Technical > Home Improvement > Is this well pit worth restoring?

reply to cdru

Re: Is this well pit worth restoring?

reply to TheSMJ
My septic system hasn't been pumped out since we moved in at the end of 1995. I don't think I've seen any house in my subdivision pumped out either.

reply to TheSMJ
In MI the health department keeps all drilling records and some are even online. If you haven't called someone yet Keller well in Brighton comes highly recommended.
I have yet to figure out the watering obsession in Lower MI.
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This post is made with meat biproducts.

reply to garys_2k

reply to TheSMJ
HarryH13 is right!

If you have no confined space safety training you have no idea how easy and painless it is to die in a low oxygen atmosphere. At a minimum, after you remove the cover, ventilate the space with a strong portable fan for an hour before you enter it.

Unless you're wearing a harness (I already know you won't), a helper is useless. If you got into trouble, he'd crawl in to “rescue” you, and will just make it a double funeral. There are many OSHA recorded cases of “rescuers” piling up in confined spaces, until the supply of brave fools runs out.

About your original question, since the male half of the owners is dead, try asking the neighbors. If they are long term, probably at least one will know the condition of the well when its use was terminated.

Dup

reply to dark_star

Re: Is this well pit worth restoring?

reply to TheSMJ
Someone else would be there in case something happens. More than likely my dad. I could also fit a box fan over the trap door while I'm in there.

If this was any deeper I might be worried, but I stand at least a foot an a half taller than this thing is deep, and its not very wide. If someone had to go in after me they wouldn't even need to put their head below ground level in order to pull me out.

Unless there's a false bottom and it collapses.

I don't think they "get" what type of well pit you are talking about. That's why everyone is getting overly excited.
Can you post a picture so everyone can see?
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If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.

I'll post a pic once I get to the house this weekend.

reply to TheSMJ

reply to nunya

Door to well

Door open

Left side

Right side

The round thing partially visible next to the glare appears to me to be a well cap. It would be attached to the well casing. This well may have (or have had) a submersible pump down inside the casing instead of a pump inside the pit as you were thinking.

reply to TheSMJ
This will be kinda long winded. I lived in Novi for 20 years. Here's some background you should know about.

That is definitely an unused well pit. As someone posted before, they typically put them underground so that they don’t freeze in the winter. In SE lower MI there were a lot of these. But here’s a couple of good (and not so good) things to be aware of since you’re looking at buying this house.

The water table in Novi is VERY high. Flooded basements are not uncommon and most houses have a sump pump. A lot of the wells are/were shallow wells when they were drilled since you didn’t have to go far to get water. However that was before we had a lot of water testing and who knows what people drank in their water.

Orchard Hills Elementary used to be on well water – I know, I went there. I drank it. The water was downright awful. There were days where it was yellow, brown or gray. All that land around there behind the school was apple orchards, and they ran up to about Novi road and 10 Mile – and I’m sure you can guess what was sprayed at some time there. The school is on city water now, but man it was gross.

There used to be a landfill on Meadowbrook back behind Holy Family. If you do some googleing, there were issues back in the early 80’s with seepage of waste that oozing out of the ground during high rains. I have no idea where this stands but just be aware. Found this that might be of interest to you.

»www.cityofnovi.org/resources/Lib···ions.pdf

Also – there used to be an Amoco station at the NE corner of Grand River and Novi road that had some big issues with leaking gas storage tanks in the 80’s/90’s. They did remediation, but again just be aware. Water table around there had problems too. The soil is alkaline around there so add high water, and you get all sorts of corrosion on underground storage tanks

So if you’re going to use it to water your lawn that should be fine. But regardless of that I would pay special attention to all the fine print on your FEMA flood impact statement, as well as the environmental impact report when you go to buy the house. Remember, Novi was NOTHING until the early 1970’s when 275 was built and the mall went in. In the early 70’s Grand River, Haggerty, and Novi Road were the only paved roads. Most people off the main roads heated with oil or coal until Consumers power ran gas out there, so you might have an underground tank somewhere.

Robbin: You could very well be correct. I thought I had taken a better photo of it than that, but that's the only one I have where it's visible at all. I'll try and get a better photo of it the next time I'm out there.

Kilovolt: The house is in Farmington Hills (off of Farmington Rd between 10 and 11 mile). The Rouge River is the closest natural source of water to the house and that's about a mile away. The house is outside of the 100-year flood plane and on a hill about 15-20 feet above the street, so I'm not too worried about flooding in the area.

Since the house is now on city water and I have no interest in dealing with water softeners and filtration equipment, I have no plans to drink the water out of the well - it would be outdoor-use only. I might get it tested for potability just to satisfy my curiosity, but I'd only ever use it to water the lawn.

reply to TheSMJ
I believe, as someone else pointed out, that the wellhead is in the "door open" pic, on the floor under water, partially hidden by the reflection of the opening.

The pump would have sat on those blocks in your "left side" pic, and it's outlet connected to the pipe against the wall just above the blocks.

Not sure about other piping in there.