Building in Wyoming (Laramie, Rawlins, Medicine Bow: contractors, cost of, garden)

[bzbzlady]

We will be drilling for water on land we purchased by Medicine Bow. That will let us know how soon we will be building our home. We have been able to locate a qualified well driller, but he isn't available till summer. We want to be hands on with what we can, but I believe the challange will be in finding reputable contractors who can do the septic, basement, framing that truely have the knowedge and experience required to do a good job without problems later on. Does anyone know this caliber of person that is faily close to Rock River, Medicine Bow, Laramie or Rawlins and whose references are impecable?

[shadowwalker]

You will need to get a water well permit from the department of water quality before you can drill. You need to call them in cheyenne and have the permit papers mailed to you to fill out. You do this and should get the o.k. in less than two weeks. Just thought you might need to know. Also you get to name your well and it is on file just like that.

[bzbzlady]

Thanks for the reply. We have all the info about permits. I did find out that if we wait until January 2007 to apply for the permit, then it is good until the end of 2008. The company that will be drilling wants to have more than one job in the area they drill in because of the cost of moving the equipment, is probably why we have to wait. That is real interesting about getting to name the well. I wonder what we will come up with. The only street names that are out by our property are named after race horses. One is Man o war, the other is Seattle Slew. Do you have any Ideas about reputable contractors in the are?

[shadowwalker]

Cool. I had my garden in at casper and needed a well I had to wait on all that for almost too long. I did drill my well by hand. It only had to go 24 feet. I did it myself. I had about 60 gallons a minute when I was done with a gas powered pump and 2 inch pipe. Didn't need a driller.
Do you know where the water is on your property? I witched mine and did about 12 or 13 other wells around casper. I never came up dry. The deepest was around 300 feet if I remember right and it had about 13 gallons a minute pretty good.
You can witch yourself. And maybe see how close you are to the driller.

[bzbzlady]

There are a few shallow wells for cattle in the area, some of which have gone dry, but I don't know where the water will be on our property. I'm curious though, how do you witch for water? We'll be going back to Wyoming in the spring to meet with the drillers, and sign the contract. I wonder how they know where the water is. I have read there is an aquifer in that area. Also have heard the deeper you drill for water, the less alkaline. I need lots of education between now and then.

[MHT]

Our well-driller witched our well in MT. Here in WY our well-driller told us that he didn't need to. He was right - he hit water just where he drilled and just at the depth he told us he would. If you use a well driller that drills a lot of wells in the area they pretty much know all the info they need. We don't have alkaline water here but there is sand if you don't go deep enough.

[shadowwalker]

For witching I use two brazing rods from the welding store. I use 3/16. I shape it into a "L" shape. With the small end being about 6 inches long and the other end being about 12 inches.
Type in Dowsing into the internet and you will get many ways to do it. I can also follow sewer lines, metal pipe lines, sometimes buried cables. I never had the luck to find things like gold or buried treasurs though. Or I wouldn't be here in Tennessee. I'd be back in WYOMING now. Ha, ha.

[I_Brennus]

There is a series of excellent books called Foxfire that are a wealth of information. One of the Foxfire books ( I can't remember exactly which one) discusses in great detail water witching. I tried it myself and was surprised that it actually works.