I was careful not to overload my 1/2 ton truck with rocks. Not worried about the capacity to carry them all. It's just what happens when you're tooling along at 50-60 mph and some fool pulls right out in front of you. It's really hard to stop a small truck with a heavy load of rocks in the back!
About to attempt to rebuild our deck pond myself, with helpers. Intimidated!
- Thread starter Lump
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The new 45 mil Firestone EPDM liner arrived (see rolled unit on deck in photo), and we have been digging out all sizes of granite cobbles from the pond, and power washing the muck off of them. I honestly believed that kids must have stolen them and thrown them into the lake or something...because they were all "gone." But in truth, they were merely buried in the muck at the bottom of our pond, or buried among the plants and features surround the pond. I have a LOT of rocks now, it seems!
And now I'm starting to see just how "ambitious" my project is becoming. I'm certainly hoping that we will be able to complete it! Part of me wishes I had just left it alone. Here are photos of us tearing up the deck, to bury the skimmer underneath.
One reason I mentioned before for rebuilding this pond was the fact that it clearly had a serious leak somewhere. We were adding water every week, which we had never done in past years. Then, once we tore out the old liner, we found the leaks...animals had chewed holes in the liner in a few spots. Our pond is surrounded by our wooden deck, which is just inches off the ground in most places. Consequently, it's an inviting place for rodents, like rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, etc. Plus there are weasels, raccoons, and moles all over the place. So I decided to but some welded-wire "hardware cloth" screen in rolls. I plan to put it down CAREFULLY beneath the underlayment, with about 2 inches of soil between the metal wires and the fabric underlayment. I HOPE this will keep critters safely away from the liner, WITHOUT becoming a source for wire-punched holes on its own accord. This will add a layer of complexity to the project, but we found small tunnels during our digging, and don't want more holes chewed in the new liner.
I've got my helpers for just two more days. And with my badly sprained ankle, I'm in no shape to do it by myself. Please, pray for me to make the progress necessary to complete this much-bigger-than-I-thought project!!! 
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Ouch, sorry to hear about your ankle! I've gone over on mine a few times, it can be pretty painful. When you get the chance give it RICE - rest, ice, compression, elevation. It really helps.
Hope everything goes well with your project, these things do have the habit of getting a lot more work-intensive than you originally plan. I have to say I have a severe case of rock envy though! It'll all be worth it in the long run
Hope everything goes well with your project, these things do have the habit of getting a lot more work-intensive than you originally plan. I have to say I have a severe case of rock envy though! It'll all be worth it in the long run
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What a project!
The only issue with using lake water, you don't want a constant supply of gold fish, koi eggs, fry heading down into the lake.
The only issue with using lake water, you don't want a constant supply of gold fish, koi eggs, fry heading down into the lake.
The hardware cloth is a great idea! It’s what the pros suggest when you are concerned about burrowing animals.
Keep working - you’ll get there! If your helpers can finish the heavy lifting, (mainly get the liner in) you’ll have plenty of time to work on the rest.
Keep working - you’ll get there! If your helpers can finish the heavy lifting, (mainly get the liner in) you’ll have plenty of time to work on the rest.
sissy
sissy
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had moles chew a liner and had dogs destroy a liner ,so better safer but the mesh wire will rus .I used 30 lb roofing felt 2 layers thick and then underlayment
I follow a garden vlogger who recently cleaned out their long neglected lily pond and found unbelievable roots and tubers - many bigger than an arm! They also found a number of garden objects they had lost over the years that apparently fell into the pond and were completely surrounded by lily roots and tubers - very funny to watch them re-discover their lost treasures!
Well, after tearing up the pond, the ground around it, and a good portion of our wooden deck, the rains set in today. Now we've got a real mess. Sigh. I sent my helpers home, since it is scheduled to rain for the next several days. I'll get out there and do whatever I can myself every time the rain stops. (within the limitations of my badly sprained ankle). But there is yet a LOT of work, and many long hours ahead of us before we can call this pond completed.
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Addy, at this time I don't plan on using lake water for this pond at all. Someone suggested using it for our NEXT project, which will be a downhill stream with various waterfalls, emanating from under the deck edge, seemingly a continuation of this pond. In fact, however, it will be a totally separate feature, with separate water, if it ever becomes a reality. And I doubt that we will put fish in that meandering stream at all, or use lake water. Cheers!
Question for you all: We have always elected to just allow the pond to keep on running all winter long, even though it freezes over heavily every winter. Indeed, a couple of times it seems to be totally frozen clear to the bottom, so we turned off the pump. Yet when it thawed, our few goldfish inside were alive and well. That is one reason I plan to try and bury as much of the flexible hose from pump to waterfall as I can, as deeply as possible (in the attached photo, you can see that the previous builder (a pro), left the pipe almost exposed for most of its entire length.
