LOTS of extra liner... best technique for hiding?

[michey1st]

Hey Peeps! I posted this in my construction thread, but it will probably have a better chance of being seen here, so apologies for the duplicative post!

On any given side of our new pond, we will have between 3 and 5 feet of extra liner to deal with. No cutzies because I want to leave room for future expansion (lol). It's A LOT to fold, tuck and cover with dirt especially given we are working with pretty tall berms on 2 sides... I don't want to destabilize anything by digging down into our packed clay too much. I know the generally accepted practice is to fold it and tuck excess liner on the outside the pond, but wanted to know if it is frowned upon to fold it INSIDE the pond (sort of bunched up/folded/rolled in the space between the back of my rocks and cover that mess with coping stones. Possibly good idea or a path fraught with misery?

Your ideas or personal experiences are welcome!

Thank you!
michey

 

[tbendl]

I don't know, I guess I would worry that you'd get an excess of nasty growth up in there that you wouldn't be able to clean out. That's the only thing I could think of.

 

[michey1st]

I didn't even think of that, you're right, T. Maybe I can fold/roll it up, place it outside the pond, but up against the liner/rocks on my dirt ledge, leave a good 8 inch flap or so sticking up, then backfill with a little dirt to cover the folded up mess, then fold the flap back and bury it in the more traditional way. I love me some extra liner, but dang, I didn't think it would be this challenging!

 

[Lisak1]

That's a LOT of excess liner to deal with. And the problem is it's not going to be all straight and smooth and "hey! Let's all lay flat and hide nicely!" But, hey - you won't know until you try, right? I do agree with T. - don't try to hide it on the inside of the pond. Too much chance for something to go wrong there and then you'd really have a mess to deal with.

Wait! One more idea! Why not just dig bigger RIGHT NOW! And then you won't have to hide the excess liner AT ALL!!

Oh, I AM a genius!

 

[michey1st]

That's a LOT of excess liner to deal with. And the problem is it's not going to be all straight and smooth and "hey! Let's all lay flat and hide nicely!" But, hey - you won't know until you try, right? I do agree with T. - don't try to hide it on the inside of the pond. Too much chance for something to go wrong there and then you'd really have a mess to deal with.

Wait! One more idea! Why not just dig bigger RIGHT NOW! And then you won't have to hide the excess liner AT ALL!!

Oh, I AM a genius!

You ARE a genius! BUT, if I even utter those words to the Mr., I suspect he will up and leave, lol. I think i'm going to go with the "you won't know until you try" route. 2 of the 3 sides should be relatively easy to disguise (those are the sides with only about 3 feet of overage. It's where the corners are and the 3rd side that may be sort of messy. The good news is that future expansion will most likely be on the "easy" sides, so if I have to do any trimming, it will be on the side with 4 feet of overage, where we can't really go much wider because of a tree and walking path. There will still be extra liner opposite that side (where the waterfall is) in case we decide to go deeper sometime in the next decade) where our waterfall is, and I plan on disguising all that mess behind rocks.

Oy vey!

 

[tbendl]

Truthfully I would weight the odds of rebuilding with the pain of trying to hide it and if it's too much just trim maybe 1 side and work on hiding the other.

 

[RobAmy]

I do not know the size stone you have access to, but can you just fold it on to itself and lay larger stones over it to hide it, you will not hurt the liner do so. Not a good idea to have it go back into the pond like already said

 

[michey1st]

I think we are going to end up doing a mishmash of folding, tucking, splaying out and covering with rocks. Yesterday we tested out a few folding techniques and the situation isn't as unwieldy as I thought it would be -- except for the corners, but I can totally work with that, I think. Regardless, whatever we do will be OUTSIDE the pond =)

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! On to the next crisis.... lol!