Why Does My House Flood but Not My Neighbor's?

After every summer rainstorm, your yard becomes a swimming pool — and your basement doesn't fare much better. Meanwhile, your neighbor's house across the street is seemingly untouched. In fact, your neighbor is going on about how the grass really needed the water. What gives?

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Flooding is one of the most expensive issues you can face as a homeowner. Removing water, cleaning your home, mitigating mold and replacing what you lost adds up fast. So, finding out why your neighbor's house didn't flood can give you some insights into why your house did.

What Is My Home's Flood Risk?

Every home has a different flood risk. Your home’s flood risk is the level of risk that your home has of flooding. The National Flood Insurance Program has three ratings for flood risk: Lower, Moderate and High.

There are a couple of factors that affect your home’s flood risk, ranging from how often your area floods, the distance to water areas and the ground elevation of your home. The ground elevation and how high off the ground your house is can make a major difference between your and your neighbors' flood risk levels.

To check your flood risk, you can use the FEMA Flood Map Service Center address search to check the flood hazards in your area, and also the National Flood Insurance Program’s own tool. Since most insurance policies do not cover floods, the National Flood Insurance Program was set up and managed by FEMA to make it easy for homeowners to get covered for flood insurance.

Why Is My Home's Flood Risk Different Than My Neighbor's?

Your Home Is Closer to Sea Level

The ground elevation between you and your neighbor can greatly vary, so it’s often a determining factor in why your home’s flood risk is much higher than your neighbor's. When a property is further from sea level than yours, the water can more easily drain away from it and into yours.

For example, your neighbor's property might have been built on a hill while yours is on a flat lot at the bottom of that hill. Even a difference of 5 to 10 feet can make a major difference in your flood risk. Even if a natural flood doesn’t occur, if they overwater their yard, your yard has to deal with the runoff.

Your Home Is Closer to Water

The distance to your local water source can also affect the flood risk levels. If your home is significantly closer to the lake or a pond in your neighborhood, the flood dangers are clearly greater for you. For example, your house on the east side of the street might be closer to the lake, while your neighbor's house on the west side of the street may be just far enough from the lake so that excess rain doesn't cause a problem.

Every Lot Has a Different Flood Risk

You might share similar flood risks when homes are close to one another, but for those a couple of acres apart, the difference can be substantial. If you're comparing your home to your neighbors' a few houses down, that distance can matter more than you think.

Your Home Has Fewer Flood Barriers

There are also natural barriers that your neighbor may already have in place that you don’t. Your neighbor's property can have wetlands that could absorb large amounts of water and stop excess water in its tracks, while your wetlands may have been removed in the past or could have been paved over.

Your neighbor may have also installed artificial barriers that keep floodwater away. Rain gardens are designed to absorb excess water, and permeable pavers can help water flow away from your home's foundation.

Flooding Risk and Insurance

Your home’s flood risk can make a difference when you’re shopping for flood insurance. Since most homeowners insurance programs don’t cover floods, you’ll need to shop for it through the National Flood Insurance Program. A lower flood risk generally translates to lower premiums.

More Related Articles:

• How Much Do Flood Damage Repairs Cost?

• No Water in the Basement! Here’s How to Protect Your Home From Severe Flooding

• Flood Insurance: What Does It Cover and How Much Does It Cost?

• Should You Finish Your Basement in a Flood Zone?

• Au Revoir, Standing Water! How to Install a French Drain in 8 Steps

Why Does My House Always Flood, But My Neighbor's Never Does?

What if there aren't that many differences between your property and your neighbor's? In fact, the properties have the exact same flood risk. And yet, you're replacing the carpet in your finished basement for the third time, while your neighbor has never dealt with flood damage of any kind.

Well, all other things being equal, there are still reasons your neighbor's house doesn't flood while yours does.

Poor Grading Can Direct Water Toward Your Foundation

If your homes have similar elevations, your property might just have poor grading. Homes with poor grading can have water slope towards your foundation instead of away from it, causing water damage and leaving it open to flooding when it encounters large amounts of water. Your neighbor’s ground might have a positive slope where the water flows away from the foundation.

To fix poor grading, you’ll need to call a professional landscaping contractor to repair the slope around your home before another flood event happens again.

Some Soil Types Are More Prone to Flooding

The type of soil around your home can also affect whether you get flooded. Certain soils, like loamy soil, can absorb lots of water and release it more slowly than others, while clay soils are vulnerable to flooding. Most neighborhoods share the same soil type, especially if the houses were built at the same time. However, a different soil may have been used during newer construction.

Replacing the soil on your entire property isn’t a cheap fix. Instead, you can try to add compost or sand to assist soil drainage. Adding water-absorbing plants and trees to your backyard, like red maple, daylily, winterberry and Japanese iris, can also help.

A Lack of Drainage May Pose a Flooding Hazard

Your property may simply have drainage issues. When rainwater can’t easily drain away from the home and falls into your foundation or siding, it causes water damage and puts your home at a higher risk of flooding. Your neighbor may be taking better precautions, like routinely cleaning out their gutters and trimming trees to reduce clogging in the gutters and downspouts.

Make sure to do routine maintenance on your drainage system to prevent these issues and reduce your risk of flooding. To improve your property's drainage, you can also install a French drain. A French drain helps move water away from your property more effectively.