Spring house input

This seems like the most appropriate forum for this, but I'm not super sure! We have been in our property for a year, and it includes an old masonry spring house. The spring house is certainly much older than the house itself, which is from the 1950s.

It's a seepage spring, not active flowing, but it has standing water and fills actively from the seeping walls when it rains. It's unclear whether it has any inlet beyond seepage, but I don't think so. It has an outflow pipe that drains (slowly) underground out towards the small catchment pond, which is artificial and just a dug out pond a few feet below the usual water table (and the pond then has an overflow pipe that drains into a dry creek bed downstream). The spring house used to also house the well for the house's drinking water, but everything (spring house, pond) went dry in a drought about 25 years ago, and the house was put on municipal water, so the well is no longer used (though the aboveground hardware is still at least partly present in the spring house channel).

The roof of the spring house is also clearly very new, but the walls themselves... not so much. There is a fair amount of crumbling of the masonry and damage, both inside, and outside where it's aboveground, especially at the corners and the tops of the walls. We plan to look into repairs, and they will probably be substantial and complicated.

The question really is... what should we do with it?? It's extremely cool and we love it! But we do have modern refrigeration. Maybe someday, when we're more established, we'll experiment with making cheese, and it might be good for that, but we're not there yet. Last year we also had such a severe local drought that it all went dry again, so I guess we can't completely rely on it. It is also a big enough structure that the temperature inside is actually not well regulated except down in the water (which is where you would store dairy, so okay, but ideally the rest of a spring house structure can serve as cold but not frozen storage). We could try to insulate it better (and maybe keep out critters! Right now it's fully open under the eaves so small animals can come right in and nest in there). But at the moment, it doesn't really work as a root cellar: the air does get below freezing in cold winter temperatures, and it gets hot in the summer, with such a high ceiling and rafters. I'd love suggestions and ideas for what to do with such a cool piece of our property!! Thanks!!

That looks like it might make a good root cellar.

Or maybe a tornado shelter if where you live is prone to those.

Oh that is pretty cool (in both senses!)

If the eaves are open it is not surprising that the temperature varies so much. I suspect that if you blocked gaps and insulated the roof you might find the temperature range was much more suitable for cool food storage - a slightly damp coolish place is ideal for many vegetables and drier shelves for pantry items and seeds perhaps.

The stonework doesn't look bad in the photos (mind you photos can be deceptive....). I suspect to make it into dry storage or for alternative uses would be much more work though.
How big is the interior?

Nancy Reading wrote:If the eaves are open it is not surprising that the temperature varies so much. I suspect that if you blocked gaps and insulated the roof you might find the temperature range was much more suitable for cool food storage - a slightly damp coolish place is ideal for many vegetables and drier shelves for pantry items and seeds perhaps.

Clearly closing the gaps in the eaves and adding insulation to the ceiling would be a good first step.  If I wanted to explore the potential for this structure as something like a root cellar, I'd also consider berming earth higher on all sides.  That would go a long way towards stabilizing the temperature through the seasons.  You have the advantage that the masonry walls should be impervious to soil contact.

What is your location vis a vis summer highs and winter lows outdoor air temperatures?

or your

Annual outdoor air temperature (often abbreviated as AOAT or MAAT for Mean Annual Air Temperature).

There are a number of ways to increase the depth of your seep well, even in these rather tight, little room, low ceiling situations.

"How to drill a water well yourself using a power drill. And a water jet."

https://youtu.be/xQRhsoSCXvg?si=ubzzyZDizhS4wCwy

My feeling is that if you're getting surface water that the ground water level is not that much further underground.

Only time and drilling, will let you know.

What a beautiful little structure, Syd - that is just picturesque as can be...   I second the comments about some insulation / closure for the gaps, a good start would be to line the interior of the roof / area above the stone with double bubble radiant insulation onto furring strips attached across the rafters, silver portion facing outward, leaving an air envelope between the interior roof surface and the reflective surface. It will mediate the heat, and won't mold under any conditions. The interior that you see would be the white surface interior layer.

What about repurposing it for growing medicinal or culinary mushrooms?
Could you stack shitake plugged logs inside there???
Turkey tail or Lion's mane or Reishi mushrooms could perhaps grow well if there was a small amount of venting to facilitate some air exchange at the ground level just before the roof begins, and a small window (preferably north facing to help trigger fruiting) was placed in one of the gable ends)
If you can modulate the temperature swings, it seems like a good place to experiment with growing mushrooms.... damp.... dark....

Let us know what you decide to do with it!

A quick glance at the roof indicates it is far newer than the original one.  I wonder if the original roof was, perhaps sod?  That would allow for cooler inside temperatures than this chipboard and shingle one.  I would be careful and regularly test any water seeping in as this is shallow enough to allow seepage of surface water.  Any animals around the lawn could be providing bacteria that would not be helpful.  Placing closed cell foam on the outside of the walls would be much less picturesque, but good to keep out surface seepage with associated fungi, bacteria, etc. and maintaining temperatures more in a continuous range. The zone indicates much of NC and the upland region of SC, North Georgia (outside taller mountainous areas) and much of north Alabama.  Current soil temps at 8" down are showing temps in the mid-to upper 70's.  I would not suggest this would work as a decent tornado shelter. That roof is not likely structurally attached to the walls and even then, the cement on what appears to be limestone looks quite old and showing its age.  Does the home have a basement?  I would guess not or it would be wetter than this. In the areas most commonly identified as zone 8a, tornadoes have a bad habit of hiding until they pounce.  It is not a good idea to have a shelter outside the home in such areas, too much exposed travel in potentially deadly conditions.

The vegetation beyond the springhouse in the first picture with the home appears to be heading down into a channel.  That would indicate potential for flooding and if so, the remnants of a flood in a building like this are less than desirable.

It definately looks cool and I really wish it could be easily modified to be worth the upkeep.  Perhaps there are other homes with such structures in the area?  If so, ask the owners if they know what they were used for.  On meditating on the photo of the interior, what if the roof was modified to a greenhouse and then used for starting plants in the spring.  I could really see that as a use since drought would be past the plant starting portion of the season, but the chances of frost past February inside would be minimal.  Any open water on the floor would help to maintain a frost-free growing area with favorable humidity.  Just a wild thought.

Thinking a little bit sideways here.... since the structure is a bit damp anyway, can you make use of that? A sauna? An indoor water feature/pool and growing area? I quite like Richard Henry's sheltered greenhouse idea.

Thanks for all the replies!! We're in eastern PA, which has spring houses everywhere, and yes, the water level inside is just the shallow water table. The house is slightly uphill, and the house's basement also has a sump pump (two, actually), like most around here. The walls of the spring house only actively seep during precipitation events (uh, probably too much; the masonry is very old and the mortar probably needs some real repair), and otherwise it's just the channel that has water that seeps in and keeps it filled at water table level. The channel drains out through the outflow pipe to the catchment pond, which is a short distance downhill and also at water table level (not perched); and that has a drain pipe that lets out into the dry-ish creek bed, for when the water table gets a bit too high or runoff is a bit too vigorous. We do not have pastured animals at all (our acreage is too small for that to be permitted in this township), and up-grade, the land is our front yard and a busy road with a vacant lot across the street, so we don't need to worry so much about animal runoff (though road pollution is a concern).

I have been wondering if insulating the roof properly would be enough to return it to its original root cellar function, or if there would still be too much air space to stay buffered by the spring. I agree that the structure is old (like all spring houses, at least around here), but the roof is very new. Personally, I would love to have it function as a root cellar by the time the forest garden and other new garden beds really take off. My spouse is also starting a small vineyard, and if we can control for humidity with the corks, a root cellar environment like this could be a good wine cellar, too. And maybe eventually, I'll make friends with some neighbors with fresh dairy, and I'll make some cheese! It sounds like these sorts of ideas are on the right track!

Richard Henry wrote:A quick glance at the roof indicates it is far newer than the original one.  I wonder if the original roof was, perhaps sod?  That would allow for cooler inside temperatures than this chipboard and shingle one.  I would be careful and regularly test any water seeping in as this is shallow enough to allow seepage of surface water.  Any animals around the lawn could be providing bacteria that would not be helpful.  Placing closed cell foam on the outside of the walls would be much less picturesque, but good to keep out surface seepage with associated fungi, bacteria, etc. and maintaining temperatures more in a continuous range. The zone indicates much of NC and the upland region of SC, North Georgia (outside taller mountainous areas) and much of north Alabama.  Current soil temps at 8" down are showing temps in the mid-to upper 70's.  I would not suggest this would work as a decent tornado shelter. That roof is not likely structurally attached to the walls and even then, the cement on what appears to be limestone looks quite old and showing its age.  Does the home have a basement?  I would guess not or it would be wetter than this. In the areas most commonly identified as zone 8a, tornadoes have a bad habit of hiding until they pounce.  It is not a good idea to have a shelter outside the home in such areas, too much exposed travel in potentially deadly conditions.

The vegetation beyond the springhouse in the first picture with the home appears to be heading down into a channel.  That would indicate potential for flooding and if so, the remnants of a flood in a building like this are less than desirable.

It definately looks cool and I really wish it could be easily modified to be worth the upkeep.  Perhaps there are other homes with such structures in the area?  If so, ask the owners if they know what they were used for.  On meditating on the photo of the interior, what if the roof was modified to a greenhouse and then used for starting plants in the spring.  I could really see that as a use since drought would be past the plant starting portion of the season, but the chances of frost past February inside would be minimal.  Any open water on the floor would help to maintain a frost-free growing area with favorable humidity.  Just a wild thought.

The floor floods every time there is heavy rain, for what it's worth. It's kind of built for that. But the masonry needs some restoration for sure. That said, any flooding in the past year that we've been on the property has been very brief, since the catchment pond slows all the water and any additional runoff drains out pretty quickly through the drain pipe to the creek bed.

I have wondered whether it would work to put a well-insulated greenhouse roof on a spring house structure! It would be a combination spring house and walipini, in that case. The internet seems to think this is a bad idea and just wouldn't work, but with the buffering effects of the spring, I'm not sure about that. But I'm honestly not sure it will work in this specific case. We get substantial freezes in Pennsylvania, and at the moment the air temperature gets well below freezing. The masonry walls are also quite high and the roof pitch is east and west, so solar angles would be poor to heat anything but the roof line except in the dead of summer, when you mostly want things cooler.

If the roof pitch is east-west, then I would suggest using a lean to roof.  Placing a winter night/storm cover of metal over foam would allow decent insulation during the coldest periods.  Placing closed cell foam over at least the upper three feet of the wall would be useful and I would double the foam on the north side.  Placing barrels of water in strategic locations could allow a decent thermal buffer.  The barrels along the north wall could serve as supports for a table for holding plants.  As a secondary thought, along the south wall, construct a cold frame below ground level with insulated panels to cover the clear ones similar to the roof.  Design the cold frame to allow placing fresh horse manure in the fall.  The composting of that manure should provide some good heat and against the thermal mass of the south wall of the spring house, would add some longevity to the growing season for curcibars at least.  While the system may not withstand the rigors of a full Pennsylvania winter, I would bet you could harvest till nearly January and restart around March for hardened plants.  Just some thoughts.

Richard Henry wrote:If the roof pitch is east-west, then I would suggest using a lean to roof.  Placing a winter night/storm cover of metal over foam would allow decent insulation during the coldest periods.  Placing closed cell foam over at least the upper three feet of the wall would be useful and I would double the foam on the north side.  Placing barrels of water in strategic locations could allow a decent thermal buffer.  The barrels along the north wall could serve as supports for a table for holding plants.  As a secondary thought, along the south wall, construct a cold frame below ground level with insulated panels to cover the clear ones similar to the roof.  Design the cold frame to allow placing fresh horse manure in the fall.  The composting of that manure should provide some good heat and against the thermal mass of the south wall of the spring house, would add some longevity to the growing season for curcibars at least.  While the system may not withstand the rigors of a full Pennsylvania winter, I would bet you could harvest till nearly January and restart around March for hardened plants.  Just some thoughts.

Interesting ideas, but I don't think I want to damage the concrete floor or the original stone, so I'm not going to cut out the floor for a cold frame. The floor is designed to be right above the water table level, so anything excavated would just be another flooded pool, anyway. And since we don't plan to remove the high masonry walls, the problem with sun never reaching the floor would still be an issue, even with a lean-to roof and a steeper pitch. I think a springhouse greenhouse is an interesting idea, but it wouldn't work with this specific structure.

Happily, we're already planning an attached greenhouse/conservatory space on the house after a coming renovation, we have six 4x8 raised beds in front of the barn, and I'm converting probably an acre of the property to forest garden plots, so we won't lack for growing space. I think it will probably make more sense to update the springhouse with insulation so it works for storage.