Where and when to dig a well

If you have sufficient financial resources, then you can drill a well at the site using specialized teams. But it is quite expensive — not everyone can afford such a pleasure. Therefore, there remains another option — to dig a well with your own hands.

Features of aquifers

In preparation for the construction of a water source, it is necessary to determine its presence and the main properties of the soil. It is important to consider that there are 3 main types of groundwater:

Verkhovodka — lies at a depth of 1-2 m, but it is not suitable for consumption without complex preliminary cleaning. Such water should not enter the well.

Ground — most suitable for drinking and household needs.

Artesian — have the highest parameters for safety, nutritional properties, chemical composition. They lie deep enough, are not exposed to pollution.

How to find the right place

When determining a site for digging, you should study the surrounding area. You can find out from neighbors who have already carried out this kind of work. Naturally, if wells have already been installed near your site, then there is a high probability of finding suitable water on your land.

It should be remembered that clay and sandstone layers have the highest degree of water content.

With complete certainty, you can confirm the presence of water only by drilling. But this method is expensive. Therefore, indirect methods are used. A well in the country can be placed where:

• there is a large accumulation of moss on the ground, and there are a lot of midges and mosquitoes in the air;
• green spaces are concentrated even during the drought period;
• there is flooding of basements;
• fogs are frequent when there are no water bodies nearby.

Dowsing will help you too. To do this, take two brass sticks. The length should be about 500 mm, and the diameter should be 2-3 mm. They are bent at an angle of 90 degrees, but so that one end is 100 mm. With these sticks in hand, they walk around the site. In the presence of an aquifer, they intersect.

Location Requirements

It is also necessary to take into account the requirements of a sanitary nature. After all, water should be healthy and safe. The object is recommended to be built:

• at a distance of at least 30 m from the places of occurrence of household pollution falling directly into the ground;
• in the absence of sewage that does not have a bottom;
• on a higher site to prevent discharges from neighbors;
• available to water users.

When to build

The most suitable period of the year for digging a structure is the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, when the groundwater level is minimal. In winter, when there is also not so much water, work is much more difficult and impractical.

If you are going to drill a well with the involvement of a construction company, then this parameter is irrelevant. The presence of powerful drilling equipment allows you to work at any time of the year.

Design features

If you decide to make a well yourself, then you need to decide on the methods of work and the type of construction. All further actions will depend on this.

Types of well structures

It is possible to build a tubular well. However, its arrangement requires special drilling, so this option is used for the construction of columns, which will be used by many residents of the village.

For a private house, the mine method of construction is most suitable. With this option, the trunk is dug manually with shovels. Although you can also involve specialists with special drilling rigs.

Material selection

Previously, wooden well structures were popular. Now this option is less common in the arrangement of country houses. Although in our time you can equip the mine with a log house or lower a box of boards knocked together in advance into the trunk.

Currently, a concrete well is more common. It is made of high-strength reinforced concrete rings. Their size is usually up to 0.8 m in height with a diameter of 1 m. Special grooves are available.

The rings are successively lowered into the shaft and fixed. This option is characterized by strength and durability of operation, resistance to soil settlement and protection from percolation seepage.

You can buy rings for construction from manufacturers. But there is also the possibility of self-production. For this, high-quality concrete is used, for example 400, with additives from plasticizers, as well as water repellents and stabilizers. The latter increase moisture resistance.

In the manufacture of concrete, cement, sand and crushed stone are used in a ratio of 1: 2: 3 or 1: 2.5: 4. In this case, the mass of water will be about 50-70% of the mass of cement.

The composition of the concrete type well

Structurally, as part of the well structure, there are:

• a water intake located in the lower part of the structure and collecting and filtering incoming water;
• a trunk, which is an underground part of the structure, holding back the earth and preventing seepage of perched water;
• head in the above-ground part, protecting the system from the ingress of pollution from the outside and freezing in winter.

Construction of a concrete well

Arrangement of the stem part is easier to carry out using factory-made rings. The height of each block must be selected based on the possibilities of their lifting and lowering into the mine

And the diameter of the ring should be convenient for being inside a person when digging. To facilitate the work, a winch or tripod is used. Work should be carried out by 2-3 people.

Arrangement of the trunk

First you need to dig a hole corresponding to the diameter of the concrete ring. After that, with the help of a winch, the first structural element is placed in it and the soil is continued to be knocked out from the inside until the ring is level with the ground. Then they pull up the next one and put it on top of the ring that has fallen into the mine.

The worker, who is inside the structure, continues to dig the soil and knock it out from under the installed blocks. Rings under their own weight gradually fall down. The dug earth, together with the stones, rises to the surface in buckets.

Individual elements should be placed more tightly, fixing them in a stationary state with metal brackets. You can see this feature in the photo of the well, which is in the digging stage.

As you approach the three-meter depth, the temperature drops to +10 degrees, and the air movement worsens. To ventilate the face, an umbrella is opened and, in the open form, it is moved up and down the shaft.

Installation of rings is carried out before reaching the aquifer. At this point, the temperature drops, and small fontanelles appear on the walls. Further digging will be quite difficult, but it needs to be completed as quickly as possible.

This way of working is the safest. Although you can also dig the shaft completely first, and then put rings in it. But this option requires special skills and is associated with the risks of rock collapse.

Water inlet and filter

When the aquifer became available, it is necessary to clean the bottom and build a bottom filter. Indeed, at this moment, opaque water begins to accumulate below. It needs to be pumped out, dig another 15 cm, level the bottom and clean it of dirt by lifting it up.

River sand is poured to the bottom. The thickness of the backfill should be 25 cm. Gravel or medium-sized gravel is placed on top of a 20 cm layer, and then another 20 cm of large gravel.

It is recommended to pre-wash crushed stone and gravel with a solution of bleach. It often happens when the aquifer is very liquid, the water flows quickly, and the bottom begins to swim. Then you should put boards with slots on the bottom, thus constructing a flooring. On top of it, it will be necessary to lay all the layers of the filter.

Waterproofing works

So, you have successfully equipped the well shaft, built a filter. Now we need to protect the inside. For this, waterproofing is carried out using a mixture of PVA glue + cement. Such a solution is well mixed, forming a homogeneous mass. Work can be carried out in two stages:

• the liquid mass is applied with a brush to all seams;
• then with a spatula close up with a thicker solution.

You can also purchase ready-made waterproofing material that does not contain bitumen.

It is important to protect the outer part of the well structure. After all, melt or rainwater can get inside through the soil. Therefore, along the outer edge of the rings located at the top of the well, a trench is made with a width of 0.5-0.7 m.

Then they build a clay castle, filling the trench with this material. According to the ground level, a slope is formed in the direction from the well to drain sedimentary water. The site should preferably be concreted. The top rings can be additionally wrapped with foil.

Before use, water must be pumped out. They do this for 2-3 weeks, after which the water is handed over to laboratory tests.

Head construction

The outside must also be finished accordingly. Concrete rings must be faced with stone, plastered or covered with wood. A constructed cover for the well will help protect it from contamination. A lock is mounted on it. In this case, it is necessary to install a gate for wrapping the chain at least 200 mm in diameter.

When mounting the handle in the axle gate, you should additionally put 2 washers from the handle and 1 piece in the opposite part. So you extend the life of the elements of the lifting mechanism.

The aboveground part of the well can be designed not only in the form of a house, but also by installing a well crane. Often they leave an open house with decoration and decoration.

You can make a decorative well for the landscape design of your backyard. It will decorate the yard, and also cover some infrastructure elements, such as sewer manholes. In the log house of such a well, you can successfully plant beautiful plants.

Digging a well with your own hands is not a difficult task. Any person can cope with it, if you follow the safety precautions and the proposed instructions. As a result, your home will be provided with clean drinking water all year round or during the breakdown of centralized water supply.

Photo of modern wells