This surprise find is becoming part of one home’s scenery.
A TikTok user has gone viral after coming upon a huge hole underneath his kitchen floor — and deciding to make it part of his home.
Creator @MortyLad has racked up millions of views on the platform after discovering an 18th-century water well in his kitchen floor, and documenting every step of the process in which he excavates and incorporates it into the overall aesthetic.
“A little over a month ago we came across something absolutely amazing underneath our kitchen floor,” the Cheshire, UK resident said in a March video recapping his “journey,” which has racked up north of 32.7 million views. “Little did we know we’ve been walking over a 300-year-old water wall [every day] for the past 20 years.”
The Brit, who wouldn’t reveal his name, told Insider he’s a 48-year-old retired plumber. He had wanted to install underfloor heating, and had been pulling up the original foundations to lay it.
“While removing some of the sand we came across a really strange gravelly mixture in one spot,” he explained further in the clip. “Upon investigation it turned out to be hollow and full of water.”
He suspected a leak and carried on digging, which only led to more water, and then a ring of bricks, by which point he was nearly certain he’d come upon the home’s original water well.
It was at this point he made the “scary decision to incorporate it into the new kitchen.”
To do as much, he needed to build up the well with reclaimed brick to bring it level with the finished floor. He then repeatedly had to drain the well as it filled with water, come up with “increasingly sketchy ways” to lift buckets in and out of it — and eventually employed a pulley system.
The project still isn’t complete, but the current plan is to eventually fit the well with a transparent cover — a sight that will surely wow guests who come over.
“Obviously we won’t really want a giant open hole in the middle of the kitchen,” the plumber said in a follow-up video, noting that the well’s placement in the kitchen makes it necessary to walk over it. “It will be lit and covered with special walk on glass.”
