Hi there.

[Oliver Buckle]

Hello, new here. I saw an ad on the general gardening forum I usually visit just as I was about to post asking about ponds, so here I am.
The missus and I were stood looking at our pond today saying, "We must do something". We moved here a couple of years ago and the whole garden had been neglected for a long time. A lot has improved, but nothing has happened about the pond yet, and now is about the time of year to make a start.
The present structure is about eight feet by five feet irregular in shape with a very holed liner and about a foot of water in the deep bits. There are a couple of water lilies, we have seen newts, and lots of birds and insects use it as a water source.
We are thinking about replacing with a fiberglass liner, but there are loads second hand on the market. Why is there something wrong with them?
Any advice would be welcome.

 

[Hound Heaven]

Hello and welcome. You landed at the right spot - lots of expertise and experience here and inspiration too.
I currently use a liner on my pond, but have used the pre-forms in the past. I find the flexible liner to be more to my liking -- durability, flexiblity are among the reasons.
Best of luck. Would love to see some photos of your project.
Cheers from TN.

 

[GBBUDD]

Imo preforms unless Rubbermaids or similar are not worth the effort they get brittle in time and crack . Thus destroying the environment you just created. The rubber.aids are usualy more for farms purposes and more oval but far more durable

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

I would stick with a liner. Preforms are a pain. I got rid of the few small ones I had.

 

[JRS]

Welcome!

 

[Tula]

Welcome

 

[j.w]

and welcome @Oliver Buckle
Just say no to the preform, less headaches will follow

 

[GBBUDD]

You should put all those emogis in a file and sell it

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Thanks for all the welcome messages, I gather preform ponds are not regarded well We live in an area of heavy clay. When we first moved here I dug a hole to bury the cat's litter in and it filled with water. Reading local information it seems there may be about two meters of clay and then solid rock under that, so the water table is very high. Two things occur to me, could I make the pond with puddled clay? My partner is against it because she thinks it will be a lot of work and then won't work, but I like the idea of a 'natural' pond. The other thing is if I can dig a hole and find water will it come up below a liner and 'float ' it? Maybe I should line it with gravel to hold it down. At the moment we have just had a long drought all summer and everything is still very dry, but in a normal year it seems water is only about a foot to eighteen inches below the surface, despite being near the top of a hill.
I will try to get a few more posts in so I might be able to post pictures, I am afraid I am getting on a bit, a twentieth century man, and not very tech savvy, so it is 'might'.

 

[GBBUDD]

PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE. Water will always follow what ever patch that resists it the least . so if you have several decent size tubes going from under the liner and provide a way for the water to get out from under the liner it will not lift the liner which we call 5the hippo. add rocks / boulders along the edge and gravel on the horizontal shelves you could make the pond substantially deeper than water table again so long as it is the easiest path out. they do have under liner piping thats like 4 pipes together making more of a flat tube