After digging the well, the question remains: where to put the clay. It would be best to equip a blind area for the well. You can do the work yourself. So they strengthen the well and make a concrete castle.

Sanitary rules and regulations give an exact definition of a clay castle. This is a structure that is a formwork for a well, the width of which is 1 m and the depth is 2 m. The clay must be tightly compacted. At the same time, the material for arranging the blind area is not suitable for everyone. Clay and greasy loam must be well kneaded. Sand, gravel, sandy loam cannot be used for the castle. The allowable amount of sand in a clay castle is 5-15%.

Discussions constantly arise around the question of the need for blind area equipment. Sanitary standards say that the clay castle should be in combination with other blind areas. They create a ring with a radius of 2 m. 10 cm should be retreated from the walls of the well.

Additional devices for the clay castle:

• A rock;
• Concrete;
• Brick;
• Asphalt.

Before equipping the blind area, the well must stand for at least 1 year. During this time, natural shrinkage of the soil takes place. So in the future there will be no voids and frail areas.

Soft blind area performs not only an aesthetic function. It will protect the lock from defects during use.

In non-compacted areas, water can accumulate in the future. Soil dwellers and rodents fall into such traps and die. So decomposition products can get into drinking water. The duration of shrinkage is determined by the type of soil.

Do not rush to equip a waterproof lock before the water supply is carried out. After that, additional waterproofing should be done. For land prone to seasonal heaving, a clay ring cannot be equipped.

Preparation for arranging a clay castle for a well with your own hands

The main task of the clay castle is to protect the structure from precipitation, groundwater and other contaminants. But at the same time, not only water is protected, but also the well itself. So the construction will last longer.

Pros of using a clay castle:

• Structural strength;
• It is not necessary to process the seams of the well every year;
• Low installation cost, because improvised material is used;
• Clay does not affect the composition of water.

But there are also some disadvantages. The sediment of the castle is significantly reduced by the presence of sand. It is also worth noting that the deformation of the well can be formed by an increase in the clay layer at the level of freezing.

There are a number of contraindications that do not allow the installation of a clay castle. To begin with, you should give time for the shrinkage of the soil. It will take at least 1 year. If you neglect this rule, then depressions will appear in the structure.

It is impossible to replace clay with other types of soil. They do not have the necessary plasticity and will begin to crack over time.

If there are no contraindications, then you can safely proceed to the arrangement of the castle. The material for manufacturing is oily clay with a small amount of sand. To improve plasticity, the primer should be soaked before use. Ideally, the soaked material should overwinter.

How to make a clay castle around a well

Many do not advise performing a clay castle. But you should refrain from performing this design when you do not know how to properly build a castle around the well. Wrong execution technology can really ruin the entire structure.

Clay is an excellent waterproofing material. But at the same time, she is prone to heaving. During freezing, the clay begins to change shape, which negatively affects the shape of the structure. This can lead to deformation of the lock.

Rules and sequence, how to make a castle:

1. We dig a pit from a well with a depth of 30 cm. The distance from the well should be 1-2 m. This site is made for a blind area.
2. We select the earth around the well. We move down 40 cm from the wall of the well. Over time, we begin to make the hole narrower, starting from the junction of the second and third rings.
3. Next, you need to properly install the "shield". To do this, the resulting hole is stuffed with soaked and frozen clay. It should be left on top 10-15 cm to the seam between the second and third ring.
4. Then you should make a shield. This is a fence 180 cm high. The material of manufacture is reinforcing bars and geotextiles. The shield recedes from the walls of the well by 10 cm.

After these processes, they begin to equip the clay pillow. A dense layer of material should be made. It is also important to monitor the width of the pillow and the circumference.

If you do not follow the necessary parameters, then the process will have to be repeated several times until the desired effect is achieved.

After that, it is necessary to make a clay blind area, laying out the material in the prepared pit. But at the same time, the slope from the wall of the well should be observed so that the water flows down calmly. A tile is installed on top of the blind area.

Creating a soft blind area around the well

After the clay castle, they proceed to create a blind area. They perform a protective function so that when wet, the castle does not turn into dirt. At the same time, powdering the structure with sand and gravel will not give the desired effect. That is why it is necessary to equip the blind area.

Stages of creating a blind area:

1. The castle needs to be waterproofed. To do this, use geotextiles or any other material with insulating properties.
2. Next comes the laying of the selected material. In this case, a slight slope from the well should be observed so that the precipitation flows down.

However, there are ways to further strengthen the structure. To do this, after laying the insulation, formwork is installed. After that, a concrete screed is made. And only after the material has hardened do the final work.

The covering is paving slabs or stone. These materials have the best characteristics of strength and durability.

A clay castle is an effective protection for a well. If installed correctly, the design will last a long time. To do this, you must follow all the rules and stages of the execution technology.

Where to use a clay castle for a well (video)

When the well is ready, they begin to think about where to put the clay. For this purpose, a blind area is equipped. The device of a clay castle is quite simple, but it is important to follow all the rules and sanitary standards, because not every soil can make a blind area.

Clay castle, clay blind area or soft blind area

The main function of all these structures is to protect the well from the penetration of surface water into it during rains and snowmelt.

clay castle

This is a structure around a well of well-packed clay or rich loam, up to 1 meter deep and up to 0.5 meter wide. Ordinary loams and sandy loams are not suitable for a clay castle. Why is it better not to make a clay castle? In our climatic conditions, the soil is in the freezing zone and it swells strongly (frost heaving). The soil frozen with rings expands and tears the rings apart, as a result of which cracks form between the rings and dirty water from the surface penetrates into the well. To prevent the rings from coming off, steel plates and staples are used. But fastening the rings usually does not help. The fact is that the forces acting during heaving can deform even powerful fastening structures.
clay castle cost 7 500 rub.

clay pavement

To drain surface water from the well, we recommend doing clay pavement. Given the possibility of heaving, its thickness should be 10-30 cm, and the diameter should be 1 meter. It is not worth making a thicker blind area, since in this case it approaches the construction of a clay castle. Clay blind area requires a protective coating that will avoid dirt when water gets on it.
The cost of clay pavement 4 500 rub.

Soft blind area

For the construction of a soft blind area, fertile soil is removed to a width of 1 meter around the well, waterproofing is laid and sand is poured over it. This blind area allows the soil around the well to naturally compact and settle. Hidden cavities and voids will not form around the well, where surface water and debris can accumulate. With this method, no heaving of the soil will break the seam, because it is covered with a dense, loose-fitting film that can adapt to the movements of the soil. Soft blind area works if there is no water in the sand. Otherwise, the sand will freeze and act on the rings like any other heaving soil - extrude to the surface.
The cost of soft blind area 5 000 rub.

Hello. He planned to dig his own well in the country. He brought the rings and hired workers to dig the mine. Now they tell me that in addition to the rings, I need some kind of clay lock for the well or a soft blind area. Should I listen to them - maybe I don’t need any lock? And if needed, then advise me what to choose: a lock or a blind area?

Scheme of a clay castle for a well

Your workers have given good advice. The device of a clay castle or a soft blind area - will provide reliable waterproofing of the mine of a new source. A plastic layer or soft membrane, which is installed at the level of the second ring, cuts off the well from rain and soil suspensions, while maintaining the original quality of the water accumulated in the mine.

If you abandon the lock or blind area, then all the turbidity from the upper layers of the soil will pour into the well, seeping through the cracks between the rings. As a result, all efforts to equip the source will be in vain - water from such a well will go only for technical needs.

Which is better: a lock or a blind area?

The price of a clay castle consists of the cost of raw materials and work. At the same time, raw materials can be obtained from the ground, and the work of diggers is relatively inexpensive. Therefore, the main advantage of the castle is the low cost and walking distance of this waterproofing technology. After all, all the components are already present at the construction site, and you can dig a pit with your own hands.

But will such a lock be effective? It depends not only on the efforts of its creators, but also on the quality of the building material - clay, as well as on the moisture content of the soil in which the well is built. Poor-quality clay that does not have proper plasticity will crack sooner or later and will not be able to hold dirty groundwater. And excessively wet soil will provoke heaving deformation in the castle, even from the best clay. Indeed, in winter, excess moisture will turn into ice, which will swell the clay bedding, violating the tightness of the castle.

Is it worth the risk, paying attention only to the cheapness of the arrangement, but not to the quality of the insulating layer? And is a clay castle needed for a well at all, taking into account the shortcomings voiced. It's up to you.

The price of the blind area is comparable to the cost of arranging the castle. For construction, we need a reliable waterproofing film pressed against the ring in a ballast way - sand bedding. That is, in addition to paying diggers, you will have to fork out for film and, possibly, sand.

However, despite some high cost, this version of waterproofing has very enviable advantages, namely:

• High speed arrangement . Indeed, immediately after the completion of the construction of the well in the zone of the second ring, only the blind area is mounted - the clay castle can only be installed after two or three years, when the soil surrounding the mine is finally compacted.
• Almost absolute reliability . No matter how the soil swells, the membrane will not let a single milliliter of dirty liquid into the mine. And no reference to plasticity - for sand, this parameter is completely unimportant.

In a word, if you value reliability, get ready for additional expenses.

How to make a clay castle?

Work on the arrangement of the clay castle should begin only after the shrinkage of the soil - after 2-3 years from the moment the construction of the well was completed. To form a waterproofing bedding, you will need washed clay or greasy loam in a volume of up to 5 cubic meters. After all, the depth of the clay castle of the well, according to sanitary standards, cannot be less than 200 cm, and the thickness - the distance from the walls of the shaft to the edge of the pit - 50 cm.

The construction of the castle itself is as follows:

The quality of the castle depends on the efforts of the person kneading the layer of clay. The more thoroughly you wash it, the more reliable the waterproofing will be. Therefore, before filling the pit, the clay is crushed in small concrete mixers, abundantly wetting with water, or mixed with construction mixers.

How to equip a soft blind area?

The construction of the blind area begins after the installation of the rings is completed.

To form it, you will need the following consumables:

• Sand - 2-3 cubic meters. It can be obtained while digging a well shaft.
• Polyethylene film or polymer coating for waterproofing pools 150 cm wide and up to 500 cm long.
• Metal tape - width 5 cm, length 300-350 cm.
• Self-tapping screws and dowels.

The well must be protected from the ingress of melt and rain water, perched water. The moisture accumulating on the surface does not meet sanitary and hygienic standards - it contains biological contaminants, pesticides, hazardous chemical compounds. To protect the source shaft, a special layer is mounted - a lock, it diverts surface water from the well. A suitable material for making such an interlayer is clay.

On the well there is a clay castle made of concrete rings.

What is a clay castle

A clay castle is a waterproofing structure that is mounted around the foundation of residential and household buildings, a cellar, a well, a well. It should limit the flow of water to the building.

The choice of clay for the device of the lock is determined by the properties of this material: it also consists of small flat particles, which, upon contact with water, swell and adhere to each other more closely. Moisture cannot pass through the thickness of the material and chooses a different path.

Why do you need a clay castle for a well and is it needed at all

The device of the clay lock prevents water from running off the surface of the earth along the outer walls of the well and seeping through the seams between the rings. Due to this, the liquid that has not been purified does not enter the source shaft.

A layer of clay waterproofing will remain waterproof only if the material is properly selected and installed. For the lock, you should use clean, oily clay. If there is an excess of sand in the mixture, it will not give the necessary waterproofing effect, since the sand is not intended for the construction of waterproof structures.

A waterlogged mixture of sand and clay is prone to frost heaving, which occurs due to the freezing of water in it. Increasing in volume, such a lock can damage the design of the well.

How the right clay castle works

The clay lock mounted around the perimeter of reinforced concrete rings works as a water seal. A thick layer of clay prevents rain or domestic runoff, as well as small debris, from entering the well shaft. However, this effect can be achieved only by using high-quality material with a minimum amount of impurities. They reduce its waterproofing properties and deprive the structure of its protective properties.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of a clay castle is the low cost of its arrangement. During installation, mainly natural materials are used - clay, a small amount of sand, pebbles. Another advantage of such a waterproofing structure is durability.

With the right choice of materials and adherence to the technology of their laying, the clay layer will maintain strength and integrity. Such a water seal will reliably protect the source from moisture seeping into the soil from the surface.

The disadvantage is the complexity of arranging the castle. The soil must be laid in layers of small thickness and carefully compacted. High quality material should be used, free of impurities, and it can be difficult to find clay with the desired characteristics in nature or to purchase it.

Disadvantages and advantages of clay locks on a well.

What clay is suitable

For the construction of the castle, dense, greasy clay of a high degree of viscosity should be used. Loam or sandy loam should not be used to create a waterproofing pad, since these types of soil do not have the required density and water resistance.

How to improve

You can improve the quality of clay by placing it in water for several days. This will allow it to acquire the required moisture content and viscosity. In addition to this, the mixture can be left outside during the winter months. In this case, the clay gradually freezes and then thaws, becoming more plastic. Before building a castle, slaked lime can be added to the material in a ratio of 1:5.

What can replace

In some cases, clay is replaced with loam, but it does not have a pronounced water resistance due to the presence of impurities - it often contains silt or fine gravel.

You can replace clay with a soft waterproofing material. At the same time, it is forbidden to use bituminous or other oil-containing materials, since in the process of their decomposition, oil products can get into well water.

How to do it yourself

Scheme of a clay castle for a well made of concrete blocks.

To build a clay castle for a well from concrete rings should be after the ground around the hydraulic structure has settled and stabilized. The soil around the reinforced concrete rings is taken out to a depth of about 2 m, the width of the pit is 1 m.

The bottom of the trench should slope away from the well walls and be narrower than its diameter at ground level. Before laying clay, the bottom of the trench must be covered with a small layer of sand or pebbles. It is permissible to lay sand on top of the geotextile - it will strengthen the bottom of the trench.

The clay mixture before laying in the pit should be moistened and thoroughly washed to a plastic state. The optimum moisture content of the material for the manufacture of the castle is 15-30%.

The prepared mixture is placed in a trench with a layer no more than 15-20 cm thick and intensively compacted. The layers are compacted with a heavy tool with a small sole area. They are laid out one by one until the surface of the castle is level with the surface of the ground. A roller is arranged around the well above the level of the castle so that rainwater flows from the walls of the mine.

Carefully compacted clay does not allow moisture to pass through, but its surface becomes viscous after rains. To ensure the convenience of using the source, a nearby blind area or a pebble layer around the well will help.

So that swelling of the clay does not affect the integrity of the well shaft, concrete rings are wrapped with a layer of non-woven material. In this case, the soil near the walls will be able to move freely up or down without affecting the structure of the well.

Repair and recovery from groundwater

A properly installed clay castle does not need to be repaired annually, but it should be inspected for cracks or sagging. Defects in the castle are filled with clay and re-compacted.

In some cases, due to improper installation or after prolonged use, the structure begins to leak water, then the clay castle needs to be repaired. If the exfoliation of the clay mass from the well shaft or soil is detected, it is necessary to repair the upper layers of the water seal. To do this, exfoliated clay is removed, and the resulting space is again filled and compacted. Repair is preferably done with new material.

If the joints of the shaft rings let water through, the lock should be replaced. To do this, it is necessary to completely raise the clay filling the trench to the surface, and lay out the resulting space with new layers of carefully compacted material.

Good afternoon. We decided to get our own well in the country. They hired craftsmen who dug out a shaft and placed concrete rings. When compacting the soil outside around the rings, a controversial situation arose. We know that in order to protect the well from perched water and precipitation, an earthen castle is made from above. But the craftsmen said that this was not necessary, and offered to replace it with a soft blind area made of sand, gravel and a waterproofing film. Advise what protects better: clay or the second option?

Disadvantages of a clay castle

If you entrusted the case to a professional team, then it makes sense to listen to their recommendations, and here's why. It is very rare for a clay castle to be made perfectly tight. To do this, the clay must have good plasticity, be crushed in the hands and compacted so tightly that no voids and air bubbles remain inside. In most cases, the owners do not crush the clay, but simply throw it around the first ring and trample it with their feet or with a rammer. With this laying, the clay does not create a solid waterproof layer, but simply blocks the penetration of moisture from the soil surface. But through the voids under the castle, perched water easily penetrates, which seeps through the ground, and not along the surface of the earth, and thus enters the mine itself.

If the sealing of the seams of the rings is well done and all the walls are missed, then the top water is unlikely to spoil your water. The problem is different: the moisture accumulated under the clay castle will turn into ice in winter. And if your area is characterized by heaving soils, then the earth will begin to increase in volume and put pressure on the first well ring with force. As a result, the seams may break and horizontal displacement of the upper part of the shaft may occur. This means that all the garbage brought with precipitation and groundwater will begin to get inside. Clay castles usually have such consequences, not covered from above with waterproof material (concrete, tile), but simply covered with earth.

Apparently, the masters know these nuances and decided to replace the old grandfather's method of waterproofing with a more modern one. Perhaps the quality of your clay is not very good, and the soil freezes a lot in winter. In addition, it is recommended to make a clay castle a year or two after digging the mine, so that the soil near the walls is compacted and settled naturally. And before that, the top is covered with some kind of temporary waterproofing. Your team does not want to wait so much time, therefore it offers a completely reasonable way out - to lay a soft blind area.

Features of waterproofing with a soft blind area

Let's figure out the features of this version of waterproofing. A soft blind area is created around the second ring from the top, because the first one is located on the surface. The width of the structure is 1.2-1.3 meters. The main materials are sand and a waterproofing dense film. The most durable version of the film is the one used to create ponds. Geotextiles and decorative coatings such as tiles, stone, gravel or grass can be added to them. In your case, the masters were going to lay rubble as a decorative top layer.

The waterproofing film is stretched with one edge over the concrete, covering the seam between the first and second rings, to create an additional blockade for the seepage of the top water.

Laying technology

The whole structure resembles a layer cake, where the film is laid out first, then sand, on top - geotextiles (if it is necessary to block the germination of weeds) and decorative material.

Sequence:

1. The entire fertile layer of the earth is removed (to the level of the depth of the second ring).
2. The film is laid out so that one of its edges covers the soil near the wall (more than a meter), and the second one is wound onto the ring itself, closing the seam between the second and first rings.
3. The film must be pressed against the well so that it does not slip. To do this, cut out a metal tape and wrap it around the wall of the first ring, pressing down the film. Fix directly to the concrete with screws.
4. You can simplify the task: fix it with tape by wrapping it around the ring several times. True, in the second case, it is necessary to hide the pasting place under the decorative material.
5. A sand cushion is poured over the film with a slope from the well and a decorative coating is laid out.

With this method, no heaving of the soil will break the seam, because it is covered with a dense, loose-fitting film that can adapt to soil movements.