Hi Does anyone know where I stand it extending and building over a well / water store that is within 8 feet of my house. The well is about 10 foot deep and 4 feet in diameter, can I build over it after capping or do I need to fill it in?
Any info most welcome.
David
A pub I used to visit put a glass floor over a well they found under the floor and spotlights down it. Still felt unconfortable standing on the glass though, and it was a lot deeper than 10 feet.
how did they dig those wells that deep anyway?
steve
In message , David Clay writes
Don't know about building problems but for interest....
We lived in a house built in 1907 which had a *soft water well* constructed close (about 6') to the kitchen wall. All the rain water was collected and routed into the chamber with overflow pipes to soaks in the garden. There had been a *tank room* on the second floor which a previous owner had converted to a tiny bathroom.
The structure was built in brick with an arched roof to carry the patio.
If yours is similar, checking your rainwater disposal system might be wise:-) Otherwise, I don't see why you can't use a suitably sized concrete lintel to carry the new imposed load. Watch out for the overflow pipes.
regards
Check with your local Council building control people - it's one of the things that they got very excited about when we were doing building work here.....
...the workshop would have got very complicated and had enormous foundation until the BCO kindly suggested a 'work-around' - which was much easier...
The technique round here (sandy Suffolk) seems to be to use concrete interlocking 'sewer'-pipe - big rings maybe 4 ft diameter and a couple of feet deep.
Sit one flat on the surface of the ground, then dig away the earth from inside the ring and underneath the lower edge.
The ring then drops into the hole that you just dug. When the top edge of the ring is just above ground level, place another ring on top of it, and repeat the digging.
When you hit water, dig a bit further and then stop.
Our well is about 25ft deep, and produces all the water you'd ever need - waste water goes to our septic tank. No involvement from any water authority - no costs other than £40 - per year for water filters.
Want to buy a bungalow, anybody ?
======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply
If you are going to fill it -
Andy
"David Clay" wrote
Tommy Walsh had a TV show where he went around helping people with building work. Tommy makes it Big or something?
One episode(s) was about a kitchen extension over a well, which had a glass lid fitted & lights inside.
Dave
Start from the bottom and keep digging till you reach daylight?
A circular wooden former is made, 4ft diameter. This allows a man to dig inside. The brick layer puts his bricks around the top of the former. The 'digger' undercuts the former. The former with bricks sinks, more bricks are added, more undercutting and so on.
So no excuse now not to have your own water supply.
mark b
Fascinating. Which explains the marvellous dry brickwork in FiL's well.
It isn't a real well, it is a 'Herefordshire Soak'. About 20ft deep, no water source at the bottom, but brickwork arranged in an angled herringbone fashion, so that water can percolate in sideways. Ideal for use on (impermeable) clay soils, where the water actually lies between clay layers.
I always wondered how they did such accurate brickwork. Thanks.
Or they dig down a few feet (depending on how stable the soil is) then fix a frame to the sides of the hole and build up to the surface, then dig down a few more feet and build back up to the existing brickwork ...
Was that at Northiam by any chance?
Tim
That doesn't ring a bell, but I can't remember the name. It was near Wheathampstead Herts, which is where I was working at the time. I'll see if a former work colleague who still lives around there can remember the name.
In message , Andrew Gabriel writes
The Elephant and Castle, Amwell.
regards
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