Building my Own Waterfall

[Bernard Kazour]

Hello,
I hope everyone is doing good.
I am trying to build my own waterfall at my backyard. The waterfall will be made up of rocks that i intend to put on top of each other similar to the following photo: http://prntscr.com/efj404

The waterfall will be around 1.4m height and 1.7m width where water flows down 3 levels
My question is how can i guarantee to have a waterfall effect from Level 1 to Level 2, from Level 2 to Level 3 and from Level 3 to the pond instead of just sliding on the rocks? I guess from Level 1 to Level 2 the pump will force that effect, however i need to guarantee it for the remaining levels.

I hope i made myself clear since English is not my native language.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Lisak1]

I think I understand what you mean. Basically, to create a waterfall effect you need to hold BACK the water before it falls. Creating a small pool is one way to do that with an edge that the water is pushed over. Another way is to force the water to move BETWEEN the rocks - narrowing the space before widening it again will create force that will make your water push through rather than just slide over the rocks. Placing rocks strategically will create the effect you desire.

Your photo is a bit confusing, since it is boxes rather than rocks. Do you intend for the water to fall over all sides of the rocks? Or will the water course down the front into a pool or basin at the bottom?

 

[Bernard Kazour]

I think I understand what you mean. Basically, to create a waterfall effect you need to hold BACK the water before it falls. Creating a small pool is one way to do that with an edge that the water is pushed over. Another way is to force the water to move BETWEEN the rocks - narrowing the space before widening it again will create force that will make your water push through rather than just slide over the rocks. Placing rocks strategically will create the effect you desire.

Your photo is a bit confusing, since it is boxes rather than rocks. Do you intend for the water to fall over all sides of the rocks? Or will the water course down the front into a pool or basin at the bottom?

Thank you for your reply.
I intend for the water to fall into a basin at the bottom from the front.

Yes the photo is just a sketchup i made for the design, nothing fancy just for me to imagine the idea as i build them so it was quicker for me to have them as boxes instead of drawing real rocks. So the waterfall is made of exactly 5 big rocks, 2 on the bottom, 2 in the middle and one on the top level.

so you are saying i should create a small pool inside the wide area of each level with the front of it a little lower than the back of it. This way i can force the water to go forward, correct?

 

[Lisak1]

Exactly! Anything that forces the water through or over will give you a waterfall effect - more or less depending on the actual water flow, of course.

 

[Bernard Kazour]

Exactly! Anything that forces the water through or over will give you a waterfall effect - more or less depending on the actual water flow, of course.

The actual flow of water is what is worrying me. at Level 1, it is directed by the pump so it is no problem, at level 2 and 3, it is created by the water fall, will it be enough?

 

[Lisak1]

That's a good question! You don't say how big your "big" rocks are nor can I say what's "enough" - some people love a sheet of water, some love crashing water, some prefer a small trickle. Much will also be determined by the shape and structure of your rocks - will you have smooth boulders? Flat rocks? Rocks with crevices?

How big of a pump are you planning to use? How high do you plan your waterfall to be?

 

[addy1]

Like Lisak1 says a small pool of water before each water fall helps a lot. I made sure before every drop there was a pool of water, some are bigger than others.

 

[Bernard Kazour]

That's a good question! You don't say how big your "big" rocks are nor can I say what's "enough" - some people love a sheet of water, some love crashing water, some prefer a small trickle. Much will also be determined by the shape and structure of your rocks - will you have smooth boulders? Flat rocks? Rocks with crevices?

How big of a pump are you planning to use? How high do you plan your waterfall to be?

The rocks vary in sizes but all of them have an approximate height of 50 cm. the bottom 2 rocks are 1.7x0.9m , the middle ones are 1x0.7m and the top one is 1x0.8m. they are mostly flat rocks with smooth edges taken from an excavation site for a friend.

Adding all the rocks on top of each other will give me an approximate height of 1.4m. i have not decided on the size of the pump yet, still doing my searches.

 

[Lisak1]

There's lots of good information out there regarding waterfall building and pump size from people who are good with the mechanics - that's not me! I can tell you how to make it look pretty, but the numbers allude me! Knowing how many gallons of water you plan to pump and how high you want to pump it are two important factors.

 

[Usman]

hi akhi ahlan wsahlan , great to see u make ur waterfall , i think its the most difficult aspect yet the most attractive part of a pond , there's no definite answer how it will end up , the only way is try and test & improve using different combinations but i will tell u basic things i learnt ..
1st the key is pump pressure . you wil need aprox 150 gallons/h for one inch (if you increase height it will reduce volume of water which is written on pump) , basically if you have great volume of water on a narrow water tight area , you can create waterfall out of any thing.
2nd the type of rock , if its edges are sharp thin then it will have most sharp effect and noise eg stone thats like a book or slate . on the other hand if it has thick straight edge it will have less effect but smoother look eg stone like a box or brick , if it has rounded edge it will have least effect .
3rd height determines sound and visual affect ... from how many inches its falling

How to Build a Waterfall - Part 1 - YouTube

How to Build a Waterfall - Part 2 - YouTube

Aquascape's Step-by-Step Waterfall Construction - YouTube

How to Build a Waterfall and Stream Part 3 - YouTube

 

[DeepWater]

You don't need to tilt the rocks forward or backward for a waterfall to work. You don't need to have a pool for the waterfall to work. But you do have to block the sides to force the water out the lowest edge - the front.

There are tricks to making a waterfall *better*. Having it splash off rocks below will splatter and it will sound different than having it splash into a shallow pool or even deeper water. A good sound bonus is having a "behind-the-waterfall-echo-chamber" to enhance the sound the splash makes.

Just placing rocks on the edges won't force water out the front. They have to be sealed. Many use the pond-safe black spray foam to fill in the side gaps and glue the rocks in place. You'll want to have the side liner high enough to enclose any side leaks and re-capture splash droplets.

Myself, I don't want a final waterfall into the pond itself. This makes ripples and wave patterns across the surface. I'd rather have a calm smooth surface. It's up to your preference though!

 

[carolinaguy]

waterfalls are broken into two basic categories: he falls and she falls. he falls drop and splash. the level of noise depends on the water velocity and distance of the drop. she falls sheet and flow without splashing. the control for your fall is the rate of flow and the width of the fall. a 1 meter wide fall needs more water to cover the entire width than a 50 cm width. you just need to figure out what your necessary rate for effectiveness is. the biggest factor in building a waterfall is always how to keep them from leaking over time. figure out your style and flow rate, then decide on the fall type and go for it. we like she falls and we minimize the possibility of leakage with a well planned concrete and block structure. again the biggest problem with waterfalls is preventing leakage, and the biggest design issue is noise level. the rest just happens based on physics. there are several great waterproofing products out there. some depend on an ancient method of waterproofing discovered by the Romans 2000 years ago. petroleum based waterproofing has had mixed results over time. good luck

 

[Usman]

waterfalls are broken into two basic categories: he falls and she falls. he falls drop and splash. the level of noise depends on the water velocity and distance of the drop. she falls sheet and flow without splashing. the control for your fall is the rate of flow and the width of the fall. a 1 meter wide fall needs more water to cover the entire width than a 50 cm width. you just need to figure out what your necessary rate for effectiveness is. the biggest factor in building a waterfall is always how to keep them from leaking over time. figure out your style and flow rate, then decide on the fall type and go for it. we like she falls and we minimize the possibility of leakage with a well planned concrete and block structure. again the biggest problem with waterfalls is preventing leakage, and the biggest design issue is noise level. the rest just happens based on physics. there are several great waterproofing products out there. some depend on an ancient method of waterproofing discovered by the Romans 2000 years ago. petroleum based waterproofing has had mixed results over time. good luck

whats ancient method

 

[Lisak1]

waterfalls are broken into two basic categories: he falls and she falls. he falls drop and splash. the level of noise depends on the water velocity and distance of the drop. she falls sheet and flow without splashing. the control for your fall is the rate of flow and the width of the fall. a 1 meter wide fall needs more water to cover the entire width than a 50 cm width. you just need to figure out what your necessary rate for effectiveness is. the biggest factor in building a waterfall is always how to keep them from leaking over time. figure out your style and flow rate, then decide on the fall type and go for it. we like she falls and we minimize the possibility of leakage with a well planned concrete and block structure. again the biggest problem with waterfalls is preventing leakage, and the biggest design issue is noise level. the rest just happens based on physics. there are several great waterproofing products out there. some depend on an ancient method of waterproofing discovered by the Romans 2000 years ago. petroleum based waterproofing has had mixed results over time. good luck

I'm trying to uncover the mystery of the naming convention here - "he" vs "she". Is that based on some observation of the qualities of male vs female? I've never heard falls referred to this way before.

As for waterproofing - are you referring to waterproofing under the rocks? (i.e. EPDM liner?) or foaming between the rocks to keep the water flowing over vs under the rocks?

 

[carolinaguy]

A he fall is loud and a she fall is soft and sheets with no noise. No mystery here. As for foam in our experience we have never seen that stuff work over time. Breaks down and leaks. Terrible stuff in our experience.epdm is great if you assemble it correctly. Personally we don't like the look in the end. A reinforced concrete trough is our preference or a block system with a xypex seal. We also like the formula that uses two thirds schedule 40 and one third thin set mortar to seal the concrete interior. The nice thing is you can dye the concrete and xypex to match the natural area stone. In our current installation we avoided all leakage by building 4 she falls that flow out of four plant chambers and drop into the pond without touching the sidewalks. It's an attractive, leakproof technique. The plant chambers are sealed with xypex. Of course this is a display pond, so we don't go for the faux natural look. Just our preference.