My New Pond Construction

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Seeing as most others have done the same, I will document my progress here.

Started 23 August 2013 and all done by hand.

Pic 1 - Lifting the turf from the area that the pond is going in to
Pic 2 - Marked out and started the digging out of the clay
Pic 3 - The shape is coming along
Pic 4 - Getting there
Pic 5 - The wife clearing out the loose large spoil from the clay bed (she couldn't use the spade as she had a steroid injection in her shoulder on the 22 August!)
Pic 6 - Slowly filling to test the liner.

All these pics were taken between 23 - 26 August 2013

Not bad progress considering I have Multiple Sclerosis and other spinal/nervous system problems and had to take it easy.

You may ask why I did it and not got help in, well easy answer to that question is that the people who said they would help, suddenly were "too busy" when it came down to the crunch.

Next stage is to pump out the test fill of water and then excavate a trench around the edge to place 3x2 concrete slabs edgeways to increase the depth and raise it off ground level.

The liner will then be pulled over the top of the upright slabs and a treated fence placed 12" away from it, which is then going to be backfilled with the soil excavated from the hole, and capping stones placed over to finish.

The filtration is still to be 100% decided upon, but a Wet&Dry Pond filter is looking favourite.
 

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Took one of the pumps out of the small pond today and started the task of emptying the water out of the new liner ready to be able to dig around it and install the slabs before refitting the liner (it is not even on each side so gives very little to play with on 2 sides over the slabs that are being sunk into the soil around the edge.

Hopefully by Monday, I will have the slabs in place and the liner refitted.
 
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Water is now emptied from the new excavation. Using a 1500 l/hr powerhead to pump it out has taken 24 hours. Now to remove the liner completely, then excavate the trench, before sinking the slabs 14" down - added a couple of additional inches to the excavation to make the fulcrum point higher so less chance of the earth pondside moving under the pressure of the water above it.

Going to put a couple of inches of sand in the bottom of the trench to enable easier levelling of the slab tops. I have a feeling that along some of the sides, there will be less slab above ground level, so that should even everything out.
 
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The first slab is in place. It has taken all day to get this far!!!

This is by far the most time consuming part of the construction so far due to having to get the depth millimetre perfect and then levelling it both horizontally and vertically.

Going to try to get the second slab in place before the day is out. Still got to dig out the rest of the trench so it is level(ish).

Should really have dug the trench a little wider than a single spade width so I have room to manoeuvre the spade in the trench easier.

I should lose the weight I have been trying to get rid off doing this!!!!! LOL My MS nurse & Orthopaedic consultant are not going to be happy if they know I am doing this!!!!
 

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Got second slab in place. It may not look perfectly level, but the spirit level shows that it is 95% level (as per picture shows). I don't mind a couple of millimetres tolerance as the capping stones will level themselves along the slabs.

Getting there slowly but surely.
 

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VanDiesil said:
Got second slab in place. It may not look perfectly level, but the spirit level shows that it is 95% level (as per picture shows). I don't mind a couple of millimetres tolerance as the capping stones will level themselves along the slabs.

Getting there slowly but surely.
Do you have a transit level or lazer level? Or even a hose level?
Probably the easiest way for you to get those slabs level would be to set some stakes in the corners, shoot your levels on the stakes and run some string line 3/4" above the top of the slabs, then use a 3/4" spacer to set the slabs. Using a level like you are doing from one block to the next could put you out of level from corner to corner by quite a bit, especially with the bubble being so far off center on just your second slab.
 
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Mucky_Waters said:
Do you have a transit level or lazer level? Or even a hose level?
Probably the easiest way for you to get those slabs level would be to set some stakes in the corners, shoot your levels on the stakes and run some string line 3/4" above the top of the slabs, then use a 3/4" spacer to set the slabs. Using a level like you are doing from one block to the next could put you out of level from corner to corner by quite a bit, especially with the bubble being so far off center on just your second slab.
I don't have anything other than a 15" & a 1.2m spirit level. The slabs are only in soil at the moment so can be tapped down further using a rubber mallet to get them level. The image of the bubble was taken using the long level and the level was across the whole width of both slabs.
 
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hmm you have a nice pond.. but are you sure its deep enough because I think the deepness is very less. Anyhow good work now when going to fill this with water and fishes?
 
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I have done similar with blocks forming a flowerbed wall. My approach was to dig a bit deeper than desired and fill the bottom with a little sand. The sand is easy to manipulate, by twisting the block on top of it, until it dug in just the right depth. Plus it was easy to adjust when one side was higher than the other. I have found that much easier than trying to adjust the height with handfulls of dirt.
 
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Been a while since last update!!!! Not been good healthwise, so construction came to an abrupt halt until this weekend. Had to dig a trench around the pond and place slabs upright with a maximum of 7" above ground level, to get a level top for the coping stones to sit on. 75% filled the pond yesterday so going to try to get the liner as crease free as possible (never going to happen!) then build up the outerside of the slabs with the spoil from the pond, then lay the capping stones and fence around the outer of the spoil to finish. Just bought a "wet & dry" box filter & new pump last week which is "seasoning" the bacteria in the media in the old pond at the moment.
 
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Been doing a bit more work over the past few days, so thought I would upload some pics. Filtration is being moved over this weekend as well as the capping slabs being put in to place. Hopefully be 90% done by the end of Sunday - weather depending!!!!

IMAG0119.jpg
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sissy

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I know you pain and I am still not done with my pond ,but I got a lot done in a month .It always seems like a lifetime and my fish had to be put my fish in stock tanks and worried every day .It looks great and you say done and i laughed ,ARE WE EVER DONE :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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I totally agree Sissy!!!!! After this one is done, the one in the background is being overhauled!!!! Pre-formed pond coming out, all the sand and gravel around the pre-formed is coming out, landlord is redoing the masonry work, and going to fully line it instead!!!! More expense for me even though it is the landlords existing pond, but at least he is paying for and carrying out the masonry work!!! He was good enough to allow me to remove all of his grass to put the new pond in LOL. The plants (other than the new lilly at the front) have been taken out of the small pond and transplanted (no pun intended!). The large clump of Water Mint is only half of what has come from a 9cm pot I bought last summer for the small pond!!!! Cannot believe how fast it grows!!! In fact all the plants came from 9cm pots bought at same time last year!!!!

Still got to build up the near end of the pond to get it as level with the upright slabs as possible which means that I can hide more of the liner. Also hoping to get the electrics in this weekend as well as they have been sitting gathering dust since last summer as well!!!!

Hidden behind the reeds, trapped between the rocks are some water iris tubers which have sprouted that a friend gave me, so hopefully they will take off as they are gorgeous plants when in bloom. If they don't take off, I will replant them in baskets (although that might hold them back due to the running of the tubers that they do naturally).
 
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Picked up some of the edging slabs today - no doubt I will need more than 18 x 18"x18" slabs to go round the edges, but it is a start. Tidied up a lot of the excess spoil from digging out last night after I took the last pic so the garden looks a LOT tidier now. As already mentioned, hoping to get a lot more done by the end of the weekend, and no doubt next week will be laid up in bed in agony (he who dares, he who dares!).

Found a garden centre very close to me that I wasn't aware was even there until a neighbour told me about it, that does the rockery boulders I want for £2.99 each (about $5 USD) of varying shapes. Certainly cheaper than the other places I have been to that want £9 per kilo!!!!!!
 

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