"Well" under extension

[Aderyn]

Hi,
I am new to this site, and was hoping some of you reading this might help me by giving your opinion / advice on what we might do!
We live in a detached house built around 1860. We moved in 3 years ago. There were 2 extensions on the back which were pretty shoddily put together, the later one was constructed in the 70's and the other one sometime before this. To cut a long story short we have had them both demolished and are rebuilding one new extension on the same footprint. Last week, the builders uncovered a 25ft deep well under the 1970's bit! We now have to decide what to do with it - deal with it and build over it (more safely than was previously done!), or make it a feature in our new building.

Our architect is keen to make it a feature, saying that not many properties have such a feature, and once it's gone it's gone (my husband is of this mind too). The position of it is the issue. it will end up slap bang in the middle of what will be the tv / family room area. We would finish it, by building it up slightly, so it is flush to the floor and covering it with toughened glass ( the flooring will be tiles). If it was in a hallway I would definately keep it, but to have it right in the middle of the sofas in the living room?????? Not so sure?! I appreciate it's an original feature, but it will become an integral part of day to day life. Will we just get used to it? Not sure. We are keen for as many thoughts as possible! We have to make a decision in the next couple of days so as not to hold up the builders any more. I guess I'm also worried it could end up looking a bit tacky.

Any thoughts / ideas / opinions gratefully received.

Aderyn

 

[Moo]

Why not go down the toughened glass route and then put a lovely rug (+coffee table?) on top of it?

 

[MatthewC]

I used to live in London near an ancient priory. When they redeveloped the area, the extensive (legally required) excavations revealed some interesting features, some of which were retained as display items under thick glass which forms the floor of the seating area in the bar of a restaurant. Two issues: firstly, the glass has got scratched (I know it is heavily used, but visibility is now quite poor) and secondly the lighting underneath is not good enough to make the display worthwhile (and then how do they change the bulbs?). The result is that the token gesture of retaining these artefacts is frankly a waste of effort.

I think I'd retain the well by using toughened glass a few inches below floor level and cover this with a small area of suspended floor. This means that it would be kept and not forgotten, it could be seen if really wanted, but it would not be always visible.

Matthew
http://houseintheenchantedforest.blogspot.com/

 

[vicky whitworth]

Welcome! What a lovely surprise to find a well.
Personally I don't like 'features' cos I suppose the feature was never intended to be a feature. IMHO they tend to look a bit naff. Where we used to live our neighbour had found the well under the floor in her garden room - I guess it had once been a yard. She had toughened glass over it and a light suspended half way donw, and I have to admit I loved it. The water swirled at the bottom and it wasn't half creepy. But it did look naff as a feature. I'd keep it, put toughened glass over it, and then cover it up and only reveal it for small children to wonder at.
Vicky

 

[Penners]

Welcome to the forum, Aderyn.

I'm definitely for keeping it. I'm hoping that a forum member called AMc will respond, and post a picture of his "feature" well. It's a fascinating part of his house, cleverly lit and covered with a sheet of glass. I'm sure it will convince you of the benefits of retaining your well.

 

[Aderyn]

Hi,
Thanks for all the replies. I think we have pretty much decided to cover it over and build on top. Whilst we feel a 'responsibility' to the history of the house, its location will compromise the layout of the room for ever more! There will always be a sofa either almost on top of it, or pushed back to reveal the well, but right infront of the door! I also think I will avaoid looking down, as when I look down it outside now it makes me feel quite sick! I don't think the kids will go anywhere near it either!
Thanks again for your opinions!
Aderyn

 

[Flyfisher]

Scroll down this thread to see the photos of AMc's well cover:
http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12167

 

[Penners]

Thanks, FF.

 

[AMc]

Flyfisher beat me to it.

You do get used to it and its always a talking point for visitors esp. kids. I'm glad we chose to keep ours visible.
You should be able to get it completely flush with the finished floor so a rug could cover it should you wish.
It needs lighting - more than you might imagine or you just have a black hole.
The glass can scratch so you need to keep it cleanish - ours is right inside the backdoor so this is harder to do than it would be in a living room.
You need to keep a suction glass lifter (£10 from screwfix) so you can lift the cover and replace the bulbs.

It needs to be vented or you get condensation on the glass - I learnt that from a local builder who'd done the same thing but not vented.
Even if you are covering it over then I would run a length of waste water pipe to the outside or you may end up with damp issues.

We spent about £800 on the stainless steel 'top hat' which was laser cut and manufactured by a local steel fabricator to my design (inspired by the electrician in the hole) and another £250 on a disc of laminated toughened glass 19mm+10mm thick from a glazier - I checked the structural calcs on the Pilkington web site and over engineered based on their already conservative calcs.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I usually like to dip my toes in the well topic, a subject close to my heart as I peer longingly down mine every day hoping for an increase in the water table ( no luck - Dad brings 150 litres every week)

Anyway, when we have a borehole I'd like to do just as AMc's done and make a feature of it - but - and this is a big but - it's not in the main living area. If it were where I plonked my feet whilst on the sofa I wouldn't like it at all. If it could be behind the sofa, or under it, or just not a focal point I'd make a feature of it - but the placement of this one sounds unrelaxing. I'm sure feng shui experts wouldnt have you trying to relax whilst a great chasm unfolds at your feet, cover or no cover. So I think the instinct to cover it up to become invisible is a good one in this case.

Also, it seems a lot of money to make it a feature if the plan is to put a rug over it.

 

[Penners]

I usually like to dip my toes in the well topic

No pun intended, I'm sure! :wink:

I'm sure feng shui experts wouldnt have you trying to relax whilst a great chasm unfolds at your feet

Ah yes - feng shui. The mystical Chinese art of placing the telly on the other side of the room. :roll:

 

[Feltwell]

I was watching some property programme a while ago - "Oh no, we can't possibly put the bed over there, it's under a beam which is bad feng shui." As a result of this the (dippy) person decided that their bed couldn't fit in the room any other way, so they couldn't buy this house - a house which was absolutely beautiful and, otherwise, fitted their brief exactly.

I must stop watching cr@p telly.......

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, how ridiculous!

But when you read feng shui books, much of it's pretty sensible. I think it's a dramatic, yes, superstitious, but fun way to state the bleeding obvious in many cases. Things like don't have a dual carriageway sucking the energy from your front door - of course you wouldn't want that! Be careful of the poisoned arrows of chi radiating from sharp corners on furniture - nobody likes walking into the coffee table and yes, I think rounded off shapes are much nicer. Clear out rooms with stale chi - yes - an annual spring clean is a very good thing. Don't ever keep or display a negative image of yourself or a loved one, again, highly sensible.

When it comes to the auspicious animals in the correct placement, changing yearly, I'm left behind - but Lillian Too is a good read and I'm sure if one were to follow her advice it would lead to a sense of being organised, on top of things, progressing, and being at peace with oneself.

Sorry to the OP for the digression onto feng shui - do please come back and update us with your house project!

 

[Penners]

Clear out rooms with stale chi

The chi's gone stale, Gromit

 

[Aderyn]

Hello again everyone!

Well (ahem) we have made the decision to cover the well over. we are a little bit sad as it would have been nice to have it on display, but it just really wasn't practical. We would always be limited to what furniture we could put where and we would have a cold spot in our under floor heating - right where our feet would be! That was a major issue really - where our feet would be. Whilst we thought AMc's well looked good (thanks for the pics and advice), we wouldn't have liked having that right infront of us when we were sitting watching TV everyday for ever more! It would be an integral part of day to day living rather than something to take visitors to see - they wouldn't be able to miss it given it's location!! We have therefore told the arcitect that we are not going to keep it as a feature as it would spoil the overall open plan area we are aiming for.

I'm hoping they uncover another one when they dig the foundations for the garage!!! :wink:

Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions - much appreciated!

Aderyn

 

[Penners]

we wouldn't have liked having that right infront of us when we were sitting watching TV

But why would you want a TV when you've got a floodlit well to watch? :wink:

 

[MdB]

I haven't commented before because I couldn't decide what I would want to do. It isn't an easy decision.

As you have decided to go down the cover up route, what I would suggest though is that you have a marker of some sort made up that you can position on top of your floor screed but under the carpet to mark the well. A brass dog tag would do. I am sure you will have it on drawings but these do tend to get lost.

 

[Flyfisher]

But why would you want a TV when you've got a floodlit well to watch? :wink:

. . . or even if you have some paint to watch while it dries.

 

[AMc]

Glad you've decided what to do - ours is and integral feature as everyone who comes to the house walks past it and even the most cowardly regular visitors are now able to walk over it without problems.

If you're going to cover over it then make sure your architect works out how to spread the load, insulate the floor above it and ventilate the space between the cover and the water. My structural engineer made some adjustments to the design of the floor slab to cope with the potential fixed point in the middle of the floor and to ensure that the weight of the slab didn't damage the walls and cause problems.

Some builders will cheerfully fill a well with rubble and rubbish and cap it with a fat plug concrete - that destroys it for ever and potentially pollutes the water table - so don't do that

 

[Penners]

Some builders will cheerfully fill a well with rubble and rubbish and cap it with a fat plug concrete - that destroys it for ever and potentially pollutes the water table - so don't do that

Hear, hear! And do take lots of photos before you cover it up, to illustrate every detail of it.