Opinions on pond layout

[Shdwdrgn]

I think I finally settled on a shape for my new pond... a basic pear. I like how it gives continually curving sides, but still makes great use of the area and simplifies digging the shelves for each layer.

Anyway, I drew up a basic sketch today. The two circles at the top will be my filter barrels, with the waterfall in between them. The river will be running out the bottom to a smaller pond. Does anyone see any potential problems? Is there any guideline for how vertical of slope I can have under the waterfall, or what minimum depth I should keep directly under the spillway?

I also want to verify for calculating the size of liner to buy... If the outside dimensions are 9' x 12', with a maximum depth of 3', then I come up with 15x18 for the liner. Add maybe 18" on all sides for the borders, and I come out to 18x21. Does that sound about right?

 

[DrCase]

18' x 21' would cover ..I think going 20' x 24' might give you enough to keep the liner solid under your water fall .. you dont want to be 6" short

 

[DrDave]

I agree, the last thing you want is a liner that is short somewhere. Besides that, the scraps can be used in the waterfall, stream and for other projects.

 

[DoDad]

I tell my customers to not buy the liner till the hole is dug.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I was planning on doing that waterfall with a separate piece of liner, draping it from the top, down into the pond. Is this a bad way to do it? I have some smaller pieces I've been collecting to use for the waterfall, river, and smaller pond.

Unfortunately I won't have time to wait for the liner to be delivered once I get started. The old plastic pond liner is going to be temporarily set up on the patio with the filter, and all the fish will be kept there, because the new pond is being put right where the old one is at. I'm anticipating about 2-3 weeks to get the new pond dug out, although I can have the river and small pond finished ahead of time.

Going with the 20x24 sounds good though, and that extra 3' wide strip along one side could easily be used to lay out the river, saving my larger pieces for other areas. I guess if I still run short somewhere, I can always throw some dirt back in the hole.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

So I did some looking around, and wanted to verify... Last I knew, Firestone 45 mil EPDM was a good high-quality liner to use. Is this still true?

I found a 20' x 25' liner from pondliner.com. With shipping, total cost comes in under $300. Seems like a pretty good price to me, considering the shipping weight of this stuff!

 

[DrDave]

Doing the math in my head, that looks like $.60 a sq ft. Not bad, considering shipping is in that price. And yes 45mil Firestone is as good as it gets.

 

[DrCase]

That's were i got my last liner , 45 mil is the way to go . Price sounds good.
My water falls liners are one piece ,with plenty of under lap coming up from the main pond liner

 

[addy1]

My streams and waterfalls are all separate pieces of liner, installed with good overlap.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I was counting on about 12" of overlap between section, and I saw some liner tape at Home Depot last year for sealing up between pieces... hopefully that does the trick.

 

[addy1]

I have been using liner tape and tape (two sided) a couple strips of the double sided starting at the top of the over lap, working down to the end. Then using liner tape to keep the edge down. So far no issues