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Gardening with Stone

Waterfall/Pond Stone

16 years ago

I recently helped install a pond with a liner and cemented rock waterfall. The cement means I now cannot really move the rocks. I let myself get talked into putting in a drop style waterfall, the problem is that beneath the drop is nothing but liner. The friend that helped me insists it looks fine, but I would like to cover the liner with something. Piling rocks beneath the drop is not an option, but I am not sure how or what to affix to the liner to make it look nice. Faux rock? Please help if you can.

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Comments (5)

inkognito
16 years ago
Dismantle the waterfall and clean off the cement. Re-install using what you have learned to make it better this time.
inkognito
16 years ago
As a week has gone by with no feed back is it safe to assume that you consider me a smart arse? This is what happens when you go to school or apprentice to learn this stuff, it is painful and humiliating but it is part of the process. If is not right then you have to do it again. If you go to the Landscape Design forum you will see a thread called "What's missing in this picture?" down towards the end you will see sunshines pond and waterfall. The waterfall flows fast with a curtain of water falling over the top stone making it impossible to see what is behind it, would this be a simpler solution for you?
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lets talk pond construction for your upper and lower pond design. The lower pond should have a overflow pipe to control the max. water level. It should run to a drain or dry well 3-4 feet away from the pond. If you are using a skimmer box it is likely in there. The water supply to the upper pond should be by way of a falls or hose above the water level so it will not syphon the pond empty when the pump is turned off. The spillway on the falls to the lower pond is the high level control for the upper pond. The liners at the falls must overlap such that the upper one shingles over the lower and is wide enough to keep the falls from leaking at the sides. If your pond meets these design considerations, simply turn off the pump for a day or two. If the water level goes down in either the upper or lower pond then look for a low edge in the pond that lost water. If the water level holds in both ponds, the problem may be ether a leak at the falls liner overlap or you are infract moving more water into the upper pond than the spillway can let out. Falls do often leek due to water going under them in addition to over like we would all like them to. If it is a flow issue, reduce the flow in with a valve or lower GPM pump or get the hammer and cold chisel out ;-( Good luck! Mike
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Comments (16)
Thanks hardin and Liz, I have to giggle a little at the compliment, since it seems so puny to me, compared to so many larger ones! haha But I do appreciate it! The important thing for me was angling all the stones slightly forward and supporting the big one on the bottom with dirt at an angle. Also, my bottom rock is so big, I didn't want it resting right on the lip of the stocktank, so I set it on 2 smaller flat rocks. From the side, it looks a little tilted, but gravity keeps the water from going backwards. Plus, the flat rocks need to not have any big lumps/bumps in them that might hinder the forward motion of the water. I do have the liner pulled up behind the lower rocks, with soil holding it up, so if the water does flow backwards, it can drain back into the pond. I'm always just quickly glancing at the water level throughout the day too....in case the tube becomes dislodged. I use one of those rectangular box filters. I put the pump inside it, and then direct the tubing to the waterfall. The force was too much, so I used one of those little clamps to slow it down a little. As the filter gets a little clogged, I open up the clamp. I have the clamp on the tube behind the rocks, so I can easily get to it. Thanks again for the compliment Liz. My head's a little bigger now. :)
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DH and I are looking into creating a natural pool in our backyard. We have a large slope that could work very well with a waterfall that could land into a nice size pond. Is it possible to make it swimmable? Does anyone here have photos of this? If you have done this or something similar, please share ideas! Thank you!
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help! - trying to diagnose waterfall/pond leaking, not sure where
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Comments (8)
I was just thinking the same thing as chas045. Last winter was our first with our new pond. We'd just completed it in fall. We didn't know if we should keep the waterfall running over the winter, but before we could make other plans we got lots of snow & sub-freezing weather that didn't stop until there was ice on the sides of the waterfall stream. By then it was too late to drain the filtration system so we just continued to run it all winter, and there was nothing we could do about the ice build-up. Anyway, in spring we noticed the pond losing water much faster than normal. What we discovered was the ice (or combination of ice & dirt settling on the new waterfall structure) had cracked the mortar around the rocks that formed the sides of the waterfall on one side, right at the top, and also right under the waterfall box (see close-up pic). The dirt-covered structure in the upper right is the waterfall spillway. Ice formed mostly on one side, as you can see in the photo, and that's the side that eventually leaked. We are in VA so you could have it even worse in MN, even without your waterfalls running in winter. This allowed water to seep behind the rocks. Once it got behind those rocks, it made it's way down behind all the rocks on that side - between the rocks & the liner. But then near the bottom of the waterfall we had a steeper section & the water made it's way over the top of the liner & out of the pond. Once some of the rocks hiding the liner were removed, we could see where the water was running over the top. We never could tell it was leaking by looking around the landscaping there either, as it never appeared wetter than elsewhere.
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lanternboy
16 years ago
I'm not sure if this will help in your situation or not but on my pond and waterfall I had the running down like with a little stream, but I wasn't getting good sound, so I used a 1" pipe come out and I put a piece of ceder I brought back from the mountains under it for the water to fall on. It really makes a cool sound now. And I still feel it looks natural because most streams and rivers have logs and such as part of their natural environment.
ronda_in_carolina
16 years ago
Simple fix...go buy a roll of coconut fiber. Its the stuff that they put in the iron window boxes. Purchase it in roll form so its one long piece you can fit to the space. You can trap it under the water fall in a number of ways, or you can find a water safe glue to use. It lasts for a long time and gives a place for beneficial bacteria to grow.

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Many landscape or garden centers will have a roll on hand and you can purchase the length you want. If not...you may have to order your own. STILL cheaper than ripping up the water fall in my opinion (and based upon sweat equity)

HTH

Ronda
mistifire
14 years ago
Could you lay some concrete in a sand mold on the ground and place rocks on it so the concrete holds them in place and then when dry prop the concreted rocks up where you want it to cover so it looks like rocks?

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