OT: pond finishing

Your pond is coming along well. I noticed a nice little bench next to the blocks. If there is space it could be moved a little to where the boulders are on the left against the block wall for pondside perching. I had pavers put in and the paver guy used some masonry saw to cut the pavers. I had them cut few of my retaining wall blocks. they cut thru with a fine polished finish. took few minutes to cut the block in half, generated lot of dust.

It can be a nasty surprise when you find out what won't keep water where you want it. Fishie is right, the blocks need to be staked and filled to support the weight of the water against them. You can use rebar pounded into the holes in the blocks then fill with packed dirt or concrete. And Level is a necessity when it comes to water because it WILL find level and leave empty spots or overflow.

I would discourage top-sitting as the slope means any sitter will be kicking blocks, and sitting where you can't get your feet under you is not comfortable or easy to cope with on rising. I would use something on the top that doesn't invite sitting. I don't know what look you like but flat pieces of slate or flagstone not cemented in place would tend to discourage most.

Like Fishie I don't mean to be a downer but working with water and liners is likely going to be different from what you expect.

Good point Judy!

Believe me, I'd much rather do it right the first time. Just to clarify, in case it makes a difference- there's only one liner. It will line one area, go over the weir, and then line the second area. The top veggie area will be filled with river rock. The area immediately past the front wall will also be filled with either gravel or river rock. The contractor who put in my first pond has gotten involved in the second and hasn't said a word about the weir wall being too light weight to hold the water in place. The blocks are already filled with dirt, but we can place some rebar as well.

as for sitting on the wall, I will probably try and discourage sitting although not even my dogs listen to me all that well. I'll put a couple of potted plants up there and encourge the tomatoes to overflow- they make me itch. I do think I might try to do some mosaic paving stones to set up there just for fun, however.

Okay, the liner will go up and over the "weir" How will you camoflauge the liner in front of the weir? You know how I am about liner showing ☺

If you have a hand held grinder you can buy a cement cutting wheel that will cut thru pavers for about $10.

If the wall you're calling the weir is the one to the left in the picture, I have very strong doubts that it will stand with water on one side of it which is what I understand you to be meaning? That the pond area will fill then overflow into the second area? One thing that undermines the strength is that the blocks are not laid interlocking so even if you put rebar through them you're only tying to that stack not the entire wall. My suggestion is that you create a level area below ground level, lay your first run of blocks and pack them firmly with dirt, then lay your second row, fill with dirt, and then take rebar long enough to go through both courses and into the ground at least six inches and drive it through each hole, locking the blocks to each other and to the ground. Pack the dirt back up to your previous ground level around them. Do something along this order or you could end up with water up to the top on the pond side, the blocks pushed out of position and you trying to find a way to fix the whole mess.

I assume you've given sufficient thought to how you're going to handle and what you're going to do with the mass of liner that you're going to have going over the weir? The stuff is heavy and hard to work with and difficult to smooth out folds and globs it makes when bundled up.

What is going to be on the other side of the weir? And how deep is your pond going to be?

I am going to TRY and post a rough drawing (please remember that I am actually good at my day job). This whole pond thing is making me feel totally inadequate! The average depth is 2.5 feet and the deepest part is 4.5 feet. We will definately fix the interlocking thing with the cement blocks- I think it's already been done, actually. Dirt packing and rebar- absolutely. Thank you for pointing that out.

The pond professional- he really does this for a living- is in charge of putting in the liner. It turns out he had already talked to my housemates/pond builders about stabilizing the wall- he is more concerned about the stability during liner placement than afterwards since there will be water on both sides. I know there are at least 4 guys lined up for installing the liner. So, I'll ask him about the liner going over the wall- and just hope that since it was his idea/design in the first place that it will be ok.

Fishie, we're making ledges and I have a ton of boulders an rocks (literally, at least a ton) and I swear there will be no liner showing if I can help it!

Does my so-called drawing clarify anything? Judyb and everyone- THANK YOU. If I sound whiny instead of grateful it's just panic setting in.

You don't sound whiny, just a bit uncertain. It looks as if it will work out, though water can do stuff just to make you feel stupid. With the block wall bit solidly and the gravel holder set firmly in place - I assume it is pegged to the ground in some way? - things should work out. What are your plans for inhabitants? Is it a fish pond or a lily pond?

I can tell you she will have Tadpoles! I know where she lives!

Drawing looks good, thanks for calming my liner fears ☺

...and all of us are sitting in front of our computers with our heads turned sideways, LOL! It's going to be awesome, Katie!

I would so rather think about pond inhabitants than pond construction. I have custody of Nancy's Wakin goldfish and some pretty awesome pond plants from her ponds. I also have two of her water lilies- a night blooming tropical and Lemon Mist. She left me 2 water hibiscus, some chinese lizard tail, a bunch of iris, a variegated rush, a bog lily, and this awesome plant with little purple flowers whose name escapes me.
I have a papyrus as well, and will be looking for hyacinths and water lettuce and frogbit- all the stuff I couldn't grow because of the plant destroyers in pond #1. Marie made me order some different alocasia and taro bulbs.

Any other suggestions?

Then there are the tadpoles to go with the couple I already have- provided they have not somehow disappeared. They are supposed to be in the stock tank with the wakins. I have a pair of leopard frogs from Nancy as well, but haven't seen them yet this "spring" !

No turtle and no koi in this pond!

Sounds like you're going to have fun!

I hope so. Right now I am feeling just a little stressed out about it!

Don't be stressed Miss Katie! You have lots of peeps here that know their stuff helping you out... You'll do just fine and I can't wait to see your finished masterpiece!

LOL....sometimes lately I have wondered if I should have followed FK's recommendation and just converted the pool to a pond...Might have been easier. The crazy thing is that I did all this reading, and made the mistake of thinking I knew what I was doing! OOps. I have been thoroughly humbled by this experience, and I am even MORE impressed with all the people I now know that have built ponds on their own! I just want the fish out of the stock tank and the plants out of the baby pool!!!

Katie, when we built our ponds in AZ, this group had sooooooo much good advice. Don't be stressed, be excited! Lucky, lucky you! You get to build this beautiful pond! Please enjoy every minute of it!

For anyone in need of Koi there is a posting on CL for what seems a resonable fee. 2'3" in size for $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00 and so. They have some plants listed also. A small pond is on my "want" list so maybe soon. Till then I just watch and read so I can learn the do's and don'ts.

I have Tadpoles demanding to know when their new place @ Aunt Katie's is going to be ready!

I imagine the new pond is pretty full of water :O