Waterfall construction help

[hotspurdotus]

Hello again, folks. I've slowly been working on expanding my backyard. The difficulty, noise and dust involved in cutting the capstones in my suburban neighborhood has slowed down the project considerably. Fortunately, I've gotten better at the cutting process over time, and now I'm finally nearing completion.

The last major step, once the capstones are finished, will be constructing the waterfall between the two tiers of the pond. I have lots of thin flagstone, similar to the single piece currently in place.

My current plan is to build up the spillway with pieces of flagstone, and then use waterfall foam to seal the back and sides. You can see in the picture below where the original pond's outside wall forms a shelf that can support the flagstone.

The tricky part (I think) is going to be hiding all of the liner behind stone near the spillway, without having water slop all over the place. I've been careful to leave plenty of line around the opening. I've never built a waterfall before, so any tips, either general or specific to my pond, would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help. The continued adoration of this cat is depending on it!

 

[addy1]

Well a quick and easy way would be to use that rock on a roll........

comes in gray and brown. Just glue it on and it will look like rock, even grows some algae.

http://www.rock-on-a-roll.com/

Love how it is looking you have done a great job!

 

[hotspurdotus]

Well a quick and easy way would be to use that rock on a roll........

Quick and East left town a long time ago, right after I bought a couple hundred pounds of flagstone and carted it home. I'm more interested in doing it properly.

I planning on doing some dry stacking and using as little foam as possible. It might ending be a simple setup and I'm overthinking it, but history suggests there are also a few trip-ups along the way.

Rock on a roll is interesting stuff, btw. I could see a lot of use for it in minature modeling, one of my pastimes when it's too cold for pond stuff.

 

[cauzeneffeckt]

position the liner between two bricks.... not just have it on the top layer, once positioned cut the excess to be flat with the edges of the bricks.. as for the spill way, get the flattest stones you can use and use gap filler under it to not only set it in place but to seal it.

 

[stroppy]

pond looks good ... cant offer much help .. but wanted to say i love your cat

 

[j.w]

Very pretty pond and cute kitty............I love Siamese cats and have had a few in my lifetime. Hope you can find a nice way to put the finishing touches to your pond to get it just the way you want it. I'm sure there is a solution but sorry I can't think of one myself as I've never built an above the ground type like yours

 

[Telkwa]

Noise and dust?? You're not using water when cutting that flagstone? I've got a plain old Home Depot diamond wheel (about $15) mounted to my worm-drive Skilsaw. I stuck two sawhorses next to each other, then tossed a piece of 3/4" plywood across them. Cutting rocks on top of the plywood is a lot easier on the back.

Grabbed a garden hose and tweaked the faucet down so that the nozzle gives a weak flow after the initial burst. I aim the weak water flow right into the cut. Using water makes the cut go faster and the diamond wheel lasts MUCH longer too. I've made hundreds of cuts on similar flagstone and the diamond wheel's still hanging in there.

BTW, the diamond wheel w/ water goes thru brick like butter. The flagstone and river rock is quite a bit slower, but still not bad.

I'm working on a similar spillway, using a single piece of flagstone. Try placing a thin bead of PLC Roof sealant right along the lower edge. It makes a big difference in getting the water to release. Otherwise it'll suck back along the underside of the rock. I've been constantly dumbounded at how difficult it is to make something like a simple waterfall look as good as it does in nature.

 

[hotspurdotus]

Noise and dust?? You're not using water when cutting that flagstone?

I using a garden hose pointed at the stone from underneath. It works pretty well, but I need to make a cut entirely through the stone before the water starts to grab the dust. My neighbors are real close, so I not to run the saw when other people are around.

I'm working on a similar spillway, using a single piece of flagstone. Try placing a thin bead of PLC Roof sealant right along the lower edge. It makes a big difference in getting the water to release. Otherwise it'll suck back along the underside of the rock. I've been constantly dumbounded at how difficult it is to make something like a simple waterfall look as good as it does in nature.

I like the idea of using the clear silicon over the black waterfall foam. I'm not sure if I'll be sealing the area between the different layers of rock, but that seems like a cleaner and more attractive option.

Got any pics of your pond, and the spillway specifically?

 

[hotspurdotus]

A related question; currently the water is pumped to the upper pond through a bulkhead with a swing check valve attached, but no other hoses or other way to direct the flow.

I suspect I'd be better off directing the water to the back of the upper pool. I'm having some string algae problems, and it's definitely worse at that back end. Would increased water flow help cut this down?

I was planning on simply running a hose from the bulkhead to the back end of the pond, but now I'm wondering if a more dispersed approach be helpful? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[fishin4cars]

You want continual motion as much as possible in all parts of the system. A few years ago someone told me to take a syringe (No needle needed) put some methylene blue in it and very carefully disperse a small amount in my pond in various areas at deeper depths of the middle of the water column and the deepest areas in the pond to make sure that the water was circulating all through the pond. I did this and found a spot that had always been very very still was the same spot I always had leaves, Muck, and heavy algae growth. Just a simple small pump a tee and two pieces of hoses and I had good water movement in that problem area. I took this concept and made it into the pond I presently have, I can't say that was the one thing that fixed my problems but adding that, started using barley bales, a UV light, Oyster shells and Kitty litter and removing the solids that I could get out of my system on a regular basis and my pound is 125% improvement over what I was doing. I should say adding a airstone would help move the water too. The idea is not to have stagnant spots in the pond as that water is not getting oxygen and is just sitting there not being filtered or used.