Building Ideas

[sissy]

depends on the bargains you find if you can go to the pond depot.com it has stuff like pumps that start at around 50 dollars and seem to have a lot of other stuff too I have gotten some stuff from them and but I still compare them to e-bay shipping is only 9.99 usually

 

[sissy]

I get my pumps at harbor freight when they have there clearance sales

 

[addy1]

I may just do that. I've got a few projects I've got to get knocked out before my son's birthday next month so I'll have a busy time home but I hope to at least get this planned out. I doubt I'll be able to start on it but I may go ahead and start buying materials so I can space out the cost of it better.

What's an average cost for a DIY pond? $5-600?

Well depends on the size of the pond, the liner can add xx to the cost, you have the pump, and the pvc tubing, connections, they do add up. Those are "hard" figures. The filter etc can be diy stuff. Watch craigs list a lot of people get tired of ponds and are wanting to dump them now.
Get an idea of your pond size and start looking at liners, do not buy until you have your hole dug, lol, it can always change in size.

I took pictures from all sides of where our pond was going to be and did paint shop drawings on the pictures on the computer. Changed the lay out a few times, well more than a few times, the final dig ended up being sort of close to the final drawing.

 

[sissy]

why when you dig the hole is it always bigger than the liner .Must be the shovel

 

[crawls]

Good advice on the liner, I hadn't thought of that.

Like I said I want to TRY and have everything planned out before I start to try and avoid some of the simpler mistakes. I think I should be able to figure out most of it but it always helps to have some experienced people's advice.

 

[addy1]

laughing sissy I dug my hole let it sit for a few weeks before I even ordered the liner to make sure I was not going to change anything.

 

[sissy]

I bought the liner ahead because I got a great price on it ,it only cost me 50 dollars for 15x20 liner how could I resist that deal and the underliner the guy gave it to me for free and a pump

 

[crawls]

Now when I do the liner, if I go ahead with the built up/below ground pond, I would need to put it all the way up to the top of the bricks right?

 

[addy1]

The water will leak out above the liner, so as high as you want the water to be plus some, the liner does not end right at waters edge.
You do an edge with the liner, to hold it in place.

 

[crawls]

So just say for instance, if I want the water to come up to the 3rd brick, run the liner all the way across the top of the brick and put another on top to secure it?

 

[addy1]

If the water is to the top of the third brick, take your liner to the top of the fourth brick and put a fifth brick on it to help secure and hide the liner

You want your liner higher than the water level you want to maintain. It can be just an inch or so higher or inches higher.

 

[crawls]

So the more I read, if I use a DIY filter, dig the hole myself, do all the plumbing, etc, then my biggest expense should be a liner and a pump correct?

 

[addy1]

Yep for sure, pvc adds up in $$'s well ours did but we had a lot of ground to cover,

There are a lot of different liners out there, don't go for the cheapest ie low mil, I used bend tarp and liner. btl.com, the ppl24 is .41 cents a square foot. It is very tough and can actually be installed without underlayment if you don't have a ton of rock. but used carpet, carpet pad is usually free and why not protect it.

 

[crawls]

Yeah I saw that you could use synthetic carpet for underlayment and we have a carpet store that sells remnants for dirt cheap, I could patch some of those together if nothing else.

I'm thinking the cost of the PVC may rack up for me as well.

I may end up having the put this project off longer than I want to

Hopefully by this winter I can have the hole dug and start getting everything going and ready for fish. That's my short - term goal for now anyway.

 

[addy1]

Check craigs list, I found a carpet guy that had left overs he just wanted to dump.
Take your time with your project, keeps it fun that way rather than a job.