Pond in Southern Illinois

[Sheetmetalman]

J.W. --I like a quote from an Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie ( Conan the Barbarian) "Time Enough To Rest When I'm In The Grave"--lol--so no I wont be resting till its done. Addy--if you do brick, I'll give you 2 pieces of advice I learned the hard way--1. Make a good frame out of treated lumber and bury it a little way into the ground to keep the brick stable and the sand inside the frame and 2. Use an engine powered plate compactor to tamp your sand. The first one I learned years ago--I worked like a dog to lay a big brick patio under a pavilion at our other lake lot--just to have the sand leak under the board and then to have the untreated boards rot away in a few years. The second I just learned on this project--I have had brick settling issues in the past, even though I used a hand tamper--my neighbor brought me home a plate compactor to use and I was amazed at how hard and flat a surface the sand had after useing it--shouldnt have any bricks sinking now. Tmann, I always end up making long nicknames-used to be a coal.miner so sometimes use oldcoalminer--have a pontoon boat so sometimes oldpontooner, now I work for a pipeline so sometimes OldPipeliner --need shorter nicknames and I guess I need to leave OLD out of it--although I do feel old sometimes even though I'm only 49, LOL

 

[addy1]

I like my used concrete steps, if they are changed out told honey it was his job..............that was a lot of heavy lifting to get them up there, some I had to walk lift them up the slope. Sort of lift but keep on the ground and walk the block.

 

[taherrmann4]

Tim do you have any problems with frost heave using the pressure treated wood? When I installed my brick patio and walkway 8 years ago I used the plastic edging and drove 12" stakes into the ground every foot, however about 3 years ago the plastic edging started heaving in the winter and I there are some places that I need to take it up and redo next year.

 

[CountryEscape]

I think most edging will heave in the winter/spring thaw. I've always said the trick is to pound it back down when the frost is coming out of the ground, not a day before, not more than a few days after! It makes all the difference in the world. You can use the plastic edging and do the same thing, but have to stomp it back in as soon as the frost comes out. You may sink in the mud but you can get it back where it belongs at that time. Your idea sounds very stable, Tim, and I bet it will be fine. However, I'm still waiting for the "finished" pics! Or, did you not get it done this past weekend? It was hot as blazes on Sat., then chilly and rainy Sunday. Ah ... Illinois weather - if you don't like it, wait until tomorrow, it will change. We went from 100 on Sat., to a low this morning of 48.

 

[Sheetmetalman]

Tmann, its possible I may have frost heave issues with the brick and/or frame--hope not---never did with my old patio at the other lakelot or my brick side walk out at our farm, but with the winters we have here it is a possibility--I'm more worried about the raised wood edging around the fish pond frost heaving. Ive been thinking about covering the pond and edging up this winter with a big tarp suspended on ropes that I would criccross back and forth over the pond. I was hopeing this would help keep the pond water temp. more stable by holding the heat in from a pond heater I plan on installing this winter. Also the Tarp would discourage any kids (including my own) from thinking they could step out on the Ice when it froze, and with the rope support under the tarp it would support their weight if they did. Patti, I did finish all of the small brick, patio area's--I still have 2 more area's of large bricks, and a brick sidewalk to do--hope to do the sidewalk next weekend and the rest a couple weeks after that.

 

[herzausstahl]

Looks great! I like the idea you had for the edging of your patios. Never thought of doing it that way, but looks like a nice way to keep it down and level without having to use stakes. Now if only I had seen that when I put a walkway in for my parents! lol So did Ted ever eat any of your fish or were they all to big for him at the time? I like your post about the snappers, we get them up here, but never caught them. Would keep my distance from the jaws though!

 

[Sheetmetalman]

Thankyou Herzausstahl, No Ted left both our ponds eventually and headed down the hill to the lake behind the house--never ate any fish but played hell with my lilly pads. Ive followed your pond and creek with interest--its really looking nice--same with your deck. I plan on putting some patio update pics on here tommorow since I havnt been on here in a while. I bought some 1 foot bricks yesterday to finish the next to last patio segment. Me and Anne layed a sidewalk from the patio to the house last week we used old clay brick and it turned out well==I will put some pics of it on tommorow too.

 

[herzausstahl]

Thanks sheetmetalman, like everyone else on here, always feels good to hear your hard work is appreciated by others. I thought adding a turtle would be cool, but never wanted to risk the fish. Plus not sure what he would do in winter, if he would be able to burrow into the ground around the pond and hibernate or not, either way sounded like too much work. I'll admit I'm impressed you built the pond when you live so close to water. I would love to live near something like that. Did you have any trouble with a high water table when you dug your pond or are you high up enough on the hill it wasn't a problem?

 

[Sheetmetalman]

You can just call me Tim, Herz its shorter and easier to type. No, I didnt have any water table problems--we live on a hill about 30 or 40 feet above the lake

 

[Sheetmetalman]

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel--I have just 1 corner section of the patio next to the pond to finish and I am basically done, it and the pond has been a fun spring/summer project but now Ive commited to Anne to tear out the living room carpet and put hardwood floors there and down the hall so its good that it will be mainly wrapped up this weekend. Here are the latest pictures of the patio and the patio sidewalk that I was gonna take last weekend till the rain put a stop to it. Thanks again for all the advise and encouragement Ive received on here, its really helped move this project along towards a satisfactory conclusion.

 

[baeya]

Stunning! Your yard belongs in a magazine! Thanks for sharing. I like the photogenic puppy, too.....

 

[j.w]

Pat yourself on the back cuz you have done and excellent job Tim!

 

[Sunshine]

I love it !!! I like the different patio sections. And the use of different stones. Just beautiful ..

 

[addy1]

Beautiful! love the look of your paths, patios, Just beautiful. We don't have any area flat enough to make a patio like that. What kind of hardwood flooring are you going to do? We have so far done oak, here, and bamboo at his dad's in florida. I did cherry in my arizona house.

 

[Sheetmetalman]

Thanks everybody. We looked at a lot of different flooring Addy, and FINALLY, me and Anne agreed on the prefinished Gunstock Oak from Lumber Liguidators (if we had took our teenagers looking with us, we probably would still be cussing & Discussing--theres just so many varieties and styles out there) I would have liked the 5 inch boards with the handscraped look--she wanted the 2 inch boards in the traditional smooth look and we comprised on 3 1/4 inch smooth. Now I need to find a great flooring website like I did when I found this great Pond website and research all the ends and outs of laying Hardwood Floors.