Construction of The Hawkins' Family Pond

[randythawkins]

OK, more on the waterfall box...More pics of the manifold:

So, as mentioned before, the manifold splits the single 2" supply line into 3 1.5" lines - one for a TPR return to the pond, one for the basin, and one for the basin's by-pass. Should I ever need to shut down the waterfall I can open the by-pass and close the basin line. As long as I have 2 of the 3 lines open I will continue to move the desired amount of water from the pump.

The TPR by-pass lines will run from the manifold to the pond and be as hidden as possible. I could have ran them straight to the pond, under the cascade, but that would have required passing them through the pond liner and I did not feel comfortable with that so, instead, I decided to run them up and over the top of the liner, directly under the basin's lip, and have them follow the steps of the cascade to the pond. All that my sound a little confusing but follow along and maybe it will make sense.

I installed a 2x4 to support the basin's lip and needed to notch that to allow for the 2 pipes.

The front of the waterfall box will have a lot of dirt and/or water pressing against it so I needed to support against that.

That was covered with roofing tar paper in an effort to minimize wet dirt against wood.

I then attached underlayment and liner.

When I installed the liner for the pond I did not trim the part that would be where the waterfall would be located. It is not long enough to reach the top of the waterfall box I built so I need the liner at the top part of the box. I will unroll the pond's one up as far as it will go and then lay this top one down on top of it. This overlap, along with proper construction of the cascade should result in a no-leak transition.

With the liner in place I could now run the 2 lines from the manifold up and over the top.

I then had to build a temporary return to the pond from these 2 lines.

These allowed me to turn the pump back on while the rest of the construction takes place.

Here are some pictures with the basin in place.

After I build the cascade part I will remove the temporary lines and connect piping that will follow the steps of the cascade.

 

[randythawkins]

It was time to connect the basin to the manifold.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy that connection to the basin was complete - it was an opportunity for me to prove, several times, that I am not a plumber. The red valves control the supply lines and the black values allow me to drain any of the lines.

Time to put some lipstick on the pig...wrapping the skimmer box:

The waterfall box also got some cosmetic work.

I cut a notch so that I could run any drained water away from the waterfall box.

I will end this entry with an overview shot -

 

[randythawkins]

I built a top for the skimmer box.

I made it in 2 sections. That way if I needed to access something not available from the door I could remove half of the top - half of the total weight - and get to what I need to get to from the top side.

The Settlement Tank box got some love...

Back to the skimmer box...early on I had run an electrical line and now it was time to use it. There are 2 items I want to control separately - UV light and pond lighting. I decided to install a dual gang box, each with its own GFCI outlet and switch.

Got the brush out and stained some wood.

In the above picture you can see some retaining wall block. That is where I was brainstorming my upcoming cascade work.

I also stained the 2 other boxes but will have to post pictures of those later.

 

[j.w]

WOW, somehow I missed this whole thread! What an awesome build you did. I missed a lot of the 1st photo's you posted as they are not accessible anymore but what I could see was fantastic. You are an artist

 

[randythawkins]

WOW, somehow I missed this whole thread! What an awesome build you did. I missed a lot of the 1st photo's you posted as they are not accessible anymore but what I could see was fantastic. You are an artist

Thanks. Up until a few days ago it had been awhile since I have been on this forum and I did notice that my original pics were not showing up but, at the time, I didn't think much about it and have since forgotten. I will go back, look at see which ones are missing, and repost them.

 

[randythawkins]

I found a couple of pictures showing the stained SC and skimmer boxes:

Back to the waterfall. The following 2 pictures show where I will place the retaining wall blocks.

And this picture shows where I will build up 2 walls to support the "steps" of the cascade.

With a rough idea of what I wanted, I dug and poured the footing for one of the outside walls.

I did the same with the other side but opted not to include pictures citing boring repetition.

It was time to do the center ones. I did a little tweaking with block placement and decided to go with this -

While digging this...

...I encountered this...

...and wound up doing this...

...while trying to get the root out. Yup, broke it real good. After a few minutes of expressing my feelings about breaking the digger I got back to work and ended with this:

Time to build more forms.

And that was followed up with more concrete.

The next day I removed the forms and started laying block.

I do not claim to be good at concrete footings or laying block. Although it is probably quite functional it looks horrible and I am quite happy these will be buried deep where no one will ever see them up close.

That is where things are now. Next will be to build up the left wall (the cinder block wall on the left in the picture above) with 2 more rows and the other one with 4 more rows. After that I will start on the outside retaining wall blocks.

 

[koiguy1969]

ITS COMING ALONG NICELY, AS FAR AS I CAN TELL....keep us updated!

 

[randythawkins]

This past weekend's pond work began with completion of the concrete block walls.

Next up is the retaining wall block. It took awhile to figure out exactly how I wanted but once that was determined I started stacking.

I really do not want these blocks moving so I used construction adhesive to attach them to the footing and each other. 2 years ago I used the same adhesive with similar block for a flower bed wall and it has held quite well even as people (e.g. kids) walk on it.

It is probably obvious what the metal tabs are for but I will comment on it anyway...along with the adhesive used to secure each block I wanted the additional stability of the wall as a unit - I do not want it pushing out. The best way I determined was to secure the retaining block wall to the concrete block wall. As I placed each concrete block row I added 2 metal strips of pipe strap to the mortar. Now, as I build the retaining wall I can tie in with the interior wall.

By applying plenty of adhesive to both the tops and bottoms of the straps before setting the block I believe I will have a good secure connection.

When I built the interior block wall I did not know exactly where the outside retaining wall would be so I placed many straps and attempted to have them long enough but some did come up short:

Neither of the tabs in the above picture will provide any stability but that is OK as these are at the very bottom and I have many more tabs above it which will make up the difference.

I ran out of retaining block so I got as far as this -

More block will get me going but that will be next weekend's fun.

Thanks.

 

[addy1]

Nice work!

 

[j.w]

Man I must say you are one amazing crazy cool building fool. This is going to be very interesting seeing your masterpiece in the finish

 

[sissy]

Ok one thing i need to ask is what brand and what color is your stain .I was thinking of redoing my bedroom deck and I really don't know if I want to spend the extra money on composite decking there and looking at pressure treated again and love that color of stain .

 

[randythawkins]

Ok one thing i need to ask is what brand and what color is your stain .I was thinking of redoing my bedroom deck and I really don't know if I want to spend the extra money on composite decking there and looking at pressure treated again and love that color of stain .

I got the stain from Lowes - http://www.lowes.com/pd_17118-86-79550A/01_0__?productId=1042491
and the color I had them tint to is:
Color Name: BLACK WALNUT
Item #: 17118
Model #: 79550A/01
Formula Code: 0101-1Y32, 0107-44, 0109-24
Formula ID: 709
Finish: Semi-Transparent

 

[sissy]

That helps a lot so checked it out and added it now to my own honey i have to do project and thank you

 

[randythawkins]

Man I must say you are one amazing crazy cool building fool. This is going to be very interesting seeing your masterpiece in the finish

Thanks. I plan on doing the hardscape around it to match this which I did a couple of years ago - I built the arbor and then did the flowerbeds and pavers (you may notice that the retaining wall block match the flower bed blocks - same style and color, only smaller). The pond is to the left of what is shown below and the same feel with the flower beds will continue up and around the pond area.

 

[bagsmom]

Hey Randy! I'd love to see your pictures, but my computer just shows little parentheses with the words "shared media." Can you help me out with how I might view pond pix? Thanks!