CATCH BASIN

[Mmathis]

LOL! Of course!

 

[Mmathis]

SISSY, I bought my turtle spitter yesterday! Have him on the edge, guarding and over-seeing the pond!

WATERBUG, regarding the basin construction, why do you dry-stack the upper levels and not mortar them in place? Glad you mentioned slanting the wall inward. Is it necessary to make the base a little wider for this?

Also, for anyone, when you construct something like a catch basin wall, do you put down an extra layer of liner (underneath the wall area) to protect the liner?

How far out from the waterfall should the catch basin be? Or, IOW, how much space does it take for it to be effective and look good? By "look good," I mean for it to look natural & not look forced or out of place.

 

[Waterbug]

WATERBUG, regarding the basin construction, why do you dry-stack the upper levels and not mortar them in place?

Dry stacking and filling with concrete is easy, faster and stronger.

Glad you mentioned slanting the wall inward. Is it necessary to make the base a little wider for this?

No. When you lay the first course you tip it back a hair. Or, if the first course didn't end up tipped back for some reason you can use a little wedge between the first and second course to tip back the second course.

Also, for anyone, when you construct something like a catch basin wall, do you put down an extra layer of liner (underneath the wall area) to protect the liner?

I don't, but you can if you like. The initial mortar bed (although concrete is fine too) is what protects the liner. If you ever put some cement onto liner, let cure, and remove the cement you'll see the cement if very smooth and conforms perfectly to the liner. No better protection.

How far out from the waterfall should the catch basin be? Or, IOW, how much space does it take for it to be effective and look good? By "look good," I mean for it to look natural & not look forced or out of place.

Kind of depends on the size of the falls. The opening can be as little as just a couple of inches. In that case you might want to kind of slope back the top course of rocks.

If you wanted to have a minimum effect and the falls wasn't too large... A catch basin could be a single column of concrete block, right up against the pond side. In this case you would mortar the block together. The hollow voids in the block would be the catch basin. Mortar some rocks on the top to form the leading edge. The bottom most block would need a hole or a chunk knocked out of it to let out water.

 

[Mmathis]

WATERBUG, thanks!