We've hit water

[SALL2009]

Builder has been digging the trenches for the foundations and guess what he has discovered. A water well, shame it is near the house. Otherwise I would’ve loved to bring it back to life. Anyone else come across this? Could this cause an issue with building next to it?

Untitled

• SALL2009
• 16 Mar 2012
• 1

Untitled

• SALL2009
• 16 Mar 2012
• 1

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

That's great, I'd keep it for the missus

 

[noseall]

You can either preserve the well and lose the building or engineer a design that will allow the well to stay....

..or, fill the well with lean mix concrete.

 

[JohnD]

there is a special design of cap you can get, used a lot in old mining districts. Shaped like a mushroom where the stem goes down the shaft and prevents it caving in, and the domed top carries the burden. I think they are bought precast. They are far cheaper and less troublesome than doing a complete fill (which will settle)

 

[SALL2009]

The well is not inside the trench. it's on the side of it. so the building Will not be over it.

 

[SimonH2]

There's a pub near me where they've made a feature of a well underneath it - inside, in the bar. They've put lights in and a thick glass cover so you can stand there and look down.

 

[SALL2009]

there is a special design of cap you can get, used a lot in old mining districts. Shaped like a mushroom where the stem goes down the shaft and prevents it caving in, and the domed top carries the burden. I think they are bought precast. They are far cheaper and less troublesome than doing a complete fill (which will settle)

the cap is already built over it with bricks. builder only broke a few bricks from the side of it. he Will reinstate the bricks before filling the trench.

 

[noseall]

There's a pub near me where they've made a feature of a well underneath it - inside, in the bar. They've put lights in and a thick glass cover so you can stand there and look down.

They have one in a boozer/brewery in Market Drayton too.

 

[JohnD]

seen one in Witham too.

 

[SALL2009]

Any risk of the weight of the new building making the well to shift/break internally? Are these wells built strongly enough?

 

[tim00]

There's a Tommy Walsh programme dedicated to a well located in the living room floor of a cottage. It's an excellent done job, and worth looking up - wherever one finds old Tommy Walsh TV programmes?