I’m going to look at a house tomorrow out in the country on a few acres of land. The agent told me today that the house is built on or around a spring, or that there is a spring in the basement. I assume it’s a small spring, and the house is made party from stone, but still…would that be safe? Is it unusual? Anyone else seen a house with a spring in its cellar?
This is not unusual. Whether or not it is safe depends on the quality of the foundation, the size of the spring, and how the house is situated for drainage. I would not assume the spring is small.
I helped to excavate an old foundation in the neighborhood, about 30 foot square, that was built on a couple good flowing springs. We jacked up the house and put it on piers, then replaced the old stones with a concrete foundation. I left before the project was complete, but the general idea was to channel the springs through the wall to a pool below the house.
Neighbors from Pennsylvania used to live in a large house, built on several springs, that has lasted well over 150 years. They had good pumps in the springs to deal with overflow during unusually wet weather.
In this area, old spring houses are fairly common; basically a stone foundation built around a spring, with a roof. Some of them have a framed second story. Most are small (twelve foot square + or -). People used the spring house to keep milk cans clean and cool until they were hauled to the creamery. In some places the second story served as living quarters for hired help, grandparents, visitors, teenagers, etc.