand ready at the pump breaker and main valve, since a pipe with a hidden crack starts leaking as soon as the ice lets go. Open the faucet on that line so meltwater and pressure have somewhere to go.
Warm the pipe slowly, starting at the faucet end and moving toward the frozen section, with a hair dryer, warm towels, a space heater kept well back, or by warming the room. Never use a flame or torch near pipes or framing.
If the frozen section is inside a finished wall, deep in a crawl space or in a barn line you can't reach, call a plumber. Frost or a bulge on the pipe, hissing, or water appearing as it thaws means it has split: cut the pump's power, close the main and call. Afterward, insulate the run and keep the heat steady.
Not sure whether that frozen line has split? Talk it through with us.
Talk It Through With UsHighland water damage questions
Where the well pump's breaker and the valve for their building are, and that switching off the pump cuts water to everyone. Give them your number and ours, and ask them to report any drip or stain right away, especially in winter when garage lines freeze.
Yes, with a little help. Tell us the road, the mailbox number and a landmark, turn on outside lights, and open any gate. Long drives through trees are easy to miss in the dark, so a clear description saves real time.
Seepage follows rain and appears along exterior walls, often a day later. A plumbing leak ignores the weather and grows near a pipe or fixture. On a well, close every tap and listen: a pump that cycles with nothing running means water is escaping.
On septic, the floor drain may tie into the septic line, which can back up if the tank is full or the line blocked. Stop using water in the house and have a plumber or septic contractor trace where the drain goes. The water is treated as contaminated.
In an older Highland farmhouse cellar, some seasonal dampness usually is; those walls were never built to stay dry. Standing water, a damp patch that keeps spreading, or wet framing above the foundation are not normal and deserve a moisture meter.
Clear leaves and silt from the bottom so the drain works, add a clear cover to keep rain and debris out, and grade soil so water runs away from the well. A well with no drain at all may need one added by a drainage contractor.
Don't use an open flame to thaw pipes, don't walk into water near outlets or the panel, and don't stand under a sagging ceiling. Skip the household vacuum on wet carpet, and don't run water down drains if a septic line backed up.
Switch off the well pump at its breaker and close the main valve. Keep clear of any water near outlets. Move what you can off the wet floor, photograph everything, and call. Knowing how long the water ran helps the crew plan what to bring.
Three to five days is typical for a clean-water leak caught early. Stone cellars, plaster and hardwood take longer, sometimes two weeks. The crew measures every day and stops when readings match dry areas of the Highland house, not on a fixed date.
Nearby communities and related services
Highland is part of our Howard & Anne Arundel region. Services Highland households use most:
- Frozen Pipe Burst Cleanup
- Burst Pipe Water Damage
- Sump Pump Failure Cleanup
- Finished Basement Water Cleanup
- Basement Seepage & Groundwater
- Sewage Backup Cleanup
Neighboring communities:
Country home on a well in Highland? One call starts it.
We'll connect you with a crew that works on Highland's well-and-septic homes every season.
Talk to someone who knows southern Howard County's country homes.
Get Connected to a Local Crew