River rock adhesive

[DonJax]

hello all,
Building a little river approx 14’ long x 2.5’ wide. We have a pond liner in place and looking to secure river rock, pea gravel, or whatever is best for our little ones to play in this little river thing. Any suggestion of rock type and a way to secure the rock to the liner would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mmathis]

When you say “little ones to play in,” are you talking about children? Because I’m not sure there is an adhesive that would be reliable enough to stand up to foot traffic (and I’d be worried about the integrity of the liner, as well). I could be wrong, though. But if it is for kids, plan on it being slippery! If it’s for fish, disregard. Nice looking waterway!

 

[DonJax]

When you say “little ones to play in,” are you talking about children? Because I’m not sure there is an adhesive that would be reliable enough to stand up to foot traffic (and I’d be worried about the integrity of the liner, as well). I could be wrong, though. But if it is for kids, plan on it being slippery! If it’s for fish, disregard. Nice looking waterway!

Hello,

Yes, sorry little ones will be our little kids 3 and 1. We went to a local playground which has a similar type set up that kids were splashing in. So that’s where we got the idea from. However, concerned about the stones. They had their rocks/stones secured some way. There isn’t anyone to ask. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[addy1]

They had their rocks/stones secured some way.

Was their waterway made out of concrete? That is what they may have done. Or they mortared them together over a liner.

 

[Mmathis]

Was their waterway made out of concrete? That is what they may have done. Or they mortared them together over a liner.

Both could make sense for a playground water feature.

 

[DonJax]

Both could make sense for a playground water feature.

That’s what we thought. So we purchased some quickcrete sand mixture. We are concerned obviously once you start with the concrete you’re committed. We read some folks used the concrete mixture which, at times doesn’t adhere well to the liner. Some also said any type of hairline crack essentially destroys the whole project.

We were wondering what Alternatives if any where out there.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Lisak1]

@DonJax Welcome to the GPF! There's bound to be someone here who will have an answer to your question, but in the meantime I'll agree with @addy1 and @Mmathis that what you probably saw was a concrete courseware with stones embedded in concrete. I don't know of a reliable way to adhere stones to EPDM, especially with little people walking on it.

 

[Mmathis]

Is that PVC liner? It doesn’t look like EPDM.