What is a clay castle? Device options. Clay castle for a well How to make a clay castle for a well

The well was made for me by local craftsmen. Half of the wells in our SNT were dug by their hands. So I had a rough idea of what they were capable of, and I had neither the desire nor the time to look for someone on the side - autumn was coming, and I really didn’t want to leave the solution to this issue until next year.

It was clear in advance that there would be shortcomings, but I was ready to put up with this. One such defect was the absence of a clay castle. More precisely, what the workers did by filling the gap between the rings and the ground with clay could hardly be called a castle.

The main argument in favor of their technology sounded something like this: They’ve always done it this way, and everything was fine! They were not ready to create something more in line with the standards. Having come to terms with the situation, I decided not to argue, but to try to tackle the castle myself.

Clay castle. The construction of a clay castle is prescribed by the Sanitary Rules and Norms (SanPiN 21.4544-96, “Drinking water and water supply to populated areas”).

In paragraph 4.3.4. it says the following:

Along the perimeter of the well head there should be a castle made of well-pressed and thoroughly compacted clay or rich loam 2 meters deep and 1 meter wide, as well as a blind area of stone, brick, concrete or asphalt with a radius of at least 2 meters with a slope of 0.1 meters from the well towards the cuvette (tray).

The main function of such a lock is to protect the well from the penetration of surface water (the so-called high water) during rains and melting snow. Verkhodka is not purified by filtration through the soil and should not be used as drinking water. So I never had any doubts about the need for a lock. The question remained: how to do it?

Information on the topic obtained from available sources, primarily from the Internet, somewhat puzzled me. As it turned out, recently there have been many opponents of the construction of the castle.

They put forward as the main argument that in our climate clay soils found in the freezing zone, it swells greatly - the soil frozen with the well trunk increases in volume.

This leads to rupture of the barrel, opening of the joints between the rings, and often to horizontal displacement of the rings. This happens almost every year, and eventually it becomes impossible to use the well - dirty water from the surface. That is, the castle not only fails to cope with the task, but also worsens the situation.

In Rus', a clay castle was used, for example, to protect cellars, cellars, and underground areas from water.

They also made a castle around the wells, and it did not seem to destroy the well itself. Why? This question remained not entirely clear to me, but one answer option more or less satisfied me. The fact is that in the old days wells were built in the form wooden log houses. There were about a dozen interventional seams in the heaving zone, and when they opened evenly, each one accounted for only a few millimeters, which did not lead to depressurization of the well shaft. Today, most wells are made from concrete rings. The rings are most often connected to each other by a weak mortar seam, and in the heaving zone there is usually only one joint, which is not able to compensate for heaving deformations without being damaged.

To somehow reduce the risk of depressurization of the structure, there is various recommendations. For example, connect the rings more firmly (with steel plates, for example). But tightening the upper rings with metal pads, as a rule, does not help. The fact is that the forces acting during heaving are very significant and can deform even powerful fastening structures.

Other recommendations concern measures to reduce heaving forces. In this case, the well is considered as an unloaded foundation, and the same measures are applied to it as to foundations. Namely: replacement heaving soil around the well without heaving (essentially backfilling), soil insulation and drainage around the well

backfilling

The name is taken by analogy with anti-heaving sand filling pockets around foundations. Around wells it is recommended to do it in a similar way, but using a waterproofing film. This backfill is usually called a soft blind area. Its width must be at least 1.2 m.

To build a soft blind area, remove fertile layer around the well, waterproofing is laid and sand is poured over it. It is first recommended to fill the gap between the soil and the well trunk, which is formed during the work process, with sand. Through it, water can penetrate to the base of the well and from there into the well itself. And if the barrel is leaking, a more direct path is possible - through the gaps between the rings.

But this option clearly did not suit me. The fact is that a soft blind area only works if there is no water in the sand. Otherwise, the sand will freeze with the rings and act on them like any other heaving soil—squeezing them to the surface. After the craftsmen finished the work, the water in my well was almost level with the surface of the earth.

It was also not possible to arrange drainage to take it to a depth of one and a half meters.

Clay well area

To drain surface water from the well, it is also recommended to make a blind area. In its simplest form, it can be built from clay. Taking into account the possibility of heaving, its thickness should be 10-50 cm. It is not worth making the blind area thicker, since in this case it approaches the design of a clay castle, and problems associated with it arise.

A significant disadvantage of a clay blind area is the need for organization on top of it protective coating. The fact is that the clay itself, when wet, turns into “mud”, which is unpleasant to walk on. This increases the labor intensity and cost of building such a blind area.

Despite this, I still decided to make a clay blind area around my well. And to reduce heaving forces, additionally insulate the soil around the well.

The soil on our site is clayey. The fertile layer goes to a depth of 40-50 cm, and clay begins below. So I decided to select a layer of soil around the well at a distance of about a meter and fill the pit with clay. Luckily there was enough of it - next to the well there was a pile of clay taken out by the workers when digging the well. The quality of the clay suited me quite well. And there was an opportunity to partially recycle it.

When the soil layer and what the workers called the “lock” were removed, a fairly wide gap opened between the soil and the rings. It became clear that the urgent recommendation for those who are going to make a castle or other protective structures around the well is to begin this work in 1-3 years, when the soil around the rings is compacted. The Internet is replete with photographs of failed blind areas around wells, which is the result of their premature construction.

But it was not my plan to wait that long. I decided to speed up the process of silting up the gap somewhat by trying to fill it with clay. This had to be done in several stages. I placed the clay all the way to the top in the slot and compacted it. But the next day it was discovered that water had filled the pit, and the clay had settled down, and the gap opened again.

To continue the work, I pumped water out of the well (about two rings), as a result it also left the crack. And again and again I put clay in it to the top and compacted it, the water filled the pit, and the clay settled. I did this several times. At some point, the clay stopped settling - the gap remained filled for several days.

To be on the safe side, I decided to add liquid glass V upper layer clay filling the gap. Having made holes in it with a shovel handle about a meter deep, poured liquid glass into them and tamped the clay with it again.

After this, he began filling the pit around the well with clay. I did this in small layers, compacting them and forming a slight slope away from the well.

Well insulation

My upper ring rises 75 cm above the ground. Accordingly, only 15 cm of this ring is underground. In my opinion, this is too little so that even when frozen with the ground, forces sufficient to lift this ring and tear it off from the second ring from above could arise. The next seam is located at a depth of just over a meter. The second ring is more susceptible to the forces of frost heaving than others, and it was necessary to reduce this impact. The only way available to me to do this was to insulate the blind area.

Not reaching the surface by about 15 cm, I laid insulation on the clay. I had pieces of expanded polystyrene (EPS) on hand - parts of the refrigerator packaging that I had stored for a long time for such an occasion - and polyethylene foam (EPS). I cut the insulation into sectors and laid it, trying to cover the joints. I laid a plastic film on top of the slab and covered it with soil with a slight slope from the well.

It must be said that the freezing of the soil around the well is somewhat less than around the foundation of the house. This occurs due to the flow of heat from the well - the water in it usually does not freeze. To enhance this effect, I also insulated the ring above the ground level - I wrapped the ring in PPE and laid it on top of a light frame made of wooden slats.

The measures taken gave the desired result. The well survived the first winter without destruction of the upper seams, despite the fact that the snow cover last winter was small and the frosts were significant.

This year I plan to cover the blind area with turf.

Do-it-yourself clay castle and well blind area

Nikolay Bubnov, Moscow

DIYWORK 165mm Antistatic for Jewelry electronic components hold…

Well on summer cottage– icy, “alive”, crystal pure water all year round. But in order to provide it with such properties, it is necessary to properly arrange the structure.
One such device is a clay well lock. If it is made with high quality, the water will always be clean, and the seams located between the rings will never tear.
The article discusses the question of how to make a clay castle around a well with your own hands.

Why do you need a clay castle?

To preserve clean drinking water in a well for many years, when making it, two important conditions must be met:

Ensure the tightness of its walls.
Build a clay castle.

If initially chopped, it is made in such a way that “foreign” water does not enter through its walls. And while the wood itself expands from moisture and seals all the cracks, it is more difficult to seal a device made of concrete rings.
Nowadays, many factories producing reinforced concrete products produce special concrete rings for wells that already have locks installed at the joints. All that remains is to seal the seams between the rings with a special mastic for sealing.
The technology for digging a well is as follows:

First, the mine is dug.
Rings are installed into it, and a gap of about four centimeters is formed between the ground and the shaft of the rings for the entire depth of the device.
A new well must shrink, this happens most often during a flood; the gap between the shaft and the ground is filled with top water, the soil gets wet, begins to fall and squeezes the shaft tightly.
In this case, strong water pressure acts on the seams between the rings.
Some of the seams do not hold up and break, and muddy melt water enters the well, which can fill the well to the brim; the earth around the well shrinks and “falls in.” This can also happen due to prolonged rains.

The advantages of making elements from clay are:

Reliable protection of the structure from the ingress of melt and groundwater and rain.
There is no need to seal the seams every year.
Small price.

Disadvantages include:

The need for additional waterproofing.
In the soil freezing zone, an increase in the clay layer is necessary. This usually occurs in the spring and can deform structures.
Clay contains up to 30% excess sand. Which can lead to a fairly large decrease in clay sediment after the installation of the lock is completed.

How to choose clay for a castle

Clay castles are usually built from rich clay with a maximum sand content of up to 15%. If there is no fatty clay, it can be replaced with another one.
Improvement plastic properties The material used to produce reliable locks is achieved by soaking it and then aging it.

Tip: You need to make sure that the clay does not dry out.

To increase the plasticity of clay, it is prepared in the fall and left to lie on open place all winter. In this case, the clay gradually freezes and gets wet, which leads to the penetration of water into all particles of the material, and makes it plastic.

Tip: You can improve the quality of the clay that is taken to build clay castles by adding about 20% lime to it.

Where are clay castles used?

Clay castles are used in many cases.
But most often they are used:

During the construction of foundations. The soil that is directly adjacent to the foundation is replaced with fatty, well-pressed and compacted clay.
A small slope is formed from it. It ensures the outflow of water from the foundation.
In this case, not only the foundation, but also the subfloor or basement - the entire space under the house, which remains drier - is protected from moisture.
Clay castles are often used to waterproof wells. The instructions suggest how to roughly make a clay castle: a well is dug to a depth of approximately 200 centimeters and a thickness of 20 centimeters.
Soft, fatty clay is compacted tightly into the resulting space. Around the well in the upper part, it is made of clay at least one meter wide and 20 - 30 centimeters high and is also well compacted.
This makes it possible for the resulting clay castle to prevent water from entering the well, which carries fertilizers and various organic matter leached from the soil.

The construction of a clay castle is becoming increasingly popular in the manufacture of artificial reservoirs. It is this kind of structure that is the only opportunity to create a completely self-regulating pond with a closed ecosystem.
When making it for a pit dug under a pond, three layers of thick clay dough, each about 15 centimeters thick, are sequentially laid on the bottom and walls. In this case, these layers must be thoroughly mixed and compacted.
A layer of clay is placed along the banks above the expected water level by about 15 centimeters. Then a layer of gravel or large stones, small pebbles or river sand the device is filled from above. After this, the water in the pond will not flow through the walls, and it will be pleasant to walk along the bottom.

How to lay a soft blind area around a well

Sometimes when asked whether a clay castle is needed when constructing a well, experts recommend using a soft blind area.
This is due to the fact that it is better to make a clay castle two years after digging the column, when it compacts and settles naturally soil near the walls. In the meantime, the top can be covered with temporary waterproofing.
Features of the soft blind area:

A soft blind area is created from above around the second, as shown in the photo.

Basic materials for the device: sand and dense waterproofing film. You can add geotextiles, tiles, stone, gravel or grass to them.
The waterproofing film is stretched onto the concrete with one edge, closing the seam between the rings. This creates an additional blockade for the seepage of perched water.
The design is made like a layer cake: first the film is laid, then sand, and geotextiles and decorative material are placed on top.

The laying technology is as follows:

The entire fertile layer of soil is removed to the level of the installation depth of the second ring.
The film is laid: one edge covers the ground near the wall for at least a meter, and the second edge is placed on the ring itself. In doing so, it closes the seam between the first and second rings.
The film is pressed well against the well; it should not slip. To do this, the wall of the first ring is wrapped with metal tape, and the film is pressed firmly.
Fastening is carried out with screws directly to the concrete. The task can be simplified: the film can be secured around the ring with tape, wrapping it several times. But in this case, it is necessary to cover the pasting area with decorative material.
A sand cushion is poured on top of the film with a slope away from the well and a decorative coating is placed.

This method protects the seam from tearing during any heaving of the soil. The loosely fitting film will be able to adapt to any soil movements.
How to make a clay castle correctly can be seen in the video. This article provides some device provisions.

Owners summer cottages and private households, deprived of the opportunity to connect to the general water supply network, have no other alternative than to dig a well on their land. The problems of arranging life do not end there, because the water source needs care and protection.

Layout of a clay castle

What should a well be protected from?

To prevent people from falling into the well surface water after the snow melts or heavy rainfall, a special protection is built for it - a clay castle. Verkhovodka is not recommended for drinking or cooking from it, because it has not been filtered through the soil. Mixing with water from a well, it worsens its quality composition. Therefore, the surface of the earth around the perimeter of the well head must be reliably sealed by a clay castle.

What is a protective clay structure?

In the text of SanPiN, the structure of a clay castle is described as follows: a structure framing a well 1 meter wide and 2 meters deep. It is important that the layer is dense, so it is carefully compacted. Not every material is suitable for construction. Clay and rich loam are kneaded before laying; under no circumstances should they be replaced with sandy loam or soil dumps. A real castle around a well can only be made of clay, made of pre-prepared material with a sand content of 5 to 15%.

stone,
brick,
asphalt
or concrete blind area. It forms a ring with a radius of 2 meters with a mandatory deviation from the wall of the well of 0.1 m. From this slope, water is discharged into a ditch or tray.

Before making a clay castle for a well, it is necessary that the assembled shaft stand without this structure for at least a year (while the process of natural shrinkage of the soil continues) . This precaution will help prevent the formation of voids and uncompacted areas, because the lock prevents the soil from settling.

Caverns are dangerous because water accumulates in them. Rodents and insects living in the soil can get caught in them and die. And substances formed during the decomposition process and entering drinking water, they will not add to her at all useful properties. The duration of the process of natural shrinkage of the soil is affected by the composition of the soil, which must be taken into account when choosing the waiting time before starting work.

It is worth postponing the creation of a clay castle if a water supply is connected to the well. After installation of water supply communications, they return to waterproofing work.

It is prohibited to build a clay ring around the well on soils prone to seasonal heaving. There is a risk of the shaft rupturing or the seams between the rings shifting. There is no guaranteed protection against this. Tightening the rings using anchor bolts and metal plates won’t help either, so it’s better not to risk it.

Procedure for carrying out work

If there is no opportunity or desire to use the services of the team professional builders, all that remains is to make a clay castle for.

Digging in. A trench is dug along the perimeter of the well to a depth of 150 - 180 cm. As a result, the second seam of the ring connection should be visible.
All connections must be protected from clay getting into them. Anyone will do a hydrophobic material that does not rot or decompose, e.g. polyethylene film.
Preparation of material. For a clay castle, it is allowed to take clay with a sand content of up to 15%, but the lower the figure, the better. If you follow all the recommendations, the clay is aged before use (usually left for the winter). To add strength to the lock, lime is mixed into the solution so that its content does not exceed 20% of total mass mixtures. The more sand there is in the clay, the more lime you need to add.

The automatic tool handles compaction efficiently and quickly

It is important that the clay is kneaded and not mixed. Previously, this operation was performed with feet, today they use concrete mixers small sizes or use a drill with an attachment.

Water is gradually added to the clay and lime and the ingredients are kneaded until plastic. You can determine the desired consistency like this: make a clay lump. If it does not disintegrate, then the resulting mass can be compacted into a trench.

The clay is laid out gradually, in layers of 15 or 20 cm. Each laid out layer is compacted with a heavy tamper with a small sole. It is important that the structure of the clay changes; the purpose of tamping is to transform soft material V monolithic slab. The sequence of actions is repeated until the entire pit is filled. If the work cannot be completed in one day, then the unfinished lock is covered with film at night.

The next step is to create a blind area on top of the castle. And without the recommendations of SanPiN, it is clear that after rains or melting snow, even a tightly compacted clay castle will turn into mud. The “soggy” top layer will get wet and dry, which will gradually lead to a loss of tightness. Therefore, the construction of a blind area is considered the logical completion of the process of creating a protective castle.

The coating material is selected based on personal preferences; both stone and paving slabs. And the creation technology does not seem complicated:

the castle is covered with geotextile or other material with similar properties,
The selected material is laid on top of the screed.

You can assemble a low formwork and fill the castle from above cement mortar. The main thing is that the slope is maintained, because the task of the pavement is not just protection from moisture, but also its removal.

WATCH THE VIDEO

For bacterial and chemical composition The construction of a clay castle will not have any effect on the water on the site, but it will help keep it clear and usable, if it was so initially. Therefore, in solving the dilemma “for” or “against” clay castles around the well, it is worth tipping the scales towards a positive answer.

In this publication we will consider such a concept as clay castle and the feasibility of its design.

Clay is a mineral that consists of fine particles. When wet, clay has high plasticity and is able to absorb large amounts of water, retain it and not let it pass through.

Clay castle It is a layer of a certain thickness of compacted clay laid along the foundation or underground part of the wall of houses, basements, cellars, wells. Clay castle designed to prevent direct contact of the structure with groundwater, protection against flooding by rainwater, which allows to increase the service life of hydro insulating materials and the structure itself as a whole.

Attention! It is better to install a clay castle two years after the well shaft has been dug. During this huge period of time, the earth near the walls will become dense and settle. The upper part is covered with temporary waterproofing layer. But if you don’t want to wait two years, then all you have to do is make a soft, waterproof coating around the well.

All these shortcomings can be eliminated.

The process of creating a clay castle

Since the foundation is the foundation of the house, it must be completely isolated from the influence of groundwater and rainwater. The structure of the clay castle and its width depend on the depth of the house’s foundation in the ground. If the depth of the foundation is two meters, then the width at the bottom of the clay castle is 40-50 centimeters, and at the top – 25-30 centimeters. It is not very common to install a clay castle around the foundation.

Before starting the entire installation, a pit of the required width is dug. Crumpled clay should be placed in layers in the pit.

Important! The layer should be ten centimeters.

If you did not have time to do all the work in just one day, then the entire structure must be covered with a membrane that will protect the structure from moisture. In order to make a waterproof coating around the building, you need to wait about half a month after building the clay castle.

In order to provide complete protection from any moisture, a waterproofing membrane can be placed between our structure and the base of the house.

Clay castle for a well

An important point is to insulate the well from moisture. This is necessary because drinking water in a well can become contaminated if groundwater enters it. The most common procedure is to create a clay castle around the well. In general, the whole process is quite labor-intensive; all work requires a huge amount of material. In general, as soon as all the work is finished, do not forget to clean the well.

During all work, it is necessary to follow a certain algorithm of actions. Installation procedure:

There is a long deep ditch along the entire surface of the well shaft. The dimensions of this trench are: width – 600 millimeters, depth – 1700 millimeters.
The trench is filled with clay. It is important to compact the clay at all times.
A small waterproof covering is created at the top of the clay castle. This blind area should slope away from the well, and its height should be two hundred millimeters.

Installation technology

There is a certain technology:

To create a castle, you need to use a material that has natural moisture. When it is extracted from the earth cover for future storage, the material should be soaked in water and then covered with something. In order to check the quality of the created material, try to mold something from this clay. If the quality is poor, then the clay should crumble in your hands. The material should slide off your hands. All this will help you understand whether the material is ready to start using. Since clay contains a huge amount of sand, twenty percent lime can be added to it.
You can achieve the best results when compacting the material in an auxiliary structure (formworks). To install the formwork you will need wooden panels. It must be installed so that the thickness of our clay castle is two hundred millimeters. Tamping should take place in layers, the height of which should be on average 250 millimeters.
Geotextiles need to be placed on the outside of the clay castle. This canvas will prevent erosion of the structure by groundwater.
The process of making a clay castle is reminiscent of the process of creating a blind area for a building. The width of a clay castle can be different, it starts from one meter, the depth starts from 50 centimeters. The best thing is that all these indicators were greater. The clay is covered with a geotextile fabric, and you can put cobblestones on the fabric.

As you understand, clay is suitable material, which can be used to isolate a well from underground moisture. The cost of clay as a material is low, and maybe even non-existent, since the clay is right under your feet. Any procedure that involves clay can be performed independently. This work does not require any specific skills or effort. But at the same time, the work is quite labor-intensive.

Replacing clay

Today, many companies offer materials that can replace clay. Such materials include a mixture of sand and gravel or ordinary sand. But can all this become a substitute for clay?

Sand, as a material, is not designed to retain water. Sand is a filter for water, that is, this material simply allows it to pass through. After the sand allows water to pass through, it comes into contact with the concrete rings and penetrates into the well shaft through possible cracks. Although clay can get wet, it is a completely waterproof material. Due to the fact that clay can get wet during severe frosts in winter period you may observe slight movement or advancement of the well rings.

Although today manufacturers offer us various materials, clay is indispensable. It will not allow the soil layer to be moistened.

Ensuring protection of well rings from displacement

In order to prevent any movement of the deck rings, it is necessary to install additional fasteners. To install additional fasteners, you will need plates that are not subject to corrosion, as well as fasteners that are secured in load-bearing foundation and holding any structure (anchor bolts).

Stainless steel plates must be installed from the surface of the soil. It is necessary to complete the installation when you reach a height that is two hundred millimeters below the second seam.

Clay is used to make a lock natural humidity. If it is removed from the ground for storage, it should be soaked by watering it and covering it on top. The clay is ready for use when it can be molded into something: it does not crumble and does not slip between the fingers when it is kneaded. It would not be superfluous to add 10-20% lime to the clay composition, especially if there is a high sand content in it.

If the clay holds its shape: does not crumble or spread, it is ready for use.

The best results are obtained by carefully compacting the clay into the formwork. Can be installed wooden boards, ensuring a castle thickness of 15-20 cm. If the pit is not wide and there is sufficient material available, the walls of the pit themselves can serve as formwork. The clay is compacted in layers 20-30 cm high. Placing a geotextile fabric outside the castle will prevent its gradual erosion by groundwater. While there is no blind area, it is also worth laying a strip of geotextile around the perimeter of the house, making the backfill slope away from the building. The blind area can be made from a mixture of crushed stone and crushed clay, paved on top.

If the pit is not wide, the formwork may not be installed

The clay castle of the well is made similar to a blind area. It should be wide, at least a meter, and not necessarily deep, from half a meter. Better, of course, wider and deeper. If it goes from a well to a house water pipe, it must also be insulated with a lock, regardless of the depth of its installation. The clay can be covered with geotextile on top and paving slabs or cobblestones laid on it.

The clay pond castle is made 8-12 cm thick in three layers. The clay is kneaded to a soft dough, applied to a horizontal or inclined surface, compacted and allowed to dry a little. The surface should become similar in hardness to plasticine, then the next layer can be applied. During drying, including after finishing work, the clay should not be allowed to dry out to avoid cracks. It needs to be covered with film, or with hay. The pond will turn out ideal if you spread a pond film on top of the clay.

The clay blind area should be protected on top with geotextiles or paved

So, clay is not only a traditional, but also a promising material for waterproofing buildings from ground moisture. It is literally lying under your feet; the work does not require the performer to have qualifications or a complex instrument, although it is quite labor-intensive. European and American technologists continue to successfully develop new clay-based insulating materials; their appearance in Russia should be expected soon.

Owners of summer cottages and private households, deprived of the opportunity to connect to the general water supply network, have no other alternative than to dig a well on their land. The problems of arranging life do not end there, because the water source needs care and protection.

What should a well be protected from?

To prevent surface water from entering the well after melting snow or heavy rainfall, a special protection is built for it - a clay castle. Verkhovodka is not recommended for drinking or cooking from it, because it has not been filtered through the soil. Mixing with water from a well, it worsens its quality composition. Therefore, the surface of the earth around the perimeter of the well head must be reliably sealed by a clay castle.

What is a protective clay structure?

In the text of SanPiN, the structure of a clay castle is described as follows: a structure framing a well 1 meter wide and 2 meters deep. It is important that the layer is dense, so it is carefully compacted. Not every material is suitable for construction. Clay and rich loam are kneaded before laying; under no circumstances should they be replaced with sandy loam or soil dumps. A real castle around a well can only be made of clay, made of pre-prepared material with a sand content of 5 to 15%.

Disputes about the need to equip the castle arise constantly. Sanitary standards, prescribe the construction without fail, but with the proviso that in addition to it, a

stone,

brick,

asphalt

or concrete blind area. It forms a ring with a radius of 2 meters with a mandatory deviation from the wall of the well of 0.1 m. From this slope, water is discharged into a ditch or tray.

The blind area is not only decorative element. This protects the castle from destruction during operation (including due to precipitation).

Before making a clay castle for a well, it is necessary that the assembled shaft stand without this structure for at least a year (while the process of natural shrinkage of the soil continues) . This precaution will help prevent the formation of voids and uncompacted areas, because the lock prevents the soil from settling.

Caverns are dangerous because water accumulates in them. Rodents and insects living in the soil can get caught in them and die. And the substances formed during the decomposition process and getting into drinking water will add completely unhelpful properties to it. The duration of the process of natural shrinkage of the soil is affected by the composition of the soil, which must be taken into account when choosing the waiting time before starting work.
It is worth postponing the creation of a clay castle if a water supply is connected to the well. After installation of water supply communications, they return to waterproofing work.

It is prohibited to build a clay ring around the well on soils prone to seasonal heaving. There is a risk of the shaft rupturing or the seams between the rings shifting. There is no guaranteed protection against this. Tightening the rings using anchor bolts and metal plates won’t help either, so it’s better not to risk it.

Procedure for carrying out work

If there is no opportunity or desire to use the services of a team of professional builders, all that remains is to make a clay castle for.

Digging in. A trench is dug along the perimeter of the well to a depth of 150 - 180 cm. As a result, the second seam of the ring connection should be visible.

All connections must be protected from clay getting into them. Any hydrophobic material that does not rot or decompose, for example, polyethylene film, will do.

Preparation of material. For a clay castle, it is allowed to take clay with a sand content of up to 15%, but the lower the figure, the better. If you follow all the recommendations, the clay is aged before use (usually left for the winter). To add strength to the castle, lime is mixed into the solution so that its content does not exceed 20% of the total mass of the mixture. The more sand there is in the clay, the more lime you need to add.

It is important that the clay is kneaded and not mixed. Previously, this operation was performed with feet, today they use small concrete mixers or use a drill with an attachment.

Water is gradually added to the clay and lime and the ingredients are kneaded until plastic. You can determine the desired consistency like this: make a clay lump. If it does not disintegrate, then the resulting mass can be compacted into a trench.

The clay is laid out gradually, in layers of 15 or 20 cm. Each laid out layer is compacted with a heavy tamper with a small sole. It is important that the structure of the clay changes; the purpose of tamping is to turn the soft material into a monolithic slab. The sequence of actions is repeated until the entire pit is filled. If the work cannot be completed in one day, then the unfinished lock is covered with film at night.

The next step is to create a blind area on top of the castle. And without the recommendations of SanPiN, it is clear that after rains or melting snow, even a tightly compacted clay castle will turn into mud. The “soggy” top layer will get wet and dry, which will gradually lead to a loss of tightness. Therefore, the construction of a blind area is considered the logical completion of the process of creating a protective castle.

The coating material is selected based on personal preferences; both stone and paving slabs are suitable. And the creation technology does not seem complicated:

the castle is covered with geotextile or other material with similar properties,

The selected material is laid on top of the screed.

You can assemble a low formwork and fill the castle with cement mortar on top. The main thing is that the slope is maintained, because the task of the pavement is not just protection from moisture, but also its removal.

The construction of a clay castle will not affect the bacterial and chemical composition of the water on the site, but it will help keep it clear and suitable for consumption, if it was so initially. Therefore, in solving the dilemma “for” or “against” clay castles around the well, it is worth tipping the scales towards a positive answer.

Clay castle around the foundation– layers or several layers of crumpled, well-compacted clay along the wall and foundation.

Purpose of construction: waterproofing basements and foundations from contact with groundwater and Wastewater. A layer of clay of 40-50 centimeters is absolutely waterproof.

Stages of construction of a clay castle and its structure

Construction of a clay castle

Choice of clay. To build a clay castle for the foundation, fatty clay with a sand content of no more than 15 percent is used. It is also possible to use loam, but it requires prolonged soaking in water. To improve the properties of clay, lime should be used at a rate of 15 percent of the total mass of clay. Recently, bentonite clay has been used instead of ordinary clay. It gives fewer cracks and practically does not shrink.

Preparation clay mass. 1-2 days before you start making a clay castle, the clay should be filled with water. Important: do not let the clay mass dry out. To determine readiness, it is clenched in a fist. The resulting lump should not crumble. The ideal time to prepare clay is autumn. During the winter it will freeze well, become saturated with moisture and become plastic and homogeneous.

We are constructing an adjustable formwork. Formwork is done taking into account the depth of the foundation and the thickness of the formwork. With a foundation depth of up to 2 meters, which is standard for most buildings, the width of the lower part of the formwork should be 0.4 meters. Toward the top, the clay castle narrows to a width of 0.25 meters. Instead of formwork, you can use a foundation pit. The height of the clay castle should not exceed the height of the foundation.

Laying clay. Clay is applied in layers of 5-10 centimeters. The thinner the layers, the easier it is to compact it. Important: during breaks between installations, the clay castle must be covered with moisture-proofing materials (film, etc.). Otherwise, the clay will begin to dry and cracks will form between the layers, which will lead to the rapid destruction of the castle in the future.

. The main purpose of building a blind area is to protect the foundation and clay castle. The blind area should be built a couple of weeks after the construction of the clay castle is completed. All this time, the castle must be protected from rainwater. That's why they cover it on top waterproofing film. Also during this period, drainage for precipitation should be organized. You can build a blind area from a variety of materials. In essence, it represents the top layer of a clay castle.

Most suitable for self-waterproofing vertical and horizontal types for any type of foundation.

In our article, this is an excellent and very affordable method of vertical waterproofing.

Blind area options

Fill up the clay castle sand and gravel.

Turf. Layers of turf can be used as a blind area, but prerequisite is the organization of the drainage system.

Tile. Tiles are laid on top of the clay castle along the house. Having previously filled the base layer.

Concrete blind areas. They are more expensive than the previous one and after a few years they will begin to let moisture through, even with additional reinforcement. Consequently, it will require replacement and additional costs.

To protect the foundation from destruction by groundwater and wastewater, you should organize a drainage system, build a clay castle and cover it with a blind area on top. If additional financial resources are available, it is possible to use additional waterproofing materials.

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.

Melt and rain runoff and perched water pose a particular danger to water quality. 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

Not always for good result nanotechnology must be used. The clay castle for the drinking well clearly proves this. This method of providing protection against the penetration of wastewater and its neutralization was used 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 or special attachments for drills to knead the clay.

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 with high fat content forms easily 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 small area touch.

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 drain rainwater and melt water from leakage 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 roll material(roofing 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 loose material is poured onto the top of the clay castle, 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. Updating or alteration of a clay castle is required when improper installation or deadlines for shrinkage of soil around the well are 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.