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STEPS TO BUILD A POND AND WATERFALL
Thursday, June 12, 2005
Wesly Schwartz
START
Use landscape paint to mark the outline of your pond, waterfall, bog garden, and pump location.
Dig the stream bed and falls 18 inches deep and the pond 36 inches deep. Thoroughly compact the soil. Before digging, consult your local building codes and call the gas, power, and water companies to locate underground pipes.
LINER
Measure for the pond liner. Take measurements at the widest points of your pond for both length and width. Measure with the contours and add at least one foot on each side of the pond. If your liner is too short, your pond may leak.
Measure for the stream bed. Again, measure the length and width. The two liners will overlap by two feet. We used 45 mil. EPDM 20 year warranty liner.
Place cushioning under the liner. Use sand, landscape cloth, and carpet for padding. One rock can cut into your liner, creating a leak, so don't skimp on the padding.
Lay out your liner. Overlap the stream bed and pond liner and allow for at least one foot of liner beyond the edges of the pond and stream.
Place styrofoam down where the heavy boulders will be placed. Place the large boulders.
MORTAR
Prepare premix low lime mortar; approximately four bags for every 10 square feet of pond.
Use medium sized rocks to build up the walls around the border of the pond, filling in between the larger boulders.
Build the falls. Build up like a garden wall and back mortar to keep in place. Cap off the wall with a flat rectangular piece of stone. Make sure it tilts forward slightly. Use smaller rocks underneath to shim it in and then glue it with mortar, too.
Mortar the bottom of each tier or pool of the streambed. Place river rock into the mortar, varying the size and color of the rock to create a natural look. Add loose stone over the mortared river rock.
Cover bog garden shelf with 4" quarter minus gravel. Add aquatic plants.
PUMP AND FILTRATION
Dig a trench for the return line from the top of the falls to the pool at the bottom. Lay flexible PVC pipe, also known as pool and spa tubing, in the trench and mortar it in at the top of the falls. Do NOT cover the opening of the PVC.
Determine pump size by measuring width, length, and depth of the pond. Multiply length x width x depth x 7.5= gallons of water you need to pump. Add 25% more to that number to accommodate your falls. Take these measurements with you when buying a pump. The calculations are on the side of the box.
Assemble the pump according to the directions. Make sure you have a true union flap check to prevent flooding and to allow for easy access to the pump if repairs are necessary.
Create a pump house. Mortar the space where the pump will be placed. Cut a standard valve box to accommodate A-D-S pipes for your filtration or bio-system. Place valve box into mortar making sure it is level. Lay flex piping into the hole cut in the valve box and mortar to the pump housing. Stack the remaining valve boxes to the top. Mortar in rocks to hide the pump housing. Lower in pump. Hook up plumbing.
Put in filtration system. Cover the bio-filter with river rock. The smaller the rock, the better the filtration system.
Roll the edges of the liner showing around the perimeter. Make sure to roll the liner inward, not under, to prevent leaking. Wedge the rolled liner between the rocks, then pack soil against it. Cover every inch with rocks to conceal the liner.
Fill the pond with water and turn on the pump. Check for leaks around the edges. Enjoy!
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