Edging not quite as expected

[Shdwdrgn]

So I've been losing a lot of water lately, and started seeing some muddy patches around some areas. Its been two years since I built the pond, and I'm starting to see where I made some mistakes. The dirt around the edges seems to be collapsing a bit, so the rubber liner is dangerously low where I walk a lot.

With the pond filled back up again, you can see the water around the edges, within 1/2 inch of the top of the liner. I am assuming that the dirt and plants that were covering the liner were enough to syphon the water over the edge.

I've been planning on doing some repairs this Spring as I have good weather. The plan now is to roll up the edges of the liner and use rocks to form a lip around the pond. I'm hoping to build a 2 or 3 inch lip, plenty of extra to keep the water in place, and hopefully be large enough to keep from collapsing again any time soon. Guess we'll see what happens...

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Yep, if you just lay the liner over the soil, like on the left hand side of the picture below, and fill the water up high enough to hide the liner, you'll eventually get soil and debris build up between the rocks that will wick water out of the pond. That's why it is recommended to do it with a fold back over the rocks as shown on the right hand side. Then you can fill the water up higher than the liner to hide it, and still maintain the actual liner high enough at the back to keep the water in.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I'm not actually concerned about hiding the liner. I have enough ground-cover around the pond that the liner is always out of sight anyway. But this was my first time working with rubber liner, and now I'll pay the price be having to rebuild the entire shoreline. At least I knew enough to leave myself a good margin of liner around the edges! If I can keep the liner a couple inches above the water line, and still keep it sold enough for myself and the dogs to walk on, then I'll be in good shape.

 

[addy1]

I had to adjust my stream edges a few times, rocks shift, dirt shifts. So far this last summer the edges did fine. I love it when it is dry if you have a leak, easy to track down the mud look that should not be there.

 

[j.w]

Yep I think I need to do some of that rock repositioning around my pond too as I've noticed some sinkage. Nothing going in but water coming out where I don't want it too. It's ok tho as I kinda like messing w/ all the rocks...........they are our friends ya know