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Jim57
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New Well House Plans Wanted
- Thread starter Jim57
- Start date
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dmccarty
Super Star Member
Jim,
I'm in central NC and I built a box, roughly a 5 foot cube, around the well and pressure tank. I insulated the box and I put a CF bulb in to provide heat. Even when it was cold here the box stay around 40 degrees. This was a temporary installation until we decided what to do. That temp installation has been used for 20 months or so.
Long story short I started designing a well house this past week. I don't need permits if I build a 12x12 shed. So I'm going to build a 12x12 shed. Our well is currently on a roughly 5x5 concrete pad. I figured I'll just extend the pad to at least 12x12. Maybe larger for a pad in front of the door. The current plan is to make the walls and roof removable so I can lift them out of the way with the FEL/Pallet forks if I need to have the well redrilled or pump pulled. I need some storage space and this would work as well as providing us plenty of space to add a filtration system in the future.
Some of the pictures of what other have done make me wonder if their solutions would work better....
Later,
Dan
I'm in central NC and I built a box, roughly a 5 foot cube, around the well and pressure tank. I insulated the box and I put a CF bulb in to provide heat. Even when it was cold here the box stay around 40 degrees. This was a temporary installation until we decided what to do. That temp installation has been used for 20 months or so.
Long story short I started designing a well house this past week. I don't need permits if I build a 12x12 shed. So I'm going to build a 12x12 shed.
Our well is currently on a roughly 5x5 concrete pad. I figured I'll just extend the pad to at least 12x12. Maybe larger for a pad in front of the door. The current plan is to make the walls and roof removable so I can lift them out of the way with the FEL/Pallet forks if I need to have the well redrilled or pump pulled. I need some storage space and this would work as well as providing us plenty of space to add a filtration system in the future.Some of the pictures of what other have done make me wonder if their solutions would work better....
Later,
Dan
I've also been looking at building a well house for a 4" submersible, 250 gallon tank, and water softener. Waiting on some bids to come in for it. I also talked to the guy that put in the well (he's been doing this for 25+ years) to see if he had any suggestions/tricks/tips on the design, i.e., removable walls and/or roof. All he said to do was make sure there was a roof turbine or something similar directly above the well in case he needed to pull it.
My will probaby be 8' by 12' and have a two windows as well as the door for ventilation. Whats the reasoning behind removable walls/doors? My well is about 150' deep and has a 1-1/4" draw pipe.
Ira
My will probaby be 8' by 12' and have a two windows as well as the door for ventilation. Whats the reasoning behind removable walls/doors? My well is about 150' deep and has a 1-1/4" draw pipe.
Ira
Egon
Epic Contributor
Jim; for inexpensive you may also want to think about this type of construction.
http://http://www.jameslnelson.com/The%20Sod%20House.htm
or
http://http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/soddies.html
http://http://www.jameslnelson.com/The%20Sod%20House.htm
or
http://http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/soddies.html
dmccarty
Super Star Member
Ira,
My thinking is that if for some reason the well requires a well truck to fix the problem then the walls would have to be removed and thus the roof. I was talking to a couple of guys yesterday who have repaired wells in the past and we came up with at least three different pipes running to the pump. Some of the old wells have galvanized pipe, I have seen what looked like PVC, I *** THINK *** my well is using a black plastic pipe that is seamless and this would be easier than the other pipes to pull out. But it would still require some headroom.
One of the guys had his well collapse. It was about 220 feet deep. The fix was to redrill but then add gravel to keep the well from collapsing again. Now the well is 80 feet deep with pleny of GPM but no reserve.
That is why I think the wall(s) and roof have to be removable....
Later,
Dan
My thinking is that if for some reason the well requires a well truck to fix the problem then the walls would have to be removed and thus the roof. I was talking to a couple of guys yesterday who have repaired wells in the past and we came up with at least three different pipes running to the pump. Some of the old wells have galvanized pipe, I have seen what looked like PVC, I *** THINK *** my well is using a black plastic pipe that is seamless and this would be easier than the other pipes to pull out. But it would still require some headroom.
One of the guys had his well collapse. It was about 220 feet deep. The fix was to redrill but then add gravel to keep the well from collapsing again. Now the well is 80 feet deep with pleny of GPM but no reserve.
That is why I think the wall(s) and roof have to be removable....
Later,
Dan
stevenf
Platinum Member
Jim, I have several recommendations after having had a well problem less then a month ago. Well repair folks charge by the hour not the job at least around here you need to make their job as painless as possible. If your putting in a well house I also believe your best best bet is something you can easily lift off or dissassemble and move. I can't believe your area let you have a well without the concrete slab around the well head before the drillers left as part of the finished well its code around here that it be a 5' X 5' with well head in the center. When they pull a well its the reverse of the install every 20ft they block the well pipe unscrew that section and dump 20feet worth of water on the ground (or in your well house if its not removable) and do it all over again and again until they get the pump out) To make matters worse once the new pump is back in the hole they will have knocked loose a bunch of stuff and they will also dump at least a gallon of bleach down your well to sanitize it once the well head is breached then they let the pump run open without hooking up to your water system until the water clears up and stops smelling like bleach, you really don't want the well running inside of a building for an hour full blast it'd be a heck of a mess plus all the water and muck coming out of the removed well pipe. My water system consist of a 3000 gallon concrete storage tank, a well house that only encloses the pressure tank, control boxes and 10hp booster pump. The actual well is 650' deep and is connected to the storage tank and is by itself on its own slab and since we're in South TEXAS its just insulated with that foam insullation wrapped around the pipes and duct taped. Since your farther North you probably need to do a better job of insullating your well head but I'd sure make it easy to get to later. There is a guy around here that uses chicken wire and insullated concrete of some type and forms a dome with a metal ring on top that is used to lift off the dome when the well needs service, he forms them into all sorts of stuff natural rock look, mushroom, a big duck whatever you'd like. Its not terribly hard to form chicken wire and smear some concrete on the outside that sounds like a good cheap fix if you do it yourself he charges about a thousand dollars for his "well art" and these beverly hills types we've got surrounding us nowdays are lining up waiting on him to come build them a duck.
Steve
Steve
My friend just put in a well in East Texas (No wells in my part of Texas). His crew installed walls and roof that were module and all made of only 4" thick Urathane. I had never heard or seen anything like that. The house did look like it was made of urathane from the outside, not so attractive. I bet it's termite proof though. That spray-on insulation would do well in 2x4 or 2x6 modular walls, but termite treatment needs to be perminent (lifetime guarentee). Maybe more $$$ than you want though.
oliver28472
Veteran Member
Jim,
I had a well house made of concrete block. The mason put some anchor bolts in the top blocks in order to anchor down (flat) some treated 2x8s. Then I had a sheet metal man make a top out of galvanized sheet metal. It was a regular gable roof, roughly 2-12 pitch. It had a treated 2x4 screwed in the ridge and one on each side for stiffeners. The sides overlapped the treated 2x8 and was held on by stainless steel wood screws. To remove, one person could easily remove the wood screws, lift one end and slide it away from you, walk around to the other end and slide it on down off of the building. I had a light mounted on the wall on the inside and a weatherproof switch on the outside.
I had a well house made of concrete block. The mason put some anchor bolts in the top blocks in order to anchor down (flat) some treated 2x8s. Then I had a sheet metal man make a top out of galvanized sheet metal. It was a regular gable roof, roughly 2-12 pitch. It had a treated 2x4 screwed in the ridge and one on each side for stiffeners. The sides overlapped the treated 2x8 and was held on by stainless steel wood screws. To remove, one person could easily remove the wood screws, lift one end and slide it away from you, walk around to the other end and slide it on down off of the building. I had a light mounted on the wall on the inside and a weatherproof switch on the outside.
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Jim57
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oliver28472 said:
I would like to see some pictures of this house. I could stucco the block and apply river rock on it and blend it later into a lighthouse to the side.
I have considered building the building with rock from my Truck patch but It needing to be accessible made me change my mind. They would need to get drill truck close enough to pull the two inch PVC pipe (280 feet) plus 6 feet for the pump out if it needed serviced.
Jim
Farwell
Veteran Member
Jim,
In Michigan many outdoor wells are covered with a small building a little bigger than a dog house. All inside surfaces of the building are insulated with 3 1/2 inch foam board and in cold weather, heated with a 150 watt bulb. If I needed a well house, I would put down a concrete pad and embed some steel into the concrete that I could fasten some heavy duty hinges to, build the well house and fasten the heavy duty hinges to the base of the well house. I would build my building no bigger than was necessary to easily access parts that may need repair. I would build the building sturdy enough to withstand being tipped on its side for easy access but also light enough to be tipped by a couple of men. It could also be built so it could easily be lifted with a FEL.
"Keep it simple", the motto I try to live by!
Farwell
In Michigan many outdoor wells are covered with a small building a little bigger than a dog house. All inside surfaces of the building are insulated with 3 1/2 inch foam board and in cold weather, heated with a 150 watt bulb. If I needed a well house, I would put down a concrete pad and embed some steel into the concrete that I could fasten some heavy duty hinges to, build the well house and fasten the heavy duty hinges to the base of the well house. I would build my building no bigger than was necessary to easily access parts that may need repair. I would build the building sturdy enough to withstand being tipped on its side for easy access but also light enough to be tipped by a couple of men. It could also be built so it could easily be lifted with a FEL.
"Keep it simple", the motto I try to live by!
Farwell