In over my head, building a huge waterfall. Need pointers.

[GBBUDD]

Na no big flat rocks unless there at the bottom of a pooling area.
The red in the liner if you pull it up and create a fold you can use it as a damn to help hold the water or you can apply a second piece of rubber and create a bib liner but they always will leach water if not leek much faster then you'd probably like

 

[j.w]

@Tjsherrill
Hope we haven't discouraged you too much. But listen to these people who have so much knowledge on this subject and it will go so much better for you in the end. I bet it will turn out so beautiful!

 

[Cichlidboy]

Na no big flat rocks unless there at the bottom of a pooling area.
The red in the liner if you pull it up and create a fold you can use it as a damn to help hold the water or you can apply a second piece of rubber and create a bib liner but they always will leach water if not leek much faster then you'd probably likeView attachment 149328View attachment 149329

In pooling are yes I will be more specific next time

 

[poconojoe]

The first thing I see is that the liner needs to be shaped more concave to guide the water toward the middle and prevent it from escaping over the sides.

I would do the falls in several steps, possibly with small pools at each level. Right now it looks more like a slip-n-slide.

 

[Lisak1]

Lots of good advice here - all things I was alluding to. When you start wrong, there's usually no way through it but to go back and start again.

 

[GBBUDD]

I think @Tjsherrill MIGHT HAVE
1. LOST THE POST
2. Didn't like the responses

 

[poconojoe]

I think @Tjsherrill MIGHT HAVE
1. LOST THE POST
2. Didn't like the responses

Hopefully they are just busy and will be back, but you're probably correct.

Sometimes people ask for help and don't like the responses.
We can only try.

 

[Tjsherrill]

Thanks everyone for your help. The pond guy was helpful. I think I am gonna rerout the lower part to have smaller drops.

I’ll try to post more pics soon

 

[GBBUDD]

What have you decided

 

[Tjsherrill]

@GBBUDD I am going to keep the top as is but narrow the bottom two drops and slide them to the right. Make it a bit more winding. I am also going to have one large drop, so gonna need those 6' rocks. Gonna head out to the rock yard in a couple of weeks. Going to pick rocks specifically for that large drop, then looking to install mid-may.

I'll try to post updated pics in a few weeks

 

[Tjsherrill]

I am stressing about doing a small waterfall between my bog and pond, so I would not dare give any advice! The only suggest I have is YOUTUBE! There are so many really excellent professional pond and waterfall builders out there. Aquascape has done some huge projects -- big waterfalls for public parks and businesses. I would look around on YouTube and watch a bunch of these videos. The more you see, the more you learn!

Ya I hear you. I see little waterfall projects and get envious. I feel like it would be so easy, but also each project has its own challenges. I'd help you if I lived closer.

 

[Tjsherrill]

The guy who helped you was wrong - you cover the liner with big rocks, not small cobbles. Where in nature would you ever see a crashing waterfall with sheer drops where small cobbles were hanging on for dear life?

If you want construction advice, you'll get it here. But I can tell you, there's a number of things that need fixing from the get-go.

Thanks @Lisak1. I agree. It was super helpful to post in this forum. It kicked off me doing more digging and figuring out what I wanted to do. I am going to try and add a few drops, narrow the width quite a bit and just use rocks.

 

[Tjsherrill]

Sorry to go off topic. I’m so curious how the design for that retaining wall came together. It looks like garden wall blocks stacked really high and with tremendous surcharges on them. I know there are lots of block systems that can handle that. Curious to know what system you used.

@combatwombat I should have gone with larger blocks. But it's just me and those suckers are heavy. The issue was there was no plan. It's been a 4-year project (that I had thought would take like 2 months, so so funny). The walls are never more than 4' high and have a solid footing and drainage. Going to plant this spring as well so that there will be more green and we are going with plants that will help hold the hillside in place. Whats wild is that I have removed about 60 yards of dirt and I still have so much. I should video my stuff like you.

 

[Tjsherrill]

Welcome .
You have a hell of a challange for a first time build. As was stated search you tube there are many good and BAD builds out there . I have put together some I thought were worthy of sharing as to what can be done and some on how to go about it . That's found here.

ww.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc36HtktJD0
On page two I believe the third video has a beautiful build coming down a hill side but it's not as steep as yours. The head pressure that will be required for a good flow of water will get expensive in electric bills.

On to the advice
You have the right idea building shelves at the bottom of each drop but what you are missing is the flattened horse shoe . Water splashes and the higher the drop the further water can travel..

Let's start at the basin if you want it to be that small and not have 1/4 of the water splash outside the Containment. Then you'll need to have the water fall into a depression below grade so the only splash that is not hitting items/rocks is almost straight up . But the liner should still extend in every direction for at least 6 feet if not more depending on how much you contain the splash. Take my word for it you can loose a lot of water due to splash.
From there you then need to build the flatened horse shoe falls / stream toward the middle at its most powerful and rocks stumps etc on the sides to catch the splash. Bigger boulders on these they call character stones usualy one off to each side with one in the center for a dramatic drop or several making the water ping pong down the slope. The higher the drop the more energy and the more potential water loss. Thus again the horse shoe look at that this video its not as steep and these are pros every one of them they have a very flat horse shoe

. The key is to stack up your character boulders or series of boulders up higher that the drop with either the center all the rocks be it to the side or center being higher than the surface that water will fall over . This may mean building out the bottom 3 feet or more from vertical to support the rocks as you go up. I would try to mimic the video and slow and controll the water as much as you can have the rubber off to the sides out 4 feet and up the sides and hide it with boulders wood etc.
I have a build page in my showcase below . It has nothing like what your doing but it has how to hide liners and links to some of the best builders out there.

You are right admitting this may be biting off more than you can chew. It's a tough battle that high and steep. You may even want to think about two pumps and two completely separate waterfalls that look like one. Here's a bunch of videos with some great builds. Page two third video for one

Some very impressive pond builds

https://whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TOMbsvXjX8 ww.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc36HtktJD0

www.gardenpondforum.com

There are other considerations like holding all the water when the power goes out. John j from modern aquascapes has a great video of water in motion its worth watching.

thanks for this huge post. Tons of advice. One of the things I have been struggling with, and all these responses have solidified is that this is way to wide. I need to narrow things to be more natural. If this were in nature, that wide, it would have so much water... Going to work to narrow and do what you are talking about with the character boulders and wiers.

 

[Tjsherrill]

Na no big flat rocks unless there at the bottom of a pooling area.
The red in the liner if you pull it up and create a fold you can use it as a damn to help hold the water or you can apply a second piece of rubber and create a bib liner but they always will leach water if not leek much faster then you'd probably likeView attachment 149328View attachment 149329

This is super helpful. I was wondering about the bib liner thing and figured it would leech water. I like your drawing about how to do the fold.