another leaking waterfall thread

[sissy]

and like be you first .I have a bad history with sharp knives .My sons used to hide them from me when they were growing up ,seems I would slice fruit or veggie and end up cutting myself .I would buy knives and then could not find them

 

[j.w]

Funny I can hear my hubby in the kitchen using the knife sharpener right now as we speak. That schwaaaaaaaap, schwaaaaaaaap sound it makes is rather chilling! He's cutting frozen hamburger for din din on the BBQ....................yum!

 

[addy1]

Funny I can hear my hubby in the kitchen using the knife sharpener right now as we speak. That schwaaaaaaaap, schwaaaaaaaap sound it makes is rather chilling! He's cutting frozen hamburger for din din on the BBQ....................yum!

Have you checked? are you sure it is your hubby in the kitchen sharpening that knife?????????????

 

[j.w]

Yikes addy, don't scare me like that.....................has to be him tho cuz I don't think Dexter watches Bill O'Reilly,lol!

 

[herzausstahl]

JW,
I never would have picked you for a Dexter fan, lol. Besides, Dexter only goes after criminals, remember?

 

[SE18]

I don't think I ever built a waterfall that didn't leak. Fixing is really too subtle a subject to describe. But here some rules I've come up for myself.

Things that don't stop leaks...

Tipping the rocks forward doesn't stop leaks. Tipping forward is only to keep as much water as possible visible.

Foam doesn't stop leaks. If you get lucky it will slow it down to a point where you'll give up and talk yourself into believing it's fixed. Foam is used to keep water visible.

Mortar doesn't stop leaks. Used to keep water visible.

Putting down a huge liner doesn't stop leaks. Water doesn't care if it has to travel 2" or 20'.

Things that stop leaks...

Experience. Tear it down and try and find the actual problem. Then build it over. Repeat as needed.

Understand capillary action. Understanding it and then ignoring it means it really wasn't understood. Water is a patient teacher.

Solid base. Even a concrete pad. I also like the entire slope to be concrete rather than soil. I mound the soil compacting as it's built, put chicken wire over that and mortar over the wire leaving holes in the wire/mortar for plants. Reduces erosion and liner is too slick for rocks imo.

First time? Build slowly. First just liner. Run water for a few hours and then lift the overlap to see if it wicked. Then the base rock. Run the falls for a few days. 80% of the time this is where the problem is going to be. Next build the center of the falls leaving the sides bare liner so you can see if water is getting out the sides. Then the sides. Side rocks shouldn't really touch the center rocks too much. Little tricky but can be done once you get the hang of it. If flat side rocks are laid flat on those center rocks you will pull water along that side rock and get a leak.

Come up with more rules when all these fail.

all great advice!!!!

My entire system is concrete. I stupidly experimented with hypertufa on my waterfalls to encourage moss. Leaks like sieve. Drained, smeared Portland. Better. Then after dry, coat of DriLok. Better still.

Yep, patience, learn, water will teach you.

Opened this section last weekend. The rail is where I'm putting in railroad tracks. LOL

 

[damian]

Side rocks shouldn't really touch the center rocks too much. Little tricky but can be done once you get the hang of it. If flat side rocks are laid flat on those center rocks you will pull water along that side rock and get a leak.

oh crap

 

[Waterbug]

I mortar rock inside the waterfall to keep water in front. To prevent leaks I leave the edge of the falls liner up turned and exposed so you only see a thin black line. I also use concrete block behind the liner edge so it's sandwiched between mortared rock and the block so it can't sag down in either direction.

I lay a thin rock over that edge to hide. When looking for leaks I only have to remove that top rock to see if there's a problem...and there have been.


https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1820-exposedlineredge/



I do a similar thing in the pond except I tuck the liner into the concrete block (bond beam block to be specific). I'd do that in the falls too if possible. But normally the falls has to many folds to make that easy, so I just cut the liner after rock is mortared.


https://www.gardenpondforum.com/gallery/image/1821-bond-beam-collar/



That localizes leak issues to a narrow point. The block collar imo is very important to stop future leaks as it acts as a footer. People can stand on the edge and not collapse the side like plain soil can. And helps stop heavy rocks from slowly sinking the liner

Collars have other benefits as well. Cheap easy way to make a pond last for a very long time.