I'm coming up on the 20th Anniversary of owning the farm-- 200 acres to the SE of Cincinnati.
Before closing on the place, the owner took me down into a hollow and showed me a spot. "There's a well here," he said, pointing to a spot on the ground. I realized there was a cover over it, buried in the leaves. "Nobody has touched it for 80 years," he said. "I'm pointing it out to you, because you need to warn people not to go near it." The cover was rotten. I threw a stone through a hole in cover. It took a while for the splash to happen.
After that, I made sure everyone in the family knew not to go down there. It's an easy place to point out. It's easy to avoid. I've maybe walked past there 3 times. I invited #1 granddaughter down with me, and she refused to go. Her Dad and uncle had already told her. We have folks coming to camp. We always point the spot out, and no one goes on the property without first getting a briefing about the well.
Q: What should I do with that well? Options:
1) Do nothing. I warn everyone that comes on the property with my permission. 2) Put up a warning sign 3) Fill it in. 4) Put a new cover over it.
I see all 4 having possible upsides and down sides.
1) Do nothing. I warn everyone that comes on the property with my permission. 2) Put up a warning sign 3) Fill it in. 4) Put a new cover over it.
I see all 4 having possible upsides and down sides.
Kind of a no brainer..........those old hand dug wells are dangerous, if left uncovered. I have two on my farms, one I filled in, the other I built a new cover for.
If you know you'll never use it, fill it in. There is absolutely no reason to leave it as it is.
Dig a footer around the perimeter, weld up frame and cover with a steel plate,, worked well for me,, sign is an excellent idea also,, Ive pulled coon hounds out of these wells and cisterns before and also seen dead calves, deer,squirrels and any number of animals in them, even had some bodies pulled out one about 20 yrs ago,, turned out they were mob union bosses from chicago that got whacked and dumped,,, years ago a high sought after stud dog est value at the time was$40,000 fell in one in the land between the lakes, and drowned was found with a tracking collar,,peace of mind with kids around would easily cover cost
Tell no one about it use it to hide any future bodies you need to dispose of
Given the period of time we're living in, that could come in handy.
I like the way y'all think.
The cover at this point seems solid enough to hold up a dog, but not a kid or an adult. I think what I'm going to do is put a sign up first.
Would I want water out of it? It's 90 feet lower than the house, so it would be a bit of a haul I could fill it in with surrounding clay and still be able to pound a pipe down in the future. What future would that be? Heck if I know. I get all my water from rain catchment and I'm only utilizing less than half the roof space. I also have the option now of hooking up to city water. As long as the S doesn't HTF, I've got more water than I'll ever need. This well is probably contemporary to the 1850's farmhouse, whose foundation is about 300 yards from our place, the 1902 house. That must have been a hard life: schlepping water up 90 feet of vertical across 200 yards of hilly pasture. Yikes! So much for the good ol' days.
I think the sign ought to do for now. I'm moving out there full time in a couple of years and adding on the place. When I have a bulldozer handy for digging the cellar, I'll send him down to fill in the hole. That is probably the cheapest and most permanent. fix.
Tell no one about it use it to hide any future bodies you need to dispose of
Given the period of time we're living in, that could come in handy.
I like the way y'all think.
The cover at this point seems solid enough to hold up a dog, but not a kid or an adult. I think what I'm going to do is put a sign up first.
Would I want water out of it? It's 90 feet lower than the house, so it would be a bit of a haul I could fill it in with surrounding clay and still be able to pound a pipe down in the future. What future would that be? Heck if I know. I get all my water from rain catchment and I'm only utilizing less than half the roof space. I also have the option now of hooking up to city water. As long as the S doesn't HTF, I've got more water than I'll ever need. This well is probably contemporary to the 1850's farmhouse, whose foundation is about 300 yards from our place, the 1902 house. That must have been a hard life: schlepping water up 90 feet of vertical across 200 yards of hilly pasture. Yikes! So much for the good ol' days.
I think the sign ought to do for now. I'm moving out there full time in a couple of years and adding on the place. When I have a bulldozer handy for digging the cellar, I'll send him down to fill in the hole. That is probably the cheapest and most permanent. fix.
Signs all 4 cardinal directions and orange flagging tape 15 20 ft around the perimeter of it . For the time being... Even spray painting the trees around it some fugged up neon color about 4 ft high on the trunks.
With 30 minutes, and a t-post driver, you can have it enclosed.
For cryin out loud, this^, or at least a few T post driven in the ground around the perimeter & paint 'em fluorescent. Takes maybe 20 bucks & 20 minutes.
Might keep a forgetful person on & ATV or a stranger from dying. A better lid, even a truck hood could keep larger critters from falling in it.
Otherwise, the airmchair prepper in me says keep the well. It could come in handy.
With 30 minutes, and a t-post driver, you can have it enclosed.
For cryin out loud, this^, or at least a few T post driven in the ground around the perimeter & paint 'em fluorescent. Takes maybe 20 bucks & 20 minutes.
Might keep a forgetful person on & ATV or a stranger from dying. A better lid, even a truck hood could keep larger critters from falling in it.
Otherwise, the airmchair prepper in me says keep the well. It could come in handy.
Not sure I like that. When I was a kid, that would have attracted me and my buddies like a magnet. The fact nobody knows it’s there has kept the curious away (and safe).
If someone falls in, they'll have no problem proving that you knew about it and didn't remove all possibility of them doing something to earn a Darwin. A lawyer will have a big payday at your expense. You need to protect yourself as noted above.
Attorney: 'so, knowing there was a problem, all you did was put up a sign'????
Ans: 'yes'
Attorney: 'can the sign be seen from all directions, what about people that cannot read'?????
As others have opined, fill it in, or make a no-chitt cover that forces someone to WANT to get in............
IMHO!
You're spot on.
In a courtroom the sign would quickly become an admission of guilt much like vicious dog signs.
The sign is documentation of you being aware of the issue and did nothing to correct it.
A 6 foot fence fence with signage posted warning of vicious dogs still makes you liable if somebody can get over the fence and gets bit.
It's been 20 years and the OP has done nothing. It's better left that way, atleast he could claim ignorance of knowing of the hazards existence when some kid blows through it on his 4 wheeler.
If someone falls in, they'll have no problem proving that you knew about it and didn't remove all possibility of them doing something to earn a Darwin. A lawyer will have a big payday at your expense. You need to protect yourself as noted above.
Do this right away. Specially since you have occasional campers. Sooner or later someone is going to fall into it and you will be liable for their death or injury since you knew about the hazard on your property and did nothing about it. Protect others and yourself at the same time. A fence is probably a good thing to do in addition to a cover and a sign.
I'm coming up on the 20th Anniversary of owning the farm-- 200 acres to the SE of Cincinnati.
Before closing on the place, the owner took me down into a hollow and showed me a spot. "There's a well here," he said, pointing to a spot on the ground. I realized there was a cover over it, buried in the leaves. "Nobody has touched it for 80 years," he said. "I'm pointing it out to you, because you need to warn people not to go near it." The cover was rotten. I threw a stone through a hole in cover. It took a while for the splash to happen.
After that, I made sure everyone in the family knew not to go down there. It's an easy place to point out. It's easy to avoid. I've maybe walked past there 3 times. I invited #1 granddaughter down with me, and she refused to go. Her Dad and uncle had already told her. We have folks coming to camp. We always point the spot out, and no one goes on the property without first getting a briefing about the well.
Q: What should I do with that well? Options:
1) Do nothing. I warn everyone that comes on the property with my permission. 2) Put up a warning sign 3) Fill it in. 4) Put a new cover over it.
I see all 4 having possible upsides and down sides.
Have it professionally secured. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen otherwise.
If you want to take a chance of having your azz sued off and losing everything you own including the aforementioned farm then by all means put up a sign. If you are smart you will fix it permanently and be done with it.
Having spent 36 years in the well business I have seen some sight. Old hand dug welsl are full of contaminates. In the decades of working on wells and cisterns I have only seen one that did not have something dead in it. Make it go away. Water would be unfit for human consumption. The open well also contaminates adjoining wells. If you were going to try and save it, Get a Duerr gravel guard screen for the bottom 5 feet and solid pipe to the surface. Place in the well and backfill with 3"+ washed rock to within 5' of the surface, then 6" of bentonite on top of the rock and fill to top with native soil. All this done after all the dead critters are removed.
If the old open well was on my property I'd fill in with riff-raff rock and sand up to within a few feet from the top and then fill it to the top with dirt.
When we lived out in the country the field behind our place had two such old wells. One had a cover of old rotting wood over it, the other was open and had no cover. The open well with no top had slick moss covered cobble stone walls and had been there so long the surrounding dirt at the top had created a sort of funnel about 6' feet across. When crops were planted there was no way to tell exactly where it was.
A big pecan tree grew near it and one day after crops had been harvested my wife, son and I walked back there to pick up pecans. Neighbor's little Beagle was running loose and tagged along behind us. Beagle got too close to slick "funnel" around well and down the hole it went. Luckily we had had a good bit of rain that Fall and the well had filled with water pretty close to the top but still It was all I could do to lay down flat on my stomach, and was just barely able to reach and grab the dog by the scruff of the neck as it whined and swam in circles and sling it up back on top again.
Put a stick of well casing in the middle, fill with several yards of gravel, and dirt the rest of the way. Cap the casing for future use. Plant garden in low area...
A well just sitting there.....I'd have to case it and then start pushing it with a dozer. Take about 10 minutes and it's no longer an issue.....and you have a casing to work up some irrigation if you need it.
Additional info: The current cover is 10 feet across. It's a big hole, although I can't say for sure.
Holy Crap. That thing will eat cows and deer.
I would hire or rent a front end loader/excavator and fill that in post haste. I can not imagine the tragedy if a kid or drunk adult stumbled across that and fell through.
I would put in a four foot casing, fill around it, and put on a cover. I have filled in some old cellars and a shallow (part-time) well on our place, just in the interest of safety. We have a campground and can't risk a kid falling in a hole. GD
That was my thought upon seeing shaman's post about using the surrounding clay and using a pipe in the future if he needed it.
Why not dump a truckload of gravel/sand or similar in there around a pipe already to get, then fill with the clay. Of course, it rains back there. No way in hell I'm completely giving up a source of water on my land out here.
Good luck with it shaman, but make that thing safe before you "lose the farm".
Do you want to drink water from a well that animals have been falling in for 80 years?.. fill it in if you need water go a ways off and drill a proper well ,
Can you get a big-ass spool from the power company?
Good idea. That doubles as a 360° sign, can be free, but downside will rot. St least it buys time and should be impossible to move with four mining bolts.
I would start by seeing how big a sheet of galvanized and baked corregated metal roofing is available. I've covered septic tanks with multiple layers, covered with soil and run riding mowers over them for a decade with no problems. Of course, YMMV.
As valuable as wells are, Im going with keeping it and considering it for back up or future off grid option.
I would quietly do some research on what your legal requirements are with an abandoned well and what the law requires that you do with it, then proceed from there.
Landowners in Kentucky are responsible for decommissioning abandoned wells within 30 days of deeming them unusable or unneeded. Abandoned wells have clear guidelines for closure under the law (401 KAR 6:310 Section 11), and all of the work needs to be accomplished by a Kentucky certified water well driller.
For liability concerns alone Id fill it in. If you got dirt onsite, that would be a few hour at most job for a decent operator. I wouldnt use that as a source of potable water as it sits....as others posted Ive never seen one like yours that didnt have dead creatures etc in it. If you want to reserve it for future use I would pipe and cap it as others described at time of filling it.
JMHO- I'll go with the others. Fill the sucker in immediately. Most surface water is contaminated anyway. Being more or less open for so many years, it's surely full of nastiness.
Just a few years ago, the people at the end of the road lost their place when a man they hired to do some work did some stupidity and got hisself killed seriously dead. Even though it was glaringly obvious that the man's unsafe actions caused his death, the dead man's family successfully filed a lawsuit against the neighbor, and they lost the whole friggin place