The challenging pond build (uk)

[GBBUDD]

Funny you mention that about side view of falls... there was an idea that evolved yesterday that, if I can make the engineering work, might be quite fun.

yes, wisteria does well in uk, prefers sunny walls from what I understand, so that will be the left wall. The wall on the right faces north, never sees the sun.... perhaps some decorative mosses??? lol, I was thinking bamboo fencing I think its called.... like a fence on a roll... but plenty of time before I need to fret over that..

I have used the non woven as a mat for moss to grown on its been very successful. And the all black is a crazy back drop it will take a couple years but even still..

I was not talking wisteria overhanging the pond but as a back drop with the brick very iconic and old school look perfect for the English country side.. and even if a flower or two made it to the pond I doubt its that potent.

 

[GBBUDD]

As to the water fall look at it as making small ponds below the falls if you hide the pooling and divert the waters direction is up to you but that's how to do it

 

[brokensword]

yea, i wondered about that and spoke to a builder friend... he thought it wasnt going to be a problem but to make sure I back filled the area up to the height of block 3 with concrete, and the foundations under the blocks are 12 inches deep. but thats not obvious from the pics.

Out of interest, the rated lateral load before failure of those blocks is 5000psi, doubling the volume of water I'm expecting to hold gives a surface load of 1.0976948lbs per sq inch. I think I'm ok.... over engineered as usual... we will see what Mr Reality says about it.

edit;
just rechecked my numbers using specific ratings for that block, rather than generic; that block is rated at 1058psi, the actual water level will exert 0.5488474psi.

but always worth checking twice, building once.

@poconojoe ; you're right!

I'll disagree with your builder friend; my dad was a mason/bricklayer and I was his unwitting stooge for a few years, so I have some street creds here. When you backfilled, it should have been sand; that's how they backfill BLOCK basements and those are 4 times the thickness of what I'm seeing you use. Brick/block are made for compression, NOT sheer force. The walls of dirt pushing on your brick are exerting sheer force. What will happen, if you get any freezing temps at all, the ground will freeze and push. Not to mention if you get a lot of rain, too. Trust me, I know this personally; I was building my house and was on a budget, so did the block walls then cement floor. I DID have braces on the walls as I had the ground backfilled (AND I did use sand, first!!) so I could work on the house proper, easier. I took too much time, let nature have her way; we had the rainiest September on record in Michigan that year and 1-1/2 of my walls caved in. Yep. Talk about stupidity! A hard lesson learned, it was, when I had to re-lay all the blocks again. So, the force of wet earth is going to push on those walls, that's for sure. You should MINIMALLY be using something 8" thick and backfill with sand. PLUS, fill the holes of the blocks with cement and re-bar to insure it'll be interconnected. Might seem like overkill, but better that than to have to redo everything later as the walls start pushing in. I don't remember; are you using a liner on the inside? That'll at least keep the water in but you're going to have issues if the brick start pushing and their pointed edges make contact on one side while the water pushes back on the other.

If no liner, well, we'll be hearing from you sooner rather than later about how to fix a leaking concrete pond...

 

[kelpie]

As to the water fall look at it as making small ponds below the falls if you hide the pooling and divert the waters direction is up to you but that's how to do it

Don't know that I get exactly what you mean... if I change the word below, to above (the falls...) I can see a way it could work... I think... the way its roughed out at the moment is; bog is 2m wide and 3m from bricks markers on waterfall. The gully runs from 2m at bog end to (whatever I want) say 1 foot at pond end. But the drop is probably less than 6 inches. I could create a series of mini falls? Like a fish ladder(?)

Part of the reason for 2m wide gully is that's where the spray pipe of bog bypass water will emerge. At the bottom and outside the bog. I want the volume but not the velocity of water coming down the gully but not to blow all the plants out of the way... so current thinking is centre of the gully would have the fastest moving water and the deepest part, less volume, depth and speed at the edges.. whichever way I do it, and I'm thinking the only way Mr Reality will let me do it is with water actually flowing..

 

[GBBUDD]

Your confused because I was I forgot you had stairs in your plan