Brick and Mortar Well and Pump Houses: Too Much and Not Enough

With severe weather recently impacting significant portions of the country, particularly smaller cities and towns and rural areas not typically affected by catastrophic hurricane conditions or flooding, the thought of cleaning up and rebuilding homes, barns, utility sheds and other outbuildings must seem like an insurmountable task.

At Safe-T-Cover, members of our team have friends and family members who live in these affected areas; we also have distributors, trusted clients and partners we’ve worked with over the years here in Appalachia and the southeast. Our hearts go out to everyone affected by Helene and Milton.

In recovering from disasters like these, the understandable thought is to rebuild smarter and with stronger materials. Of course, it would make sense that stronger would mean lumber and concrete, brick and mortar, especially for critical infrastructure like water well pumps, backflow preventers, wellheads or irrigation control systems.

Brick and mortar construction sounds like a good solution, but in our years of experience, and even setting aside our bias, we can tell you with realistic confidence that these buildings are both too much and not enough.

Brick and Mortar Is Too Much

The upfront cost outlay for conventional construction is a non-starter, even in normal conditions. There are the permits, development costs, equipment, material and contracting and labor, if you aren’t able to round up some handy friends and neighbors to do it yourself over a weekend or two – in which case, there’s the chance that the job may not be done properly and not pass inspection, forcing additional cost overruns and time spent doing revisions.

All the while, that equipment you’re trying to protect remains fully exposed to the elements, and at this time of year, with frosty nights, that can be hard on a pump or backflow.

Brick and Mortar Construction Is Not Enough

If the building is constructed successfully and passes inspection, the footprint will be larger than it needs to be, and yet likely not big enough to allow for proper servicing or inspection around the equipment. In most cases with brick and mortar construction, the structure is built just large enough to suit the equipment, with little to no regard for needs down the line – servicing, inspection, repair, replacement.

If the pump house isn’t properly fitted with insulation, it will not be an effective countermeasure to the weather’s most basic threat to equipment: heat and cold. Winters will cause freezing without proper steps to winterize the equipment (in which case, why did you build the pump house in the first place?) It likely will not have adequate ventilation or exhaust to allow for airflow in the summer, creating unhealthy conditions for mold and setting the stage for eventual equipment failure.

And if, Heaven forbid, another catastrophic weather event takes place, brick and mortar well house structures will be ineffective against the kinds of failures that struck western North Carolina.

Safe-T-Cover: the Superior Enclosure Option for Wells, Pumps and Other Critical Equipment

Your waterworks and critical infrastructure equipment should be enclosed and protected, but not within conventional construction with lumber framing and brick and mortar, and certainly not within an enclosed space like a below-grade vault.

Safe-T-Cover’s modular aluminum enclosures were engineered and designed to be the ideal solution for any weather, in any conditions and for all seasons. 

Removable panels are made of marine grade aluminum with polyisocyanurate insulation sealed on. Every enclosure is braced with sustainably harvested California redwood renowned for its strength and durability, able to handle substantial snow loads. When mounted to a concrete pad and given one of our exclusive slab-mounted heaters, our enclosures meet ASSE Class 1 protection standards for freeze protection and drainage, the best possible grade in the industry. Available fans and louvers provide airflow in the summer, while our best-in-class locking systems afford you peace of mind.

With standard sizing and a team available to create custom designs, there likely isn’t a solution we can’t develop for just about any situation. We can even make your enclosures look good with numerous available colors or vinyl-wrapped graphics based on your provided images or designs.

And with all our products made right here in Nashville, your in-stock order can be fulfilled within two weeks, and your enclosure can be installed in just a few hours. With care, these enclosures will withstand nearly any conditions for 30 years or more.

Don’t spend your time and money on a project that will be both overkill and insufficient. Get started with our sizing guide or contact us about your upcoming project. Together, we’ll find an enclosure solution that hits the mark.