Post #11785 by Futura Girl on Thu, Oct 24, 2002 3:26 PM

We built a rock waterfall using lava rock in our backyard tiki garden this summer. It's still not quite finished, yet, as there are some level "issues" and landscaping. I will post pics when it's finally done.

Sunset has a good book on building waterfalls and ponds which I used for some guidelines and i recommend it. But they do add some complicated mechanical details sometimes that may make it seem a little overwhelming.

Everyone told us to use the pre-formed plastic shells available at your local hardware store, but we opted for the old fashioned free form concrete and rock.

We built 3 river-like concrete basins and used a product called Thoroughseal (a plastic-like cement) to seal the concrete. Then decorated with lava rocks over that. The biggest issue I have had building waterfalls and fountains, especially one of this size is getting the water that is pumping out of the pump to fall evenly from one pond to another without overflowing the upper ponds before spilling to the lower ponds.