Hmmm... can't help you with the winter part, BUT, here are some of the mistakes I can save you from: - Don't make the pond/tub out of Hypertufa. You'll get more bang for your buck if you buy a $45 plastic tub from a hardware store. - Create tufa walls instead of rocks. I built the rocks separately and independantly cause I wanted to be able to move and reconfigure my pond in case I didn't get it right the first time. In the end, it took me a lot more time than just dressing a wall, it's too heavy to move anyway, and I spent a lot more money on ingredients. My waterfall is about 4 feet high, 7 feet wide, 3 feet long, and I spent about $300 in ingredients, which included Dye (a lot more dye than I needed). GL!

WoW! I really appreciate everyone's comments! Whoda thunk this would still be going on a year later?! Eggiesmon, the creek is about 3-4 feet wide for the hardscape, more for the plantings. It drops about 18" over the length of the pond, so not enough to have a real waterfall, but enough to allow the water to pick up a little speed and splash a bit on the way down. Ilovemygarden, I didn't do anything special over the winter. Also, I didn't run the stream pump, for various reasons (freezing, debris, cost, etc.) but I had a smaller pump that I put in the pond that just circulated the water in the pond and kept the top from freezing. It was a bit of a chore to get it all cleaned up this spring, with all of the leaves and dirt that settled in it over the winter. If I ultimately redo the pond at the bottom (which is just a small pre-form now) I'm going to put in a skimmer filter and a particle filter. Right now I'm relying solely upon the bio thingy's in the water and the plants. The water is very clear, but if I stir gunk up from the bottom, it just resettles again because it has nowhere to go. The sides of the creek are not very high -- at all. In fact, there are some areas where it really should be higher. It really depends upon how much water you flow through it. I think my pump is a 2000gph. It's a sump pump, if that sounds right. In any case, it flows pretty good, so there's quite a bit of water. Less water would flow less deep, so the sides wouldn't have to be as tall. If you're looking to put one in, I would suggest that you lay down plastic first (just the soft, cheap, clear stuff.) and run the pump. This will allow you to see how the water flows, how deep it flows, where it pools, etc. You can set large rocks temporarily to help with your vision. You may even decide you want a larger or smaller pump. The test won't be perfect, but it's a quick and simple experiment without the concrete work and commitment. (Oh, and the peat ratio I used was probably less than 20%, best guess.) Keep in mind, the higher the walls, the less water you'll see from farther away -- you'll actually have to be above the creek to see it, so I wouldn't recommend any higher than necessary. If I were to do one thing different, I would like to TRY adding more of the river gravel to the top of the concrete, before it dried as much as it did. I say try, because it may not work, as the gravel might just loosen easily. My reason for wanting to do this is that I like the look of the river gravel, so I've added additional loose gravel to the stream. Unfortunately, it makes it more difficult to clean. I would love to have access to the mix they use for resurfacing patios, but I've heard it to be extemely toxic so probably not good for fish. I think I've answered most everyone's questions, either in this post or via email directly. If there are any other questions, I'd be happy to help. Thx everyone! Sheri

Yes science is science, but nobody has yet to explain any science of how anything about my original statements in this thread were incorrect (that's the problem). The reason, their simply not!!! You can twist my statements into anything, but I will always go back to my original statements. If my original statements were comprehended (without trying to turn them into something their not), I would be happy to learn how (if they were) wrong. But the problem is the statements simply are not being addressed as they were stated. Therefore saying something is wrong without even understanding what you are calling wrong, dosen't make any sense. That's why I needed to state them over and over so many times, to clarify the exact meaning of the statements first (because they just weren't understood correctly). Then I asked specific questions, that if answered would explain how my statements were incorrect. Those questions were never answered in any way, shape, or form (correctly/sufficiently or not) with all this so called science that there's supposed to be (that way I could learn if I was wrong). So all that has happened is climes that I'm wrong about everything, talk about all this science being science. Yet absolutely no science showing just how my statements were incorrect. Just claims of it being so, and trying to bully me into having a different opinion because that's what somebody else's opinion is. I'm all for an intelligent conversation, but to do that you simply need to understand my statement/questions correctly in the first place. Otherwise nothing said makes any sense, then how could it be an intelligent conversation? All I can do is my part and try to explain myself as best I can, even if that means trying over and over. But the other person simply needs to meet me half way and try to comprehend what I'm saying in order to be able to intelligently continue the conversation (if they actually want a intelligent conversation). Especially if their saying my statements are wrong, they simply need to understand them first. Otherwise intelligently explaining how/why their wrong is imposable.

We are getting ready to install an acrylic clawfoot tub in the bathroom upstairs in our 1900 house that previously had an alcove tub/shower combo probably installed around 1960. This bathroom just never looked right in this old house. I have been debating and trying to decide what type of wallboard to surround the tub area with. I don't want to tile and have to worry about keeping grout clean. Since I prefer baths over showers, and this will basically be "my" bathroom, other than when we have guests over, we're not installing a shower riser, just a telephone faucet with a hand held for rinsing off in the tub. There is a bathroom with a shower downstairs. I'm with "skinj", at least some decisions in regard to home improvement and decor should be personally pleasing, even though they may not be a selling feature later on. Besides, 9 times out of 10, the future home buyer probably won't like whatever it is you did anyway and they'll want to do their own thing! (Anyway taking out the clawfoot and putting an alcove tub/shower combo back in at some point would not be a whole lot of work, if that's what one wanted to do!) Funny, I don't find stepping in and out of the clawfoot tub, any more difficult than our old steel tub that was up there. Maybe because it's a slipper tub and lower at one end.(?) Anyway, I'm very excited about how this is going to look so much more appropriate in our old house and I can't wait for a good hot soak! Lanadelarosa, thanks, for the info on the wallboard options, I think it'll be cement-board on the lower half of the walls that are surrounding the tub area. then good quality primer, and a couple of coats of semi-gloss paint. We're putting down vinyl water-proof planks that look like wood that we got from the home depot for our flooring. I really only worry about when the grandkids are here. I know because of the handheld on the telephone faucet, there could be a concern with them, but then, that's nothing new, even with the old shower, I still had to be on them to keep the liner curtain inside the shower and close it all the way! Kids will be kids, but just like future buyers, they don't live here all the time.....I do. LOL