[Summer'sBreeze]

I live on the West Coast right now but I’m looking (online for now) at lots in Lake County near Baldwin. My plan is to start with an RV and maybe in the future put in a mobile home or house. I want to spend my summers in Michigan and go south for the winter.

I've learned that the soil in this area is very sandy (8+ feet down) and drains really fast, which made me wonder about a few things:

• Do wells cost more or less in deep sand?
  
• Does the fast drainage cause issues with septic tanks leaching to the wrong area?
  
• Is septic cheaper or more expensive in deep sand?

Also, I imagine gravel driveways would be an issue because the sand would swallow the gravel up.

• Do people just keep throwing more gravel on until they finally give up or is there a better solution?

I hope the solution isn't blacktop because I don't like blacktop (not to mention that I can't afford it).

I won't be buying land through a realtor in order to save money so I won't have one around to help me with these questions. Besides, in my experience realtors often don't know about this kind of thing anyway. I will talk to tradespeople, of course, but the more advice I can get the better, especially for a real estate purchase. And this way I'll have a better idea if the tradespeople know what they're talking about or not. Thanks ahead of time, everyone, for your input.

[michigan83]

I can’t specifically answer your well or septic questions, but I think the sand is generally better for a home site than heavy/clay soils. I think it actually provides a nice base for the driveway and it helps water drain quickly away from the foundation. It’s not going to be unstable like beach sand, if that’s what you’re thinking of. One of the downsides will be that grass doesn’t grow very well or stay green in the summer.

[Summer'sBreeze]

I forgot to ask if anybody knows about contractors to use or avoid.

Originally Posted by michigan83

I can’t specifically answer your well or septic questions, but I think the sand is generally better for a home site than heavy/clay soils. I think it actually provides a nice base for the driveway and it helps water drain quickly away from the foundation. It’s not going to be unstable like beach sand, if that’s what you’re thinking of. One of the downsides will be that grass doesn’t grow very well or stay green in the summer.

Yes, I imagined the soil was like beach sand. Glad to hear it's not like that! I'm not big on lawns anyway so that's not a loss for me. I'll just have to look into drought resistant plants. Hooray! An excuse to indulge in my gardening habit. "Oh, I'm just studying plant catalogs because I need to, not because I want to."

[jackmichigan]

Sand can be quite stable. I have a cottage in northern Michigan which likely has very similar soil conditions to Lake County. We have never even put gravel on our driveway as the firm sand supports the cars quite well. In fact, most of the cottages in my area don't have "improved" driveways. Many of the year-round residents, however, seem to choose to do so.

As far as septic issues, the main concern is to have a safe distance between the septic field and the well. If there are a number of residences nearby, there is also concern about the location of their septic fields. Whereas many wells used to be shallow wells, nowadays most are drilled deeper in order maintain separation. Ours was drilled to a depth of around 70+ feet. You'll need to check with the local well drillers, but in my area there was a thick layer of clay which separated the top and bottom layers of sand. As far as the cost for drilling wells, I'm not sure if there's much difference between sand or other soil conditions. I just know that it's much easier to put a shallow well into sand as I've installed a couple of them myself (12-16').

Sand is definitely preferable for drain fields but, as I mentioned, you do need to keep a safe distance between your septic and your well. There is most likely a local ordinance which requires a minimum distance, and the local well drillers will be your best resource.


P.S. If your intent is to eventually build a house, you might be better off simply buying a house to begin with, or waiting until you're ready to buy. From a cost perspective, that may be the cheaper way to go. You can find some reasonably priced places in northern Michigan.

[scorpio516]

My mom had a very sandy lot that wasn't flat in Clare county. Every year most of her driveway would end up in the road.

Her well was cheap
Her septic was too
The water was very clean

[Summer'sBreeze]

Looks like I don't need to worry about the driveway. That's good news. I talked to a well driller today and found out wells are being drilled pretty deep in that area these days, around the 5-10,000 ft range, so that's not so good. I'll talk to a couple more drillers but it seems unlikely the first one was off very far. Of course the cost will vary from one property to the next, but this is completely out of my budget range.

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

P.S. If your intent is to eventually build a house, you might be better off simply buying a house to begin with, or waiting until you're ready to buy. From a cost perspective, that may be the cheaper way to go. You can find some reasonably priced places in northern Michigan.

It might be cheaper, but it's still out of my budget range.

I'm not giving up yet, but I'm feeling a bit stumped. I want to live independently and within my means but it's tough on a budget like mine. I know some people just put an RV on a lot in Lake County and call it good, but you can run into trouble with the authorities doing it that way. I keep my place neat and clean but it's possible a neighbor might complain anyway.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by Summer'sBreeze

Looks like I don't need to worry about the driveway. That's good news. I talked to a well driller today and found out wells are being drilled pretty deep in that area these days, around the 5-10,000 ft range, so that's not so good. I'll talk to a couple more drillers but it seems unlikely the first one was off very far. Of course the cost will vary from one property to the next, but this is completely out of my budget range.

Are you sure that you heard that right? I've never heard of a water well in Michigan that was that deep. Was he perhaps referring to an oil or gas well? Now that I would believe.

[michigan83]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

Are you sure that you heard that right? I've never heard of a water well in Michigan that was that deep. Was he perhaps referring to an oil or gas well? Now that I would believe.

Yeah, that can’t be right. A well that’s almost TWO MILES deep? No way.

[Summer'sBreeze]

Originally Posted by michigan83

Yeah, that can’t be right. A well that’s almost TWO MILES deep? No way.

Two miles? You're right. That's not possible. I'm bad with numbers and I had no idea that 10,000 ft. was close to two mile. I thought I wrote the numbers down right but I must have goofed. Guess I'm REALLY BAD with numbers!!! Well, there's your laugh for the day!

[jackmichigan]

According to Michigan's Water Well Manual, published in March 2019, most residential water wells are less than 200 feet deep. In the section near where I live, wells range from 57 to 187 feet deep. I was surprised that there was a well that was that deep--most seem to be around 100 feet deep.

The state has a searchable data base to find well records. If you know the County, Township and Section, you can find the depth of many water wells.

MDEQ Well Record Retrieval System