What is a clay castle? And why is it better not to do it? Clay castle for a well: purpose and technology for making it yourself A well castle made of film
The main task of the owners of a drinking well is to keep the water in it tasty and safe for health for many years. For this purpose, specialists have developed a set of technical measures, the regular implementation of which will ensure the well many years of operation.
A particular danger to water quality is posed by melted and rainwater runoff, and perched water. Properly executed waterproofing seams do not allow contaminated moisture to seep into the well shaft, but water wears away the stone, so you should not rely on the durability of sealing mixtures. They need to be reinforced with additional protection from the outside.
Reliable and simple solution
It is not always necessary to use nanotechnology for a good result. Clay castle for a drinking well clearly proves this. This method of providing intrusion protection Wastewater and their neutralization was used back in the Roman Empire. It is based on natural properties mineral clay. Now there are other methods, but they cannot be compared in terms of simplicity, cheapness and reliability of operation with a simple clay castle.
Why clay?
This natural material chosen for a reason. Not every breed is suitable for constructing a waterproofing castle. Professionals use only pure fatty clay, with the percentage of impurities not exceeding 15%. Replacing it with loam and other bulk materials is pointless and ineffective.
The finely dispersed structure allows the clay to absorb large volumes of moisture, retaining it, and the special shape of the trench for laying waterproofing helps to drain the upper groundwater from the well shaft.
High-quality clay has a dense plastic and viscous texture and an oily sheen to the surface. A well-compacted layer, about half a meter thick, is practically waterproof.
Do not confuse a clay castle with a simple clay blind area. The lock is laid at a depth of 1-1.5 rings and must cover the first underground joint between the rings. The blind area is thinner and does not provide waterproofing of the well
Construction of a clay castle
You need to start backfilling the clay castle only after the soil around the well has completely stabilized and subsidence has stopped. The minimum period between the end of digging and laying the lock is at least 6 months.
Be careful - unscrupulous well builders offer to fill up the castle immediately after constructing the well, citing time savings. Violation of technology is fraught with consequences that will take a lot of time and work to eliminate. Also, soil that was removed during the digging of a trench cannot be used for the construction of a castle.
After the well has settled and the soil no longer subsides, you can begin to build a trench for the clay castle. The depth of the ditch can reach up to 2 meters, the width - at least 30 cm. After preparation, a thin lining of sand or sand-gravel mixture is poured into the bottom of the trench and leveled.
Before laying the clay, it needs to be kneaded thoroughly. It is very difficult to do this manually. Because the volume of clay required for a high-quality clay castle is 1.5-2 cubic meters. Construction crews use concrete mixers to knead clay or special nozzles for drills.
Unprepared or poorly kneaded clay is not suitable for the construction of waterproofing castles. It retains partial porosity, through which rain or melt water will reach directly to the well shaft and destroy the sealed seams between the rings.
Inexperienced builders who are not familiar with the intricacies of laying and preparing the clay mass believe that it is very simple. As a result, the clay castle turns out to be a completely unreliable protection, and it has to be redone.
Checking the quality of clay is quite simple. You need to take the lump in your palm and knead it thoroughly. Good clay high fat content is easily formed in the hand, like plasticine. Coarse impurities and sand are not felt in it. As it dries, it becomes covered with cracks.
Professional installation of a clay castle
Each master has his own approach to building a clay castle, but we will describe the technology that is used by experienced employees of the Russian Well company. The ring trench for waterproofing should narrow slightly in depth. The most common mistake is organizing the slope of the bottom towards the well trunk. A tilt is needed, but only from it.
The prepared crushed clay is evenly laid out along the bottom of the trench with a thickness of no more than 20 cm, then the tamping process begins to create a dense monolith that will not allow a single drop of moisture to pass to the outer walls of the well shaft. Simply trampling your feet is not enough; you need to use heavy tampers with a small contact area.
The seemingly simple work is very exhausting with monotony and effort. For a castle 1.5 meters high, you will need to lay at least 10 layers of clay, each of which must be thoroughly compacted. Do not forget that before this you need to knead several tons of clay well. Therefore, in order for the result to be of high quality, it is worth using the services of building a clay castle from a team of craftsmen. Several trained workers will lay a clay castle faster than a non-professional can do it, and the quality of the work performed will be guaranteed by the company.
After laying and compacting the last layer of clay, you need to lay an additional roller around the ring with an inclination away from the well. It will divert rain and melt water from seeping into the cracks between the well and the lock.
Clay is used not only for the construction of a waterproofing castle. If the tightness of the seams at the depth of the well is broken, they are cleaned of mortar and tightly packed with clay, and the seam is restored with mortar
During heaving, a tightly fitting clay lock can tear off the top ring and damage the waterproofing seams. To avoid this, you need to wrap the outside of the rings with non-woven rolled material (roof felt, etc.). The layer will allow the soil to rise around the well without damaging the tightness of the joints.
Geotextiles and dense polyethylene are suitable for wrapping. These materials will protect the seams of the rings from possible moisture ingress.
A layer of blind area is poured onto the top of the clay castle. bulk material, which allows water to pass through well. It will prevent the clay from turning into a liquid swamp during the rainy season.
Repair and restoration of a clay castle
The surface of the lock must be monitored in order to replace problems in time. Renewal or alteration of the clay castle is required if the installation is incorrect or the time limit for shrinkage of the soil around the well is not met. If the clay mass begins to collapse and become covered with cracks, you must definitely consult with professionals; only they will accurately indicate the cause of the destruction and will be able to correct the situation with minimal damage.
The work crews of the Russian Well are engaged in building clay wells from scratch and restoring or replacing waterproofing that has become unusable.
“Russian Well” - we work efficiently and quickly!
Before building a clay castle, estimate the time and cost of importing and preparing material, digging a trench and labor-intensive laying of clay. To this amount add the likelihood of an error during construction and subsequent repair or replacement of the lock. Conclusion - every specialist is good at his job and in his place. Therefore, do not bother yourself with the unfamiliar and difficult work that Russian Well crews have been performing regularly for many years. We are familiar not only with the problems that may arise during the construction of wells and clay castles, but also with ways to effectively solve them.
A clay castle is a structure around a well, made of well-pressed clay or rich loam. The width of the structure, according to SanPiN, should be a meter, the depth - 2 meters.
Why do you need a clay castle?
The construction of a well cannot be done without installing a clay castle, which tightly envelops the structure and makes it waterproof. Clay retains water well, which means it is ideal option for waterproofing. The castle performs important functions, namely:
- protects the well from water ingress from the ground;
- provides protection for the adhesive waterproofing: the clay lock prevents water flows from entering the rolled materials, which means it increases their service life.
Features of the work
Installing a clay castle for a well with your own hands is not easy. To carry out the work, an impressive amount of material will be required, and after installation the well will have to be cleaned of contaminants.
The well is “closed” with clay in 3 stages, although some deviations from the instructions are possible. Typically a clay castle is installed as follows:
- A trench with a depth of about 1700 mm and a width of about 600 mm is made along the perimeter of the shaft.
- Black or blue clay is placed in the shaft and carefully compacted.
- A blind area is made on top of the castle with a slope towards the well with a height of 170 mm.
Positive and negative sides
The main advantages of making a clay castle with your own hands:
- the material for the work - blue or black clay - is natural, which means there is no need to spend money on its purchase;
- the design perfectly protects the well from rain and other types of water;
- There is no need to seal the seams on the structure every year.
Among the disadvantages of erecting a structure with your own hands, it is worth noting:
- the presence of sand in the clay, which reduces clay settlement;
- the inability to fully protect the well from dampness, which means the need for additional waterproofing;
- clay located in the soil freezing zone, in winter period may increase significantly in volume.
How to carry out installation correctly
When installing a clay castle with your own hands, it is important to strictly follow the technology, then the water in the well will not be polluted, and the seams of the structure will not be deformed.
The work is carried out in 2 stages:
- First, the top ring of the well is sprinkled with dense clay and compacted. There is no point in stopping after completing the first stage, because this is a temporary measure that is not effective and will not be able to protect the well in winter.
- The second stage is making a real castle, for which we use fatty clay, which can be obtained by digging the soil 3 meters deep.
Around the well, the top of the shaft is dug in the clay, slightly deeper than the second seam from the surface of the soil. The shaft of the mine is wrapped with roofing felt, and the resulting space is filled with clay. In this case, backfilling should be done 30 centimeters above the soil level.
The castle is ready! It will not allow top and melt water to penetrate into the well, and the seams will not be deformed. The use of roofing felt will provide protection against heaving soils. After completing the installation of the lock, the well should be thoroughly cleaned.
Making a clay castle with your own hands is quite possible; there is no need to hire specialists to carry out the work. The design can be replaced modern materials, but their cost will be slightly higher, so a clay castle still remains a popular method of protection concrete structures from precipitation and water.
Well castle (video)
Is there an alternative
Waterproofing a well can be done using soft blind area. It is carried out around the second ring from the top, since the first ring is located on the surface. The materials you will need are a thick film for waterproofing and sand; the width of the structure will ultimately be about 1.2 meters.
The best option film - the one that is used to create ponds. Additionally you can use decorative coating in the form of grass or tiles, as well as geotextiles.
Waterproofing film one edge is pulled onto the concrete. The seams between the second and first rings are closed so that water from the surface of the earth cannot penetrate into the well. If we consider the structure in cross-section, it will resemble a layer cake, in which the first layer is film, then comes sand and finishes with geotextiles and decorative material.
The installation technology is quite simple:
- The upper one is removed fertile layer soil to the level of the second ring.
- The film is placed so that its edge covers the ground near the wall by about a meter.
- The second edge of the film is placed directly on the ring so as to close the seam located between the first and second rings.
- The film must be pressed against the well so that it cannot slide off. This can be done using a metal tape that secures the film wrapped around the well. The tape itself is fixed to the concrete using screws.
- There is another option - using tape, which is used to wrap the rings a couple of times. But in this case, the place of pasting will have to be hidden using decorative material. With a slope away from the well, a sand cushion is poured over the film, and a decorative covering is mounted on it. As a result, even if the soil heaves, the well seams will not be damaged.
Important role When constructing a clay castle, the compaction of the material plays a role. The clay is processed using tampers with small soles and impressive mass in several stages.
Special attention is paid to the moisture content of the clay. The most plastic is the material whose humidity is about 20%.
If the well was recently installed, you should not immediately make a clay castle with your own hands. It is necessary to give the structure time to settle so that the soil near the shaft shrinks. If necessary, plumbing is first carried out this work, and then a lock is installed on the well.
To protect the well from high water, it is recommended to install a clay castle around it. However, to get a good result, it is important to choose the right clay and do the work with your own hands strictly according to the technology. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time and effort, you can use modern waterproofing materials to line the well, but their cost will be much higher.
Clay well castle (video)
The most crucial moment in the construction of a drinking well is the clay castle!
Rain and melt water They should not directly fall into the storage part of the drinking well, since they carry with them dangerous microorganisms and nitrates from the surface of the earth.
The main purpose of a clay castle is to drain surface water away from the well shaft and prevent surface waste water from entering the well shaft.
For young wells, the lock is usually made at the end of May. When the soil around the well has settled and dried out, you can begin the final stage of well construction. If a well was dug in the summer, after heavy rains the soil around the well sags - this indicates that the well has formed.
To make a lock, work must be done in dry weather. The soil that is usually used is the one that remains after the construction of the well. Clay must be chosen without sand and stones. It is necessary to remove the fertile layer down to the clay, approximately 1-2 m around the well. The lock is compacted in several stages. Clay must be laid evenly. The thickness of the first and subsequent layers should not exceed 10-15 cm - this will allow you to compact the clay with maximum effect. The first two layers must be compacted as best as possible.
The castle needs to be raised slightly above ground level. The top can be covered with crushed stone or covered with tiles. It is necessary to maintain a slight slope from the well of 2-3 meters.
Wells that do not need a clay castle:
If sand, peat, or stone are exposed after the fertile layer, then such wells do not need a clay castle. It is enough to divert the thawed and rainwater from the well shaft, preventing surface water from entering directly into the storage part of the well. Water enters such wells and is purified according to a different principle.
Signs that surface water is entering your well:
1. After prolonged rains, the rings in the well shaft below ground level become wet. Between the rings you can see rainwater flowing.
2. If after rains the water in the well becomes cloudy, the water level rises sharply.
3. When heated, water acquires bad smell. This suggests that microorganisms live in the well and in the water supply system. The mucus on the walls in the storage part of the well must be washed off disinfectants. Pump specially prepared chlorinated liquid into the water supply system for about an hour.
4. If water is not taken from a well for several years and water has penetrated from the surface of the earth, the water will become cloudy and have an unpleasant odor.
P.S. Water from the surface of the earth will flow into the well. But before it gets there, it goes through a long filtration path of many months from the surface of the earth to the storage part of the well. For example: in 2010, in the central part of Russia there was a drought from May to August; there was no rain for almost 3 months. Only after a 2-month drought did the water level in some wells gradually begin to drop - this suggests that the process of filtering water from the surface of the earth takes approximately 60 days. The level in some wells continued to drop until October, despite the fact that it rained in August and September.
A clay castle for a well is a layer of compacted clay that is laid along concrete rings water shaft and prevents rain or waste water from entering inside. It is actually a water seal.
Advantages and disadvantages
The advantages include:
- Reliable and effective waterproofing material. It is not for nothing that at the depth where the clay layer lies, there is practically no groundwater.
- Very low cost.
- You can build it yourself.
- Simplicity of design.
- At correct device the structure will last a long time; it will not have to be repaired or maintained.
However, there are some disadvantages:
- The installation process is quite labor-intensive and long.
- Not every clay is suitable for the shutter.
- If it has not dried properly, then during frosts it will swell and cracks will form.
- If compacted poorly, the material tends to shrink, which will lead to the formation of a hole around the shaft.
When and why do you need such a device?
A clay castle around the well is needed if plot of land there is a risk of swampiness or an abundance of perched water in the spring and autumn.
To prevent the aquifer from concrete rings from becoming clogged with soil and debris carried by rain, as well as the upper layers of groundwater, it is not enough to hermetically seal the seams between the rings. It is necessary to provide additional waterproofing.
What clay is suitable
Not every one is suitable for the shutter. You need to select raw materials according to several parameters:
- She must be very fat.
- It cannot contain sand or lime.
- Looks like plasticine.
- If you rub it, there will be no grains of sand on your palms. The piece will remain a single mass.
The best way to check the composition of the raw material is to mold it into a ball and leave it in the sun to dry. The oily one will crack and become tough. The ball containing sand and impurities will remain unchanged, and grains of sand will shine on its surface.
How to improve
- Soak in water for several days. This measure will allow it to gain a sufficient amount of moisture and become more pliable for work.
- Soak in water, but leave it outside for the whole winter. After it sits in the cold and then thaws, the clay will become like real plasticine.
- Add slaked lime to the raw clay in a ratio of 20% to 100%.
What can be replaced
The only replacement for such raw materials is loam. It is very similar in composition, but there are also pronounced differences. Firstly, loam is located above a layer of clay, especially oily one. Secondly, the loam also contains fine gravel, and even in some cases river silt, and the clay itself is not of such good quality.
If we talk about completely replacing the soil as a water seal, then we can suggest the use of a soft waterproofing material.
You cannot use oil-containing, bituminous materials, since bitumen decomposes in the ground and can get into the mine shaft with water.
How to do it yourself
After the well is installed, you can begin backfill ground. You can't bury it completely. It is necessary to leave the two top rings unburied, this is approximately 180 cm from top level land to the bottom of the castle. If the source is already buried, then you will have to dig a trench around it 180-200 cm deep and at least 20 cm wide.
Now you can start forming layers. The shutter is laid in stages, 20-30 cm at a time. Each layer is compacted special tool. It is not enough to simply trample it with your feet, as air will remain in it, which will then fill with water. For compaction, a homemade wedge-baba is used - this is a wide log approximately 150 cm in height and 25-30 cm in diameter with handles attached at the top.
The clay castle consists of two parts:
- The inner part is clay adjacent directly to the concrete ring, on the other side pressed by a soil dump.
- The outer (visible) part is located at ground level, rising 20-30 cm above the ground. Also, we must not forget about the slope from the well to the side. This is necessary so that water flows outside the castle during rain.
In areas with harsh climates and sudden temperature changes, the high moisture content of the valve may freeze, causing it to swell, crack, and begin to expand, pushing the shaft rings inside the barrel, displacing the joints.
Subsequently, no matter how sealed the source is, soil and high water will begin to penetrate into it, which, in turn, will lead to a deterioration in water quality. To prevent this from happening, you need to add a compression layer.
The castle is filled with a layer of clay of 15-20 cm, then between the clay and the concrete ring is filled sand and gravel mixture. This creates a loose layer between concrete and clay. , when the soil begins to move, the sand will relieve the tension created as a result of the expansion of moisture, and the well will remain in its place.
Important: After assembling the well, the upper joints must be insulated with a special waterproofing material, as a last resort, at least wrap it with plastic wrap.
Groundwater repair and restoration
Sometimes, if installed incorrectly, as a result of long-term use, the valve becomes unusable, and dirty water begins to penetrate into the shaft.
If during the inspection it turns out that the water seal is not working, then it can be repaired. When top part The lock has peeled off and a gap has appeared between the clay and the ring, as well as in the ground, which means that the well has shrunk, and you can get by with repairing the upper part. To do this, you need to dig out and remove the clay to a compacted area. Compact the layer again and fill again required quantity. For repairs, it is better to use new clay, fatter than before.
If in the mine it is clear that there is leakage through the butt joints groundwater, then the entire castle must be repaired. Here you will have to do everything again. Completely remove the clay from the trench and fill it with new clay. Of course, you can try to use the old one, but in this case it needs to be thoroughly processed (soaked in water, mixed with slaked lime).
What is a blind area: what types are there?
After installing the water seal, it remains open question from the mine shaft.
A blind area is a structure around a well, equipped with a slope from the ring to the side. It comes in hard and soft material.
- clay;
- concrete.
- special waterproofing film;
- bikrost, roofing felt;
- high density polyethylene film.
Pros and cons of soft and hard
There is a fundamental difference between soft and hard. The second has the appearance of a slab, the first, on the contrary, is not visible at all.
Concrete and clay have a structure that can swell when frozen.
Soft, on the contrary, does not deform.
Also, when the earth shrinks around the well, the solid blind area will not sag, and a gap will form between the concrete and the ground, which will not be immediately visible. Over time, water and soil will get into it. If a ring gets into the barrel, it can ruin the quality of the water.
Soft, natural shrinkage of the soil will immediately show where this is happening, so you can take timely measures to correct the situation.
How to make a solid blind area: instructions
It is made on a clay base and sprinkled with sand.
- To do this, dig a trench 1.5-2.5 meters wide and 20-30 centimeters deep along the entire circumference of the ring.
- Add sand and fine gravel to the bottom of the hole.
- If there is already a gate at the base, then the concrete can be laid directly on the compacted clay.
- Before pouring the blind area, the rings are treated with bitumen or PVC film. It is also recommended to place it in concrete reinforced mesh to strengthen the slab.
Important: for installation concrete blind area It is best to use concrete grades with a high cement content, for example, grades 200, 300. You can also add the elastic additive Penetron.
How to make a soft blind area step by step
It all starts with digging a trench around the well. The sizes are the same, but professionals recommend increasing the size by 20-30 centimeters. The depth of the trench is 10-15 centimeters.
The waterproofing material is laid on compacted soil or a cushion of ASG, starting at the edges of the ring. The overlap should be at least 15 cm. The waterproofing can be secured with a metal rim and by heating with a propane torch (simply glue the material to the concrete). Then the film is spread along the entire length of the trench and the ends are secured in the ground, simply sprinkled with crushed stone.
Coarse gravel or crushed stone, as well as sand, are poured on top of the material. They fall asleep completely, so that only the embankment is visible above the ground.
Now you can pour black soil onto the gravel and plant lawn grass. This method will fit perfectly into the green landscape of the site.
- It is not advisable to equip them immediately after installing the well. It is better to let the soil settle for a year or more.
- When installing a soft blind area, it is better to use special waterproofing films.
- It is better to make a castle and blind area in late spring, when there are no longer frosts and the soil is still filled with water. In addition, during the spring and summer it will be clear whether the work was carried out correctly and whether it copes with water.
- The slope angle for a solid blind area is 2-5 degrees. For soft - 5-10.
- To install a concrete blind area, it is better to assemble a wooden or metal formwork, and not just pour raw materials into a dug ditch. This will help give shape and neatness to the final product.
- After arranging the concrete blind area, you can build any decorative structure on the surface, for example, a gazebo with a roof.
Useful video
In the video, the specialist shares important nuances:
A clay castle is used around the perimeter of the well to protect the source drinking water from getting water into it, as well as other dirty water through the walls of a well shaft.
If the depth of the structure is sufficient, it is not necessary to install it, but for shallow structures it plays a significant role, which cannot be avoided.
General information
The construction of a clay well castle is a rather labor-intensive process and requires the preparation of a significant amount of material. At the end of the work, it is necessary to pollute so as not to worry about the quality of the water.
Instructions for creating a clay castle usually consist of 3 steps, although adjustments can be made to it:
- A trench is made along the perimeter of the well shaft with dimensions: width - 500-600 mm, depth 1500-1800 mm.
- Clay is poured into it, which must be compacted periodically.
- A small blind area is made on top of the castle, sloping away from the well, its height is 150-200 mm.
Below we will look at how to make a clay castle around a well in more detail.
Technology
- For a clay castle, you need to take material with natural moisture. When it is removed from the ground for subsequent storage, it should be soaked in water and covered on top.
You can check the condition of the clay by trying to mold something out of it; the material should not crumble or slip between your fingers. You may have to add 10-20% lime to it to neutralize increased content there is sand in it.
Tip: crumple a piece of clay and see if it holds its shape, does not spread between your fingers or fall apart to understand whether the material is ready for use.
- The best result will be when the clay is thoroughly compacted into the formwork. For this they take wooden boards and installed so that the thickness of the lock is 150-200 mm. When the pit is not wide and there is enough material, its walls usually serve as formwork. The clay must be compacted in layers 200-300 mm high.
- Place a geotextile fabric outside the castle, which will prevent the structure from being washed away by groundwater.
Advice: when the foundation pit is not wide, you don’t have to install formwork.
- A clay castle is made like a blind area for a house. Its width is from 1 m, it does not necessarily have to be deep, from 0.5 m. Although it is better for the dimensions to be larger.
If it is a pipe, it should also be insulated with a lock, regardless of the depth of its installation. You can cover the clay on top with geotextiles, placing cobblestones or paving slabs on top of it.
Tip: protect the clay blind area on top with geotextiles or pave it.
From the above, it became clear that clay is a traditional and promising material in terms of waterproofing various structures, in particular the well shaft from ground moisture. Its price is cheap, since it can literally be found under your feet, and working with it does not require special qualifications, skills or complex tools, although it is labor-intensive.
Is it possible to replace clay?
On the market today you can find quite a few companies offering to replace clay with a mixture of sand and gravel or just sand. It should be understood that they simplify the work for themselves, but not for the consumer.
Advice: it is better to make a clay castle around the perimeter of the source - the well will only benefit from this.
Clay is a material that is impermeable to water, although it can get wet on the surface. Because of this, in winter, when there is severe frost, you can sometimes observe a slight movement of the well rings.
At the same time, the material does not allow surface water to penetrate and moisten the soil, therefore, despite the variety of mixtures for castles, they are not able to replace clay.
Protection of well rings from displacement
To prevent the shaft of a well made of concrete rings from moving, make additional fastenings using stainless steel plates with anchor bolts. Plastic ones have also proven themselves well. nonwovens that don't rot.
Laying them should begin from the surface of the ground, and end 200 mm below the second seam. Thus, you will receive additional protection from the ingress of water and prevent clay from spilling due to leaky seams.
Tip: to reduce the coefficient of adhesion between clay and rings, use non-woven plastic materials that are not subject to rotting.
How to tamp clay correctly
The work should be carried out in several passes, after laying 150-200 mm of clay. Sometimes precisely because of poor-quality sealing, it was often necessary to redo everything all over again. The finished clay for the castle should have a moisture content of 15-30%, which should not be forgotten.
Tip: use to achieve better effect tampers with a small base area, but significant weight.
Now you need to remember when to make a clay castle. It is not installed immediately after the well is made; the soil around the perimeter must be allowed to settle and settle.
Otherwise, cracks in the ground will render the castle useless. You can do the work yourself or with an assistant, or you can turn to professionals for help.
Conclusion
The clay lock on the well protects the source of drinking water from the ingress of perennial water into it, thereby maintaining the quality of the liquid. There is no need to replace clay with other materials, since they are inferior to it in all characteristics. In the video presented in this article you will find additional information on this topic.
