Hi, guys -
Just wanted to post a pic of our transition. I think it's working out in spite of an alarming amount of guesswork
There's a shelf in the pond about 16" deep. On the foot traffic side of the pond I concentrated on stacking big flat rocks a little bit on the steep side and trying to secure with pond foam as we went up. The rock on the other three sides is loose-stacked and laid up with a more gentle angle of repose.
So, back to the foot traffic side. When we were pretty sure we were just a little bit shy of the finished elevation (I used the elevation of the steps in the background as a guide) we stopped foaming and stacking. I poured some crushed gravel into all the gaps, then mixed up some concrete and shoveled it on top. We squished the big flat stones you see into the mud and left it alone.
Weeks later, we started dry-laying the flagstone. This iwa sold to us as Cabinet Gorge by Mutual Materials in Olympia WA. "Cabinet Gorge" refers to the mountains where they got the stuff, so it's probably called that in other parts of the country too. Thankfully, we guessed pretty closely with our elevations. If the flagstone or the flat river rock didn't match up pretty close we would been pooched.
We bought a half ton of 3/8 - 0" crushed rock at a nearby gravel yard for sweeping into the gaps. I wasn't going to pay big bucks for little sacks of the "special" sand.
The pillars with the little rocks glued on are Quikcrete concrete tubes underneath. I mixed up some straight Portland Cement to "glue" the river rocks onto the tubes. We plan to cap the pillars just above the rocks with bits of flagstone, wood, metal; something to give it a finished look.
I think it came out OK for a couple of amateurs and thought it might encourage someone to give it a try.
Just wanted to post a pic of our transition. I think it's working out in spite of an alarming amount of guesswork
There's a shelf in the pond about 16" deep. On the foot traffic side of the pond I concentrated on stacking big flat rocks a little bit on the steep side and trying to secure with pond foam as we went up. The rock on the other three sides is loose-stacked and laid up with a more gentle angle of repose.
So, back to the foot traffic side. When we were pretty sure we were just a little bit shy of the finished elevation (I used the elevation of the steps in the background as a guide) we stopped foaming and stacking. I poured some crushed gravel into all the gaps, then mixed up some concrete and shoveled it on top. We squished the big flat stones you see into the mud and left it alone.
Weeks later, we started dry-laying the flagstone. This iwa sold to us as Cabinet Gorge by Mutual Materials in Olympia WA. "Cabinet Gorge" refers to the mountains where they got the stuff, so it's probably called that in other parts of the country too. Thankfully, we guessed pretty closely with our elevations. If the flagstone or the flat river rock didn't match up pretty close we would been pooched.
We bought a half ton of 3/8 - 0" crushed rock at a nearby gravel yard for sweeping into the gaps. I wasn't going to pay big bucks for little sacks of the "special" sand.
The pillars with the little rocks glued on are Quikcrete concrete tubes underneath. I mixed up some straight Portland Cement to "glue" the river rocks onto the tubes. We plan to cap the pillars just above the rocks with bits of flagstone, wood, metal; something to give it a finished look.
I think it came out OK for a couple of amateurs and thought it might encourage someone to give it a try.
