You must drain water away from the house, paving and walls. If you want to manage rainwater, you should be putting it in containers of some sort and storing it for later use ... not directing it to where plants are located alongside the house or toward the other aforementioned elements. An underground cistern is one way of storing water. Rain barrels are another. Having unsightly containers at the downspouts for storing water is not worth the sacrifice in appearance for many people. You'd need to judge for yourself what you're willing to put up with or pay for. If water is precious, you might be willing to make greater sacrifices in order to store rainwater for later use. Forget about a french drain if there is any way you can avoid it, and I'm pretty sure you can. It will not protect you from flooding. I've marked arrows on the survey in order to illustrate the general idea of how you would be draining your property. The yellow areas represent the direction water would flow at the surface. In a heavy storm, a sheet of water would flow as they point. The Blue arrows represent how water would be collected throughout the yard in order to drain toward the front. (The blue arrows would be higher in the back yard and lower in the front.) In a heavy storm, it would be like your personal miniature "river." When the rain stopped, it would drain completely. I can see that you'd need to raise the grade flush with the patio in order for it to slope away. You'd probably be adding soil at various places in the back yard and excavating soil as you approach the front yard. However, adding & subtracting would be subtle, not pronounced. With grade as generally flat as it is, tolerances would be very tight. I suggest you find someone who can design grading and is capable of establishing spot elevations with some kind of leveling device so that there are distinct, known elevations to achieve. The difference in elevation from the back yard to the front will determine much of what will be possible to do, or not do. If it's done correctly, you won't have any puddles no matter how much rain comes. Building a drainage way of stone will not make any difference if your yard drains or not. It's the grade that's established that will make the difference. Of course you can have sod at the patio. Account for it when calculating elevations. (In other words, it has a thickness that must be accommodated.)

"lousy for compacting" That's good. You want some sort of give around the pond to allow for expansion and contraction. Are you in a "Mud zone"?. Mine is sandy, as Michigan is a beach for the Great Lakes, and it has proved to be very good. I did not use any underlayment. Now the soil is still wet and the preforms are settling in ever so slightly. It is the field stones that are supporting the 6 inches of soil all around the ponds adding to the insulation. Many people use pea gravel as an underlayment to that the water does not heave the pond. One foot is nothing. You'll like the fact that you can kneel down to be at water level and it's easier to see the bottom and everything inside. This year, more black dirt form the compost is on order and some lawn edging to keep the soil in place and easier to mow. Also, need to plant wildflowers or something to keep the soil from washing away. Now that you are looking to build a new pond, you will start noticing other peoples pond's and the natural ones, too for ideas. Watch how nature directs waterflow. Do everything in phases and think far ahead like using union fittings at your pump so you do not have to argue with your pipes and fittings. Estimate water flow at 3x capacity and then figure flow loss. If it is at least 2x, then you're good. Hint-Inline ball check valves are noisey. Good luck.

Hi, Years ago, I built at 37' x 25' x [0.0 to 5'] garden pond using 45mil epdm liner. I only recently saw a catalogue of excellent bentonite clay-built ponds and now regret having used liner - or so I think, pending responses on this forum. The down-sides to using synthetic liner (vs clay): *Difficulty of repair should a tear occur - including from tree branches falling in. *A terminal life-span; may not last a full life-time, in case that matters to you *There is a potential that moles/voles and other ground-rodents may bore into the liner. Underlay - such as carpeting, I suppose, would have to be adequate. Tree roots may also piece the liner; not sure if this is also so of clay-based ponds. *You cannot plant things like cattail (Typha spp.), or other plant species which would puncture the liner; I'm not sure if this is still the case when it comes to clay-built ponds, however. *Any exposed area will reveal rubber, instead of a natural looking substrate: clay; you'll need more stone coverage to conceal the entire surface of the rubber - which may be an issue for those not wanting stone in their pond, due to maintenance issues. You'll also need the stone to conceal all of the unnatural creases. *For complicated designed, you will need to purchase far more liner then necessary. *For very large liners, there is difficulty in installation - I'd rather deal with the clay-pond challenges. So, I'm thinking of dumping my pond, cutting away all of the liner (leaving the bottom drain in place), and removing all of the underlay (carpet) and going with sodium bentonite. These are my concerns: 1. Will tree and shrub roots (particularly wetland species - i.e. willow, blackgum, and birch, etc.) penetrate the bentonite, being in search of water? There's no way I'm doing away with the awesome wetland plants I planted in my mesic soil around my pond - natives: sweetbay magnolia; paper birch; blackgum; common button bush; various shrub dogwood spp.; coastal sweet-pepper bush; silky willow; highbush blueberries; American black elderberry; and thicket-serviceberry. If so, I'd rather stick with liner. 2. After rain-storms, my water-table rises. For instance, if you dug a 5' deep pit in the yard during a dry month, there is no water; after it rains, there is water to the top. Excavating the pond confirmed this. Wouldn't the groundwater pressure (which would cause the rubber liner to lift if I were to drain the pond lower than half-way, as it is) cause the clay-seal to rupture? 3. I actually have a yellowish clay once you dig about 2' down. It is not impenetrable, but I guess it would be a little bit of extra protection, beyond the standard depth of applied bentonite clay. Do I have the proper conditions enabling me to build a clay pond? 4. Can I plant emergent aquatics with deep, penetrating roots in a clay pond? Plants like: cattail and common buttonbush? Thank you, Steve

Thanks, everyone for your encouragement! I've posted more WIP photos to the link below. Slow - in answer to your question about the base, I'm drawing the design onto the concrete and attaching tile directly to it - no mesh beneath. I prep the surface with a slurry of that bonding treatment first. We get almost no precipitation here, so I haven't been too worried about ice heaves and such. (Earthquakes on the other hand...) Bamasusana - I love the idea of the stepping stones in pea gravel. Please don't be surprised if I steal it. Dena - I completely agree with you that the circles would "pop" a lot more if I'd gone with just one color. However, I went with the (more fraidy-cat) approach of random colored tiles because I guess I'm pretty critical of what I've done so far and didn't necessarily want the circles to pop. Instead I was hoping for an effect more like one of those 3D paintings, where you have to let your eyes relax first before you can actually see the design. I also felt the various circles were too non-sequitur amongst themselves, so I hoped the random colors in between would emphasize the 'mis-matchedness' of the circles. (Ha - I'm pretty sure I'm overthinking this; that's the danger of having a software nerd do crafts around her house. :) ) Anyway, you have all made me feel good about my project. I do learn so much from the many talented contributors to this forum. Thanks so much again. I'll keep you all posted. Best, Myles Here is a link that might be useful: Project as of June 07