Modern styled koi pond and pondless waterfall plans

[vestaviascott]

looking good , i love ur house design and location as well

Thanks! You mean Vestavia Hills Alabama or are you referring to where the pond is located in relation to the house?

 

[tbendl]

A "Frog Choker" LOL We got the same rain you guys did. It came through heavy on Sunday afternoon and by Monday it was clear and chilly. Mother Nature always impresses me.
I love that you are building the pond in the same theme as the house. It will be beautiful when you're done.

 

[sissy]

I love the look of your house and your pond will be an asset

 

[vestaviascott]

Drain pipe in, ready for gravel and finish. Popup emitter 20 feet down grade. Any water that accumulates under pond liner will have a place to go. Otherwise, pond liner will float!

 

[sissy]

Are you thinking of putting stone as a drain media because that could puncture the liner .Since I see the bag there made me wonder .Pressure from the water will push against the stone.Silt screening may work for awhile but would clog also

 

[vestaviascott]

Are you thinking of putting stone as a drain media because that could puncture the liner .Since I see the bag there made me wonder .Pressure from the water will push against the stone.Silt screening may work for awhile but would clog also

Hi Sissy, my idea is to bury the pipe end in stone. I have a plastic grate that will cover the stone flush with the bottom of the pond dig. Above that I will be using a geotextile fabric as an underlayment for the EPDM liner. I expect some stone may get through though. Perhaps I should use rounded pea gravel instead. What are your thoughts?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Stone is not likely to penetrate underlayment if it is the 6 oz non-woven.

 

[vestaviascott]

Stone is not likely to penetrate underlayment if it is the 6 oz non-woven.

Thanks Meyer. What are your thoughts on using drainage gravel vs pea gravel?

The drain's pop up valve (about 20 feet down the hill from the pnd) is about 6 inches lower than the bottom of the hole where the drain sits. So, any excess pressure should be targeted at the pop-up drain down the hill. Unless that's clogged, there should not be excessive pressure on the liner. At least, that's my intent with installing the drainage system they way I did. If you see other potential problems, please let me know. I'd rather address them now before this area is covered and finished.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Thanks Meyer. What are your thoughts on using drainage gravel vs pea gravel?

The drain's pop up valve (about 20 feet down the hill from the pnd) is about 6 inches lower than the bottom of the hole where the drain sits. So, any excess pressure should be targeted at the pop-up drain down the hill. Unless that's clogged, there should not be excessive pressure on the liner. At least, that's my intent with installing the drainage system they way I did. If you see other potential problems, please let me know. I'd rather address them now before this area is covered and finished.

That amount of grade should be sufficient to adequately provide drainage. However I am not certain that you will have sufficient pressure to activate the pop-up. Can you just daylight the outlet?

 

[vestaviascott]

That amount of grade should be sufficient to adequately provide drainage. However I am not certain that you will have sufficient pressure to activate the pop-up. Can you just daylight the outlet?

It should get its first test tonight. Rain in the forecast. We'll see how it goes. 20 feet of water in a 4 inch pipe should create enough pressure to activate a popup id think.

 

[Bruce Kirk]

Great work was done!!

 

[vestaviascott]

It's been awhile since I posted an update on my pond project. We laid sod a few weeks ago and did some major landscaping with a new irrigation system and that's kept me busy and away from this forum for awhile.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some pics of the pond progress. The base is all done and ready for liner. I'm undecided whether I'm going to go with rubber liner or concrete (or a hybrid approach of using rubber liner for the main pond basin and hardibacker for the upper basin).

In the pics below, the square pavers are 16x16 and only sat in place for positioning. Once the liner has been put in place, the pavers will be glued to the cap blocks they are sitting on. Crushed gravel #89 is being used for filler below the pavers as a paver base. Mexican beach pebbles will go between the pavers as well as around the upper basin. Water flowing from the aluminum runnel flows down onto the rocks in the upper basin and then over the low edge into the main pond.

Welcome your thoughts and suggestions!

 

[vestaviascott]

Hi everyone! Just checking in with an update on my project.

Its been a crazy summer and I haven't had as much time to work on the pond install as I'd hoped. Never the less, I'm at the liner install stage and as expected, its proving to be a bit of a challenge due to the folds involved to achieve the rectangular shape.

The local pro I'm working with sent his guys over with the liner and the two installer guys mostly scratched their heads for the morning they were here trying to figure it out. They tried their best to get it in but it was a mess of wrinkles that was never going to allow a smooth surface for the cap blocks to sit on.

Add to that, it rained later in the day and I was left with a foot of water in the pond. The liner doing its job if nothing else!

So, I managed to get the water drained and pull the liner out of the pond. My plan now is to lay the liner out flat on the ground and with a white sharpie marker, transfer the measurement fold lines over to the liner, make the folds needed and use hand clamps to hold the corners in place. One that is done and I have a shaped liner completed out of the pond, I'll have the pond crew back over and we will basically drop the liner into the pond and go from there.

As always, welcome your thoughts and input. Obviously, with a formal shaped pond, poured concrete would be the obvious choice but I'm working with what we have and expect to make it work to see my vision through to completion.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

It may be too late now, but I have used the below method on several above-ground installations with great success. The beauty of this is that all the liner is concealed.

 

[vestaviascott]

Thanks Meyer. The approach we are taking is similar to your example in that the cap blocks (4x8x16) will be laid atop the liner where it bends over top of the pond. However, there will not be water touching the blocks as in your example.

The liner isn't installed yet and I'm currently about halfway through making the fold marks on the liner with silver sharpie. I think the fold marks and boundary lines are going to be very helpful this go around when placing the liner in the hole. The pond crew is going to be here Monday morning to have a 2nd try at the install.

With the lines and fold marks there to guide them I'm expecting they will be better able to minimize wrinkles and bunching of the liner than their haphazard approach first go around. They basically just dropped the liner in the hole and starting pushing and pulling to get it in place as best they could.

Here's a shot of the liner after I drew the sharpie guide lines on it (silver sharpie works a charm on EPDM rubber):