Canopy for a well - purpose, features, installation

Owners of country estates know how important and in demand a resource is clean drinking water. The most common source of such water outside the city is a well, so it is customary to protect wells from the external environment, improve them and simply decorate them with various head designs. We will tell you how to build a canopy for a well with your own hands.

Design of well heads

The purpose of the canopy

As mentioned in the introduction, clean drinking water is a very important resource in the absence of not only running water, but often also retail outlets where you can replenish supplies for money. Therefore, the well becomes not just a water intake point, but a very important and protected object.

Traditionally, in Russian villages, wells were a meeting place for fellow villagers, a source of free, that is, fertile water, and therefore this place was revered and to some extent even carried a certain sacred load.

Strangers or intruders could poison the water (which was often practiced during wars and civil strife), and therefore access to the source of life was not so easy: usually the wells were in plain sight, and many were completely locked.

Of course, today we do not need such vigilance, but one of the enemies of drinking water remained undefeated, this:

• dust,
• dirt,
• garbage,
• melt and rain water,
• small animals and insects that can carry the infection.

It so happened that everything on our planet falls from top to bottom, and not vice versa, so it is logical to assume that the “protective screen” should be located above the well mouth, and in this case it will look like a canopy, visor, tent or gazebo.

From here we can deduce the main purpose of the well roof, which we have described in points:

• Protection of the mouth of the structure from the fall of various debris carried by the wind: foliage, branches, insects, as well as human products, including numerous bags and packages that have already flooded not only cities, but also their environs;
• Protection of the source from penetration into its mine of various animals - cats, dogs, birds and small rodents like rats and mice. Often animals, mad with thirst, lose their caution and fall to the bottom of the wells, where they die. And the decomposition products of their bodies poison not only this well, but the entire aquifer with which this source communicates;
• The design of the head is often built in such a way that a fall of a person in the mouth is purely technically impossible. However, a small child, due to his size, intelligence and activity, is quite capable of overcoming these technical nuances and still taste the invigorating downhill towards the center of the Earth. To avoid such excesses, the heads often have lockable doors, and the mouth is closed with a lid;
• In addition to protective functions, the head also performs technical ones: a lifting gate is most often fixed on its supports, which facilitates the intake of water;
• Finally, beautiful and nice garden shed is purely decorative. If everything is done correctly, the building will perfectly fit into your landscape and will decorate it, becoming an integral part of the overall architectural ensemble.

Important!
Purpose well roofs so essential that when building a water source, the question usually does not arise whether it needs a canopy or not, because the answer is obvious even to a child: a canopy is necessary.

Varieties

Since the construction of well heads is not carried out according to the requirements of SNiP or GOST, then there are an infinite number of varieties of such structures. However, a more detailed analysis allowed us to divide them into groups and classify them.

As a rule, all types of structures can be divided into open and closed.

1. Open ones are prettier and often more comfortable.
2. Closed ones are more secure.

In addition, the function of a canopy can be performed by a roof made in various versions:

• Shed. In this case, the well resembles the entrance to the cellar, where the vertical part is the passage to the mouth, and the inclined part is the roof slope;
• Double or quadruple. The most common options are distinguished by ease of execution and practicality, and also harmonize well with most residential buildings and outbuildings;
• Tent or domed. Also widespread, but require more skill from builders. Indispensable in some styles of landscape design and site architecture;
• In the form of a gazebo or a house around the mouth. The most time-consuming, but also the most convenient and reliable option. Often, the price of materials and labor does not allow building such structures.

Important!
Before you make a canopy over the well with your own hands, evaluate your strengths and capabilities.
So you can choose the head design that you can build with high quality and soundly.

Installation

Now let's look at an example of how to make a canopy over a well.

To do this, we have compiled an instruction that will show the process in stages:

1. From a board 100x50 mm we make a base frame on which our structure will stand. To do this, we fasten four beams in the shape of a square with a cut in half a tree and put it on the head;
2. Perpendicular to the frame, we fasten four board-racks, which we fix to the concrete ring with anchors, and to the frame - with the help of steel corners and self-tapping screws;

3. We assemble the roof frame from a board 60x30 mm in the form of a triangle. The ends of the sides abut against the base and are fastened with self-tapping screws or nails, the central tightening and vertical stop - with furniture bolts;
4. The sides connected to the bevel in the upper part are connected by two boards cut flush with the bearing sides of the triangle (rafters);

5. We take a log with a diameter of 200 mm, clean it from the bark and cylinder it, then drive the handle and shank into it (can be made from a pipe or fittings). For the handle you will need a meter length, for the shank, 20 centimeters is enough. We install the gate on the horizontal puffs of the frame and fix it with blocks with semicircular cutouts for the axis of the mechanism;
6. We sew slopes with clapboard. First we sew the back slope, then the front one, leaving an opening. As a ridge on top of the bundle boards, we fasten 2 lining boards;

7. Sewing ends or sides. We start by mounting the center board, then move to the edges;
8. We make a door leaf from boards and hang the door. Next, we mount the chain with a bucket on the gate and finish the structure with impregnations and paints.

Important!
All wooden parts must be thoroughly impregnated with hydrophobic, antiseptic and fungicidal impregnations.
If you are afraid of a fire at the well - then flame retardants.

Conclusion

A well without a canopy is an irresponsible attitude to a source of clean drinking water, and not only to a specific one, but to everyone within a radius of 100 meters. The video in this article and our how-to guide will help you build your own shed and secure your well.

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