From: rrw@sunset (Bob Wier)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Fill old well in basement?
Date: 15 Nov 92 20:38:53 GMT
Distribution: usa
Originator: rrw@sunset.cse.nau.edu

From article <1992Nov13.200347.10403@porthos.cc.bellcore.com>, by patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r):
> In article <1992Nov13.181428.21567@odin.corp.sgi.com> kim@wpd.sgi.com writes:
>>|> Others said
>>|> # Don't fill it.  
>>|> 
>>|> Agreed. You can hide bodies in it. Unless they are already
>>|> there. Did you see Jimmy Hofffa down there ;-?
>>
>>	Or for the less criminally inclined, you might have
>>  the beginnings of a nifty wine cellar.
> 
> Anyone else still remember the baby in Georgia that fell into a well a
> few years ago when the cover deteriorated? That's not (unfortunately)
> a unique case, just one the media wanted to blow up.
> 
> FILL IT IN!
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>                     | Have a place for everything and keep the thing
> George Patterson -  | somewhere else. This is not advice, merely custom.
>                     |                        Samuel Clemens
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  I'd have to second this.  My house in Colorado is located in a mining
  area - there are estimated to be 10,000 abandoned mines within a 50
  mile radius.  

  One major part of the tourist information which is put out about the area
  is to STAY OUT OF OLD MINES!.  There are a number of unpleasant ways
  to meet your demise in one (suprisingly enough "cave ins" isn't a major
  problem) - but one of the most insidious and common is falling thru a
  cover into a "winze", which is a vertical shaft.  What the old time
  miners would do is that if an area played out (or nothing was found)
  they would build a WOODEN cover over the shaft.  After 100 years, the
  covers are rotten (especially being exposed to the sulferic acid being
  produced in the mine drainage) and also covered with dirt, etc so they
  are not immediately visible (especially in the dark).  

  Now, one would think that if you put a CEMENT cap over a shaft, then
  the problem would be solved. Not so... mine reclamation has been 
  doing this for a number of years.  The problem is that after a relatively
  short period (20 years) the cement begins to spall, and more importantly
  drainage into the shaft from the surface loosens the cap, and erodes
  around the edges.  Under the right (wrong) conditions, the top of the
  shaft will enlarge sufficiently that the cement cap will settle and 
  eventually fall into the shaft.

  Unfortunately, several people (usually tourists) find this out every
  year.  Occasionally someone driving a jeep will find one also, which
  then produces a real problem for mine rescue because the jeep normally
  wedges halfway down the shaft (which can be a couple of thousand feet
  deep) and makes it REAL difficult to bring the bodies out...

  Now, filling a 2,000' deep mine isn't practical, but if it were me,
  I'd sure try to come up with a way to fill a well, especially if it
  were in a basement.  In a basement, it wouldn't be exposed to the
  weathering conditions mentioned above, but it would be a tempting 
  target for any children in the house...


- Bob Wier

  ---------- insert favorite standard disclaimers here ----------
                   College of Engineering
      Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff Arizona
  Internet: rrw@naucse.cse.nau.edu | BITNET: WIER@NAUVAX | WB5KXH
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house