Lissa wrote:

My house is about 30 years old. We moved in about 5 years ago. We have
a septic and well, living in the country. We also have lots of
rodents outdoors. Up until about 2 years ago they stayed outdoors. Now
they have moved in, our basement that is. From what we can tell the
mice are coming in through a hole in our basement floor. We have an
oil tank and the tank is over the hole, but on legs. THe hole is for
the pipes from our water well and is about 2 feet x 2 feet. It is
covered by peice of wood and plastic on top of that, duct taped down.
It appears to have come loose and I did see one of the mice run under
it. My husband also hear one scratching at the board. Obviously we
need to seal it up somehow. I hesitate to do what they did before
because it was not a long term solution. This is our first house so I
have not seen this before, or a house with a well. Does anyone know
how we could seal it up? There will have to be a hole for the pipes
to come up from the floor to inside of the house. Does anyone know if
the well pump is located there? I thought of getting sheet metal and
screwing it down. Maybe sealing around the pipes with steal wool? But
I am not sure if I need to have it more accessible for some reason in
case something goes wrong with our well? Any information would be
appreciated. I have not been able to find any information about it so
far. Thanks so much!

Lisa C.


All of the following are guesses since I cannot investigate your
basement and property from where I am.
Besides, I am not a plumber, but I play one at home and do have a well.
I doubt that the well is directly below the hole. Since you have more
than one pipe (2?) coming from that hole, one is probably for the water
supply, and the other for the electrical wires going to a submersible
pump. The submersible pump is a large cylinder about 3 1/2" or 4" in
diameter and about 4 feet long (I don't have one on hand so the
measurements are just fuzzy guestimates from the last time I saw mine).
How could they pull the 4' well pump, and its lengthy supply pipe and
wires, out for repair or replacement from the hole in the basement, or
even more unlikely, from under an oil tank? The last time I had mine
pulled from my 20 year old, 300' deep well, there were stiff plastic
supply pipes that were about 12' or more in length and screwed to each
other to make one long 300' continuous pipe.
Have you looked around on your property for a well head, either sticking
up out of the ground, or under some metal access plate? The well head
will be about 7" in diameter. Mine is in my front yard and sticks 1' out
of the ground. Some people hide them under removable lawn structures
(like a small wishing well or windmill). Mine is somewhat camouflaged by
the end branches of a weeping cherry tree.
Back to the basement: What's in the bottom of the hole? Be careful, the
mice may have a nest in there. Use a handlight and mirror to look in
there. It seems unlikly that someone left that big hole in the floor
unless there was another reason, like for a sump pump.
If you can positively identify that hole as just an access for the well
pipe(s) and not also for a sump pump, I would just fill it with dirt to
about 2" inches from the floor and then cap it off with 1" or 2" of
concrete mix (in case you have to break it out for some reason).
All of the above may not apply, so you should get a plumber in to make
sure that what you think it is, is.