About to attempt to rebuild our deck pond myself, with helpers. Intimidated!

[Lisak1]

You can't predict sudden weather changes

Well, actually they've gotten pretty good at predicting sudden weather changes. We haven't been surprised by a major weather event in a good long while. If anything, they OVER predict. Now, if you're saying you can't predict an equipment failure in conjunction with a weather event, that's true. But the same could be said for going on vacation, being gone for the day, or even going to bed at night. Equipment can fail at any time - all we can do is prepare for the things that we can anticipate and do our best with the unexpected. I guess everyone's comfort level will vary.

 

[sissy]

I have that night said it was supposed to warm up again and not get below 38 degrees that night .They lied .Just like spring this year they said no frost and I put my plants out and we got a frost not once but 2 times .It was already spring and we got a really late frost that they did not predict .New ponds are not easy to figure out to start with and adding a failure could make it worse

 

[Lump]

Finally seem to have turned a corner in this project. Our removal of the old liner, and further excavation revealed several tunnels, with rodent chewing damage to the old liner. So I was determined to try and stop them, or at least slow them down. It was a big project, but we did get galvanized hardware cloth installed today.

 

[Lump]

Another view for you.

 

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Still more:

 

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We CAREFULLY trimmed every section of wire, to remove loose wires and pointed ends. But we know that "stuff" happens, so we also packed mud over top of each seam, and then covered each seam or edge again with the old EPDM liner, and the old underlayment material. Several layers.

 

[Lump]

 

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Each of those strips of EPDM were then applied over packed mud, and then fastened to the soil beneath via multiple 6" staples. (They only need to be held in place until all that water pressure forces them to stay where they are). Over those strips of EPDM we applied various pieces of old underlayment, and larger pieces of the original EPDM. Next will be a layer of brand new indoor-outdoor carpet. Then a layer of brand new underlayment, and finally the NEW 45 mil EPDM rubber liner. We are hopeful that this combination will keep out the rodents, prevent wires, rocks, roots, etc, from piercing the new EPDM layer, and result in a nice deep, enjoyable pond. It's my first-ever pond, and I'm learning.

 

[Lisak1]

Well, it's not your first pond - it's your first pond BUILD... and you'r doing great! Everything looks very neat and tidy, which to me is a sign of good workmanship. You're taking your time which is good - it's always good to take the time to spend a fair amount of time thinking things through. Less mistakes that way, which are always frustrating.

 

[cas]

What a cool idea to keep the rodents from chewing the liner. Very nice job. Can't wait to see the finished results.

 

[addy1]

Wonderful job!

 

[Lump]

So today we hit it again, this time starting out by putting the old underlayment fabric back in, over top of the hardware cloth layer, and of course over the various pieces of old epdm, etc. You can see in the accompanying photo that the lower right corner matches up to the radius of the former waterfall...just as it was installed by the pond contractor about 20 years ago.

 

[Lump]

When we finally got that old fabric in place, we started installing the indoor-outdoor carpet. This is intended to be SURE that no wires from the rodent-proof hardware cloth will cause leaks. Big job, though.

 

[Lump]

With the carpet finally installed, and MOST wrinkles removed, we moved on to the NEW underlayment fabric. I had bought enough to make two new layers, BOTH of which went in over the carpet. We used rocks to hold it in place temporarily, until we would be ready for the final layer, the Firestone 45 mil EPDM rubber.