Pond Underlayment, What do you use?

[DaneDad]

I'm planning on using a Firestone EPDM liner. What's the best type of underlayment that's reasonably priced?

 

[fishin4cars]

geotextile is what i used, i have been very happy with it and it's great if you ever need to move a pond, after two years under a liner it was still in the same condition it was when put under the liner. But for cheaper substitute, a tarp, old carpet, Weed barrier, and newspaper have all been used sucsessfully.

 

[ComputerGuy]

The geotextile that you can buy off of ebay is pretty cheap and cheap to ship. Also, it is hearty as hell.

 

[sissy]

landscape fabric heavy duty I used .It was 29 dollars for a 6 ft. wide roll by 200 ft. long at Ollies discount store .I had to redo my pond this summer after a dog got in my pond and ruined the liner .I still left the old liner material in ,I just took out the ruined pond liner because I did not want water to get trapped between the 2 liners .Lowes and Home Depot both sell the underliner and Some places ship free if you buy so much from them.Some also use old carpet or carpet padding .

 

[DaneDad]

just ordered the geo textile from ebay.

 

[fishin4cars]

Good choice, for the money it's a very good product, you may have spent a little more for it but it does give a really good protection and it's very light weight and easy to work with. LOT stonger than it will appear. I was very impressed when I had to remove it from my friends pond at just how well it had help up and how good it did over that period of time. BTW, he had rocks and roots to deal with when he dug, and no problems from either using the underlayment.

 

[KennethO]

I used commercial grade weed barrier from Costco. I placed it in a criss-cross pattern 2 layers thick. Works great.

 

[maxXx430]

purchased 21 yards of 16 mil vinyl from the flee market for 20 bucks. works well so far.

 

[mrsclem]

We use quilts and blankets that we get at yard sales in the spring- When we pulled the liner from the pond we built over 12 years ago the quilts were still intact!

 

[27goldfish]

Committed the ultimate sin. No underlayment. But, I used a landscaping temper for about hours before I put the liner in.

 

[HTH]

My ground is a clay sand mix. On my most recent pond attempt I tried something new. I soaked the hole to turn the first few inches of the bottom into soft clay. The idea is that any lumps, digging produced many rock hard ones, that might happen to find their way into the hole during liner installation will get pushed down into the wet clay, soften and be no more.

I expect over time the moisture will diffuse into the surrounding soil and create a smooth firm bottom. The plan is to rip this pond out in a year or two and I can give a post mortem on the process.

This only works if you have rock free ground. Or maybe it will work so long as the pond bottom is below the frost line and you make sure there are no rock is the soft clay.

The only liner I use is 45mil EPDM.

 

[viggen]

I used old carpet as underlayment material

 

[addy1]

carpet pad worked for me. Our liner can be laid directly on soil, but our dirt is rock with a little dirt, so I protect it.

 

[tgood]

I used old carpet with shredded newspaper and regular paper on top of the carpet. The shredded paper binds together and forms a powder like substance like baking flour. If water gets to it via a leak if just beads on the paper like a drop of water will do in flour.

 

[ChrisP]

I've always just looked around the neighborhood on trash day for old carpet.