Backyard Pond Progress Pix - Update

Okay I'm FINALLY getting some work done to my backyard pond! A few years ago I posted something here about building my 'dream pond'. Well I started it a year and a half ago and it's been just a muddy hole sitting there. Richard says he'll kill me if I don't have it done for 4th of July.... so... LOOK!


I'm finally moving on it! It will be chlorinated.. it's meant to be a wading pond... so we'll be able to sit in it and put our cocktails on the edge. Water depth will be about 32" and the whole thing is roughly 16 feet long by about 7 feet wide. I've got the equipment hooked up to it already. It's got a pool pump, strainer basket and cartridge filter. With the pump I have, the entire water volume will be replaced about every hour or so. That fiberglass rock thing on the right will be a waterfall. My version of Schweitzer Falls! There will be another small waterfall on the left.
The concrete inside will be sculpted in very smooth rock shapes, and then the concrete above will be to look like lava rock formations. There will be lots of planter pockets hidden in the rockwork above. The rock will be black. I'll use an epoxy sealer on the underwater sections and plain paint on the top sections.
Our friend Tony is coming over later today to help me pour the back edge, and then tonight I will do the finish sculpting on the back edge section.
It's getting there!!

Paul

[ Edited by: pariartspaul 2007-05-18 08:02 ]

[ Edited by: pariartspaul 2007-05-18 08:04 ]

[ Edited by: pariartspaul 2007-06-13 08:56 ]

Holy Cow! This is gonna be awesome! I have year old mud hole/future pond in my backyard too that is screaming for attention. I've been toying with the idea of doing a crete pond like yours instead of a liner pond. Looks like alot of work and $$$! Feel free to post many, many progress shots. I'd love to see how this all comes together.
I'll check back soon.

Yeehaw! Looking good, Paul!! Love to see these "in process" shots. July 4th, huh? :D

Good Luck... will be watching for the next progress report.

• Myke

The wall pockets for plants is a good idea.
Be sure to make them tall enough that the fish
can't dig in there. Koi will take every bit of rocks/dirt out of your planters.
Also you should make a few underwater caves of some sort
so the fish will be able to hide from predatory animals.

Hey tikiskip... no fish! It will be chlorinated like pool water. And surf-n-turf, yes a lot of work, but not too expensive considering. Most of the metal is junk I found over time, along with some purchased rebar. The base of the big waterfall is actually... ready for this... an old shopping cart I found on the street! Solid steel! Ha! The most expensive thing so far was the actual concrete. $375 delivered from Home Depot. I had 35 80lb bags of regualar concrete and 35 bags of 60lb mortar mix. I'll be out of concrete later today already so I'll have to get another load of it. I'm using the concrete for all the poured sections and then the mortar mix for the sculpted sections. I'm adding lime to the mortar mix. It makes it stick better and thickens it up kind of like clay. The sculpting is the fun part. It's kind of like frosting a cake!

Then I bought some concrete blocks... I still need a few more. And miscellaneous pvc plumbing parts. I have the main drain/inlet to the pump all in, but I still have to do the return line and the waterfall lines. I will have valves to all the returns so I can control the waterfall volumes, or turn them off completely and just have the return into the pool itself if I want.

Oh, the pump, filter and basket were pricey. I think I spend about $300 or so on all that, but I bought them last year so the expenses have been spread out.

That's going to be nice! Excellent job so far..

Wow! What a great idea, I've heard of the lined ones but never acutally seen anyone try to make a cement pond. That'd be great if you could get some bubble jets in there somewhere, like a natural, bubbling pond. But it seems awesome without it. I look forward to seeing your progress!

Sweeeet. Fond memories of the mud hole. lol. It took me 12 months to manifest the serious pond off of our bar's deck as well. We can't sit in ours though. The fish would be pissed!

The waterfall is soothing though.

Very nice!

Envious of the size

Mahalo

McTiki

Tony came over yesterday and we poured most of the back wall section. It took quite a bit of concrete, but it's SOLID! Then later in the afternoon when it set up I started sculpting the lava texture. So in this picture, you can see the seat which will be underwater, and the transition to lava texture on the wall section. I'm happy with the way it looks.

I wanted to keep the lava section rather smooth and not too rough feeling since people will have contact with it, so I came up with a texture done with a whisk broom and then I put in a few cracks and lava holes. As the texture goes up the waterfall section I'll get more rough with it.

This picture shows a planter we did a few years ago using the same techniques. It looks great, but it's too rough to have in a pond.

Here's another shot of how it's coming. I really like the way this looks! I sculpted some flat spots on the back edge so we have some nice cocktail perches.

So I've used all 35 bags of my concrete now. I'll have to get some more next week.
That the latest!
Paul

Wow....that is looking awesome Paul. It will be a great place to cool off in the summer heat. Good idea about the cocktail placeholders. Will you have access to muzak....some Les Baxter would be good to the sounds of your waterfall. :)

Here are some fish for your pond.

Keep those pictures coming....and love the bamboo surrounding the pond.

Paul, its really nice, I like the natural flow of it, and considering how talented you are in your art, I suspect this will be just as amazing!

Amy

We got a lot done in the last week. Yesterday some friends came over and (between martinis) we managed to get the entire back wall poured!
The picture below shows the whole thing... the big waterfall on the right has been concreted in, and we've got the form of the front wall in.

I did some sculpting today continuing the same look I had before. Up top there you can see our old kitchen sink embedded in lathe ready to be transformed into the smaller, secondary waterfall.

Cheers!

Wow! that looks so good. I'm interested in doing something like this once my boy's old enough to not drown himself in it. For now, I get to vicariously live through you as you complete this project.

Oh and thanks for all the information, and the progress photos, I'm sure it will all come in handy one day!

Well, lots of progress in the last couple of weeks! Yesterday we finished off the entire inside basin, and I laid all the flagstone around the edge...

This thing is built like a fortress...the entire basin and sides are SOLID reinforced concrete!! I had to keep ordering more and more concrete because my original 35 bags barely got us halfway around it. Here's how it's totalled up so far... We used 95 80lb bags of concrete mix plus 41 bags of 60 lbs mortar mix. It totals to 10,060 lbs of dry mix, or just over 5 tons! The concrete was definitely the most expensive part so far. But still the total cost for the whole thing so far is still under $1000.

So I have some black acrylic pool paint on order. I expect it this week sometime. I'm using the acrylic pool paint to color the underwater section. At this point I'm not concerned about leakage at all. So the next step is to finish off the waterfall sections and get them plumbed up. Then we have to paint it all and we'll be ready to fill it!

this is so cool. i too have a 3 yr old start of a pond in my backyard. tried sealing two pool liners, but the seal never held up completely. over the last two years, i keep hearing mixed pros and cons for linner vs crete. but i love the look of the old crete instalations, such as the Mai Kai and many others. after reading through yours, with the sculpting and such, my mind is made up. incredible use of found objects, Paul. this thread is a great insperation for me. thanks a lot! can't wait to see more.

Paul,

GREAT job so far, watching this thread has been an inspiration to me, hopefully when my wife and I buy a different house I can convince her to let me do something like this, only with a "volcano waterfall" at one end. After seeing the quality of your work, I had to find out more and went to your site and read your bio, after reading it, I probably won't be surprised to find the amazing things you create. I can remember going to Disney and seeing many incredible things, and now know who was responsible for quite a bit of it, it's just a shame that there wasn't much info on the artists readily available(at least not that I can remember). Thank you!!

Paul

Paint Issues!

Well, I made a huge mistake with the paint. I just got the acrylic pool paint on Friday and went for it. I pressure hosed the pond 3 times, dried it, and then let it dry until it was white again. I sprayed on one coat of the paint (spray gun with compressor) and let it dry. I went into the pond to spray the 2nd coat and the 1st coat started to come up in sheets wherever I walked!! Uh-o!

So then I thought, well, maybe I should roll it on - maybe the spray is too thin. So I did. I slathered the whole two gallons on with a roller and let it dry. Well it gave it a black shiney, slippery finish. After it dried one day, I went in again barefoot to work on some of the color work.... well guess what - spots came up in sheets wherever I walked. Okay, so I stopped that! But I noticed that if my feet were wet, the paint wouldn't lift... it wouldn't stick to my feet. But it was slippery as hell.

If I had it to do over again I would have STAINED the concrete with regular house paing instead of using pool paint. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. On the fake lava rock concrete planter I did a few years ago, I used housepaint and washed it on (as opposed to putting it on thick). The color seeped into the concrete beautifully and gave it a natural looking finish. It's lasted over two years already outside with hosings, rain and everything. Actually it gets better looking the more it ages.
I think this pool paint looks like crap! It looked more like a tar-pit than lava rock.. very plastic looking. Oh well, too late now, I'm stuck with it.
Anyway, they say to wait three days before filling the pond with water. Tomorrow will be three days. The paint seems to be sticking okay now, but my worse fear is that it will come off in sheets under once its under water. I'm so upset about it! Oh well, live and learn. Stay tuned to see what happens when I fill it... next week!

I think the black looks good in the pictures. BTW nice article on you guys in Atomic Ranch.

We slopped on H&C Crete sealer that was tinted for us @ Home Depot. That stuff has remained tight for 2 yrs now. It dries like crete.

You'll get there!

Lookin Good !

Mahalo

McTiki

It's been a week of disasters! We let the acrylic pool paint dry for a few days and filled the pond. Guess what? It leaked like a sieve, all over the place! When I emptied it, we discovered some holes in the concrete in the deep end wall that were the culprits. At the same time, portions of the pool paint kept coming up. To top it off, I primed the pump and tried it when the pool was filled... and nothing happened! It just got hot. Disaster all the way around.

This picture below is from last night when we filled it up the second time. We had the hose in the upper waterfall basin just to see what it might look like.

Well, the next day we ground off most of the pool paint we could and cemented and mortared the holes. After doing some more research I came up with this two part epoxy product from TAP Plastics call 'Coat-It'. It's a thick, durable epoxy made for coating ponds and boat hulls and it's a dark grey color. It took four gallon kits to cover the entire bottom and most of the sides. I would have put more on but by that time I got sick. I don't know if it was the fumes or exhaustion or if I got the flew from somewhere else, but right after I collapsed with a terrible 102 fever and was down for two days. By yesterday I was feeling better. The epoxy was cured so we filled the pond up again expecting the worse.... well, no leaks this time!!

I called the pump manufacturer and he said sometimes if new pumps aren't used for a while, the impeller gets stuck and you have to free it up by hand. I did it and it started right up! I tried the pump when the water was filled and it works fantastic. Whisper quiet, and it puts out a great volume of water. It's running through the cartridge filter and the water is nice and clear.

So my next step is to run the piping to the big waterfall. Then more sculpting with mortar to finish off the smaller waterfall. Whew! It's been a long, hard process. But it's starting to look like the pond I hoped it would be.

So listen to Uncle Paul's hard earned advice all you would-be pond builders.... NEVER use acrylic pool paint over raw concrete! The product is crap - a total waste of time and money. The epoxy sealer worked out beautifully so far.

That's the latest!

I'm overcome by jealously. Congrats on not dying and getting the job done to boot. Rest up so you can post more pics.

Great job and sorry to hear about all the trials along the way! It looks wonderful and relaxing.

If you do end up repainting the bottom again, I think you can add a bit of fine sand in the paint to give it some grit so it's not slippery..

Also- Did you use a pond-style pump or a pool pump? The electricity and water can be dangerous..

Ahoy thar, Capt'n Skully!

You're right about adding sand to the epoxy. I skipped that step because I just wanted to get it sealed up first. But it says on the can that you can sprinkle it on as its curing to give it some grit. Next year or sometime when I re-coat it I will definitely do it. It's kind of slippery now.

I used a pond style waterfall pump. You can see it here: http://www.mdminc.com/Sequence_750.htm
I have it off to the side, and it's hooked up to a filter basket and a small above ground Hayward cartidge pool filter. It's working great so far and it's putting out a great volume of water for the waterfalls. I have the returns hooked up with valves so I can control the flow to each of the waterfalls or to the return inside the pond. The filter is working great - the water is cool and crystal clear. I think it's recycling the whole volume of water two or three times an hour. I've been in it twice today already!

You sure have put a lot of effort into your project and have shared so much here. I just know it is going to be awesome when you finally finish it. Keep on ponding!!!

I've heard great things about sequence pumps from ponders.. Reliable brand and more cost-efficient to run being external as opposed to the submersibles. Hope the water level is still holding strong for you.

It seems to have a slow leak somewhere in the top eight inches or so. If I fill it, the next day it will be eight inches lower, but then it will stay at that level. So I think I need another coat of epoxy on those sides. With my first coat I kind of faded it at that area. Anyway, for now I think it's fine until I get time to do recoat it. Practically, it's working just great at this level, there's still plenty of depth and it looks good. But if we have people over or something, we'll fill it for the day.

The filter is working beautifully. We've had the waterfall on most of the day the last few days, and I'm in it 4 times or more throughout the day when I take a workshop break - really cools you off! It really is like a mini pool. And I did it all for under $2000!! I sure learned a lot during this experience.

[ Edited by: pariartspaul 2009-02-10 14:58 ]

Well, ya know they say design is an evolution... yesterday I decided to go ahead and give the entire basin another coat of epoxy while the weather is still relatively cool. So I used the pump to drain it for the first time, and it only took 15 minutes! So that means the entire water volume of the pond gets filtered and recycled 4 times an hour when its running - and that's pretty great.

So I got some play sand from Home Depot and sprinkled it on while the epoxy was still wet. It set up overnight and I think the finish turned out great. It's totally non-skid now. Maybe later today I'm going to start mortaring that secondary waterfall while the water is still out of the pond. I'm aiming for Friday or Saturday to refill it now. It should be totally watertight at this point, so I should be able to fill it with no slow leaks this time.

We're having some company over on Saturday - so I'll take some more pictures then of the finished pond with both waterfalls running if all goes well.

That's the latest!
Paul

Labor of love...it's looking good!!! :)

Paul, the pond and fall is amazing, you did a great job and I love the step by step, love the picture where your "on break" lol cute!

Amy

Well.... SUCCESS! Everything is up and running fine. The pond has totally changed the feeling of our backyard. It used to be on really hot days, we'd spend only a little time back there and then head back into the air conditioning. But now, with the sound of the waterfalls and taking a little dip from time to time we can spend the whole day out there if we want. So we've created our own mini-pool! Love it!
These are some pictures from our little 4th of July party. It was 104 here that day - and the pond really helped people stay cool. Everyone was sitting around the edge with their feet in the water.


As a last minute touch the day before the party, I got 5 bags of play-sand from Home Depot and spread it all around the flagstone patio around the pond. It's like going to a beach back there now.

That's the latest!

Looks fabulous and the sand around outside was a brilliant idea....it looks very beachy. :)

Aloha everyone! I haven't been here in a long long time but I thought I'd post a few new pictures of the pond seven years later! It's held up great over the years. I just upgraded the equipment to a proper "in-ground" mega pump and filter and I tell you, those waterfalls are gushing like never before!

The old original waterfall pump finally died last fall so I upgraded everything.

I'm very happy with this pond and it's been the focal point of the yard for all these years now. So if you ever consider building one, I'd definitely recommend it! Everyone loves it. My only regret... I would have made it a little bigger! LOL.

It looks absolutely great!! I am much impressed by your lava texture. Is there a thread anywhere here where you discuss the specifics of how you did that?

Hey Gwen, this is the thread that shows pictures of the construction. Scroll back to page one and read through it. For the actual lava texture, I made a mixture of mortar mix, concrete and a little lime smoothed onto metal lathe. One the first coat was set up, I scooped on the second coat and that's the coat I textured. I used a rough broom to stamp in an overall texture, then came back in with sticks to poke/carve in bigger holes. I sculpted the underlying rough shapes with a trowel. It was fun but a lot of work. Ultimately very worth the effort though.

Somehow I miss this the first time around. I really enjoyed going back to see all of your photos. What a beautiful place to hang out. Being able to sit on the edge is over the top wonderful. I want to put my feet in there too. Wendy

Thanks, Paul!

Wowo that is amazing. You did a great job. Now I want to build something like that next to my tiki bar. Thanks for the great idea

It should be known that I just showed this post to my wife. She likes the idea. We may start building in the spring. Did you have any idea how to do this? Where did you get the knowledge for this kind of build. I am just learning about using cement on a completely different hobby (Garden Railroading) Any good books you can steer me too? thanks