Moved in...pond duge with in 20 min

[SquishyFish]

We moved into our new house last week. The neighborhood is still in development so there is ALWAYS some kind of construction workers or equipment parked on the street or running up and down the street. We hadnt been at the house for 20 min when a guy drove by in a bobcat. 40.00 and 20 min later I had a 3x9x19 hole in my back yard!

Now...My question is do I have to use pond liner for the water fall. I have it set up for a 3-4 foot vertical waterfall. I dont want to use 13.00per sqft liner if I dont have too. Is there something else I can use such as thick plastic sheeting? (just for the water fall.)

Thanks.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Nice deal, it is amazing what cash can do.

What shape are you thinking for your waterfall, and what are you making it out of?

 

[SquishyFish]

Right now it is set up to curve around one of the corners of the pond. So the water fall would be an L shape. As far as what it will be made out of...no idea what kind of rock I want to use. There is a lot of lime stone on my lot and in very large pieces. I was also thinking of using concrete to form the "slide" of the water fall instead of linning it with plastic.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Good deal, I was going to suggest concrete. What I did was went to HD and bought some plaster lath (basically a wire mesh). I rolled it into a cylinder, then folded it in onto itself. Then I bent it down into a rock shape with ledges, put some tubes in it for water flow, and then covered it with concrete. We used a special mix with some strenghtening glue, and fiber. I will try to find an old picture of it to upload, my digicam isn't working correctly right now.

A second option would to be create an upper pond that you pump water into, and then spill it into your pond. Perhaps you could build up a mound of dirt, burry a 50 gal rubbermaid containier in it, cut half of one of the sides out, and let it spill into the pond.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Here is a pic of both my waterfalls as examples.

 

[SquishyFish]

Well...the pics dont appear to be showing up for me, but I like both ideas. I thought I might do a combination of the two.

First option. Rubber maid tub at the top...fit a piece of pvc into it to allow the water to flow into the upper part of the water fall and then down the rock scape. Make the rock scape out of the concrete and mesh like you talked about. Could even wedge rock into the concrete.

2nd option...Route a hose from my pump to the top of the fall and allow it to flow naturally down the scape.

What do you think.

 

[duaumun]

Skip concreter, i would still go with liner. Generally, liner is better and cheaper. Plus, you can work with it more and make it look natural.

 

[SquishyFish]

I thought I posted a reply to this....I think the liner wouldnt be any more expensive than the concrete and the mesh. So I think I will go with the liner.

 

[duaumun]

Darn, you are right. Sorry 'bout that

 

[SquishyFish]

Thanks guys for the advise. I'll update with pics as I build it.

Squishy

 

[Guest]

We hadnt been at the house for 20 min when a guy drove by in a bobcat. 40.00 and 20 min later I had a 3x9x19 hole in my back yard!

You lucky dog!!! Good for you, man, well worth the money.

When I think back on all the back-breaking labor I put into digging my ponds, I sure wish I had your deal! Shoveling, hauling by wheelbarrow, ugh. Did it all myself too, my buddies wouldn't even help for free beer and pizza, da bums!

Glad you decided to use quality liner. Using quality materials when you start will avoid costly repairs later. Do it right the first time applies to almost everything, but it's especially important with a pond. Mistakes or cheap materials make for very difficult fixes somewhere down the line.

 

[SquishyFish]

The only think I am going to skimp on right now is the pump. I am using a converted DAS filter system from a saltwater tank. But I am building it in a way that will be easily removed and replaced by another filter. I just dont have a grand to drop on a high quality filter right now, and I know I can build the equivalent of the lower quality ones out of this filter and a rubber maid tub.

Squishy