Rachel: Please don't beat yourself up over the fish. Mistakes are part of learning to pond. When I first started ponding I picked out four of the most beautiful shubunkins in the world. The sales clerk at Trickers was very patient and made sure I had the one with the longest flowing fins. I was so proud of my babies. Unfortunately I didn't have a pre-filter on my pump and I found pieces parts of these beautiful fish in the pump where the intake valve sucked them in. I cried over these fish for almost a week. I am sure once you get everything cleaned out, and do water changes every week your pond will flourish. One thing I can testify to when you pond you learn something new everyday. The majority of what I have learned I learned right here on this forum. You walk amongst a great group of people here. Hang in there. You have been bitten by the pond bug, and it will be a never ending, rewarding hobby. Jenny

My husband did this on a short 1 foot high wall. He started by cutting diamond mesh to fit the wall, then attaching the mesh with concrete screws. This is to give the mortar better adherence. Then use concrete mortar to attach the flagstone. After several days of drying, go back and grout. Ours was only one level high, but you will have to do in several layers. Do bottom layer first. After drying do next layer, and you will probably have to use something to prop against the stone to stop it sliding down. Or you could use several layers of duct tape from the top to hold it in place until it dries. If you do all 3 feet at once there is the danger that the top layers will slide down and push everything out of place.

carterinms, I must thank you again. I remember now seeing something on the FEMA website right afte Ike and we were doing all of our mitigation research. So many websites I have visted for sure. Many of the homes destroyed during Ike were older and in High Velocity zones and from what I hear it didn't matter what type foundation they had, becuase the surge was just so high and the debris field was so broad, that they didn't stand a chance. The ones that were left standing, whether wood or concrete, were the new construction that were at 18'-20' elevation above grade. We aren't high velocity, although after Ike, I don't think I can ever be too sure what may happen. We are a 1/4 mile from the bay and never dreamed we'd get that much water up here! Have you all gotten to move in yet? I hope so, it certainly was a long time coming. We haven't broke ground yet, but we are closer. Many of our neghbors are back in their homes, so the neighborhood appears to be coming back, which is a blessing. Anyway, I do thank you again. Would you mind posting the link to the journal on your build? I thought I had it in my favorites, but I don't and I can't find my other post. Best Wishes!

If I'm seeing it correctly, it looks like the damage runs from about the stanchion to the right of the hose on the chain, to the stanchion two over to the left, the one about even with the house corner. Starting from the concrete stairs to the left, and the planter to the right, it's fine. What's causing the runoff in that middle section? That's the cause of the problem. Is there a flow of water when it rains coming past the hot tub and then down the wall? Does the roof there have gutters? Or does a downspout somewhere up to the right (in the direction of the ladder) empty on the concrete and then run down to the wall? One approach to consider is to divert water flow so that it doesn't run down the wall. Absent being able to do that, I'd have someone cut a slit in the concrete walkway and dig in and install a channel drain parallel to and maybe one or two feet inbound from the wall's edge. I'd empty it using some kind of a spout connection protruding from the wall. It looks like there's a break in the planters just under the stanchion at the left side of the damage, that might be a good place to put it (so that it doesn't flow into the planter area and flood it) .