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Posted 07/19/2020 in Basic Help

DIY - Water Features


DIY - Water Features

Building A Water Feature.

Water features can be a simple garden feature that you buy at the store like, two barrels dumping water from one to the other. 

Or the water feature can be built into and part of your landscaping. Either way they are a great addition to your yard or garden area.

DIY - Water Features

In this blog post we will go over a few things that you should look out for when building a water feature.

 A small water feature that you buy in the store really just needs to be placed on level ground. A built in water feature has many steps to make it a solidly built feature that does not leak.

We will start with the items you should buy or at least check prices and availability before you start digging your water feature pond or reservoir.

  • How big a liner will you need. this is the most important question. measure the hole depth and size. you should have a liner that spans the the hole and goes up the sides past the top by at least 1 foot.How big a liner will you need.
  • If you are going to have a stream in your water feature, You will need to buy liner for that also. Again add at least 1 foot past the edges of the stream sides and 1 foot more then the length of the stream. The liner needs to sit on top of the pond or reservoir liner. As water runs down the liner you want it to flow into the lower pond or reservoir area without loosing any water behind the liner. So the top liner needs to be put into place overlapping the bottom liner.
  • Before you start digging call for locates to make sure there are no buried utilities in the area!!!
  • Plan out your pond and stream before you do any digging.
  • As you start digging think about having your plumbing in place, if the plumbing is placed up the stream edge you can use the dirt from the pond or reservoir to cover the pipe and build the edges of the stream that the liner will sit on. This will save on some digging...
  • The plumbing coming out of the pond area from the pump needs to come up out of the pond area on top of the liner and then install elbows to run the pipe up the stream edge. Use a slip fitting so you can remove the pump with out having to cut the pipe later.Pipe is in the top left of the pond

     

  • The best way to set up the plumbing at the top of the stream is to bring the pipe up on the outside of the liner and put a elbow or two in the pipe to bring it up and over the top of the liner and into the top of the stream. Then cover it with rocks. If you are going to put in a plastic spillway that the water dumps out of like a little waterfall at the top of the stream you will want to again bring the plumbing up and over the top of the liner and attach the pipe to the spill way. The area under the spill way needs to be flat and the liner needs to cover the whole area and have a lifted edge all the way around the spill way area, except the area where the stream starts.
  • The pump needs to be a good one as it will be running non stop. A $150 pump will last maybe 1 to 2 years. 
  • When digging the pond, thing about if you are going to have any plants around it or if your want a shelf around the edge of the pond. again remember the size of the liner.


The Pond 2 years later with flowers now mature.


Slip Joint at the top of the reservoir to unhook the pump.

If you like the idea of a water feature but need help, you can also find landscapers with our

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