First Timer, Building a pondless waterfall into a slope. Questions....

[GBBUDD]

never stop viewing asking and planning I like the twist much much better as I can see you do as well. But there is still more to consider. Such as looking up the hill looking straight on to the falls as it comes straight at you is cool you can see the sheet flow straight on but it's equally cool to see the drops /falls from the side or have a wide falls at one level get split into two smaller channels divided by rocks or maybe even one goes over or through a log " who would ever do that " There are so many tricks to how to make it look so real and an amazing part of your homecation. The twists and turns help to slow the water down as well and that's huge in keeping the splash in the pond and not spraying outside the lined area as that can add up in the water bill very very very quickly.

One last thing which you are doing is to have the rock on hand so you can build your shelves your drops as the rock dictates . never build the shelves to the size you want so much as what you have to make the plan work. The rocks the wood you aquire will design your falls and stream as you go if you take the time to listen.

one more question for you how high and how far is the top of the falls from your pit/ pond?

 

[brokensword]

here's another thought, something you can work on after you have the basic path done; it looks more natrual to have 'other' rocks dotting the landscape, and they should be half buried, not 'stuck on top' of the ground, to make it look more realistic. Your rocks lining the actual stream should be the same; half buried so as to appear as if Nature put them there.

 

[addy1]

Agree with the half buried and other rocks wandering out into the yard away from the stream path. Some big some small. It is looking a lot better than straight down.

 

[Raptorg007]

Would love to see your finished product. I’m doing something similar on a smaller scale. Please email me your final pics and I’ll also share mine.

(e-mail address removed)

So I did some rearranging of existing rocks and yes its much improved:

https://imgur.com/a/9d7qtja

I also did some test digging to see how hard it will be for me to dig down a path for water... dosent seem too difficult, I can probably manage on my own. Looks like im going forward with the project. Thanks

 

[GBBUDD]

Thank you guys for the suggestions. I am doing this by hand as there are access issues to using heavy machinery back here. Now I'm really re-thinking the plan. The basin is close to dug out, and by looking at moving water calculations I believe it will be enough, not double, but almost double the moving water amount. I did'nt plan on digging out the path for the water, but you guys are correct, I need to dig it out and its going to be tough. I may need to hire some helpers or bribe some buddies to help with shovels.

Look at any of the pro pond builder videos on streams it matter not if a steep hill like yours or a flat easy flowing hill. at the bottom of a drop is usually a pooling area . This is crucial FOR A SUCCESSFUL stream on a steep slope

1 it takes away the energy of water rushing down the hill when that happens it splashes and can run right up and out side of the containment causing a leak.
2. as you mentioned i imagine from the water in motion video these little pools will keep some of the water and not dry out killing everything when the water goes out. `````````

My advice is to build this is phases create your cistern/ water containment with the pump vault . Then forget you have such a tal hill and just work on the the first half of the slope dig out a little pool right before where the water will drop over the vertical drop and some of the stream. One quick way to create the pool is with a bib liner set your masin liner set your rocks and then to make the water go up over the rocks in the falls area and not run under the rocks you use scrape rubber and waterfall foam while the foam is not water proof it's like water trying to flow through a dense sponge.

the third video is an amazing stream

Some very impressive pond builds

www.gardenpondforum.com