Well cover question

Hey——

I'm looking for some input in finding or making a good cover for a shallow well. It's lined with concrete well tiles and has a 36" outer diameter, with an inner diameter generally 29-30".

Was looking to get a concrete cover but having more trouble finding one than expected. Any good recommendations of a place that can ship one? Or other suggestions for tight seals that will keep insects, rodents etc out?

It's got a plywood cover right now, weighed down, but not tight enough seal.

Your well sounds a lot like what is in this thread.

https://permies.com/t/164020/Housing-Spring

You might find some good suggestions there.

I suggest a type of roof slanted to one side.

you might build something as simple as a peaked roof or even a flat slanted roof.

Can you have a steel circular trap door made with a hinge across the middle or less.
The steel being say, 6 mm thick.
This could be sealed and attached to the concrete structure.
The hinge area can be sorted so there is no ingress of water or bugs and a lock system could be fitted over the edge.
This is the shape I am talking about. The sample image is from a saucepan!

hinged well cap style

u\you could make a concrete lid   using steel mesh and rebar imbedded by making a form out of wood that would be close to the size and shape. make it with a lip so part of it will go inside the top of well.  then when its cured put a old shower curtain or sheet of plastic over the well weighted down on the outside edges so it won't fall in. the take hydraulic cement or good mortar mix and put a gooey thick layer around the outside edge and up under the lip of new concrete lid and place your new lid on top of plastic pressing it down a bit to let soft mortar edge conform to the top of well. if you incorporate a couple metal hooks into rebar/mesh before pouring you will have easy way to remove lid when you need to.
total height of concrete well lid should probably be about 3 or more inches..
something like this might work

got another idea for ya
you could build form around outside edge of well a little bit higher than what it is and then use concrete to make smooth level top edge to it
does that make any sense

Do you need to open the well up in the future, thats why I suggested the steel lid, its managable.

John C Daley wrote:Do you need to open the well up in the future, that's why I suggested the steel lid, its manageable.

I would *always* assume that you might need to open a well at some time! Things happen, even if not for a long time.

As discussed in the thread Anne linked to, there's the issue of keeping bugs and small stuff out, and the decision of if you want a building over it, and the concern for contamination from surface run-off.

My friend in Nova Scotia has had a concrete cap on hers and had no problem for at least 10 years. Yes, I expect you could make one if you followed the suggestions above, but I would make the "metal hooks" mentioned really strong and preferably stainless, although I'm biased by my wet climate that rusts everything.

The hinged metal has merit also, but again, in my climate, I'd probably want to add concrete to the top edge of the existing tiles to ensure that the metal lid was sloped so that rain would clearly flow off it. Our well had a flat-topped plywood box over it when we bought the land and it turned into a vermi-culture within 5 years. If it had been made sloped and with a plan for where the water would go, I suspect it would have lasted decades longer. A stainless hinged lid would likely be big bucks, but it would last!