Small hole in waterfall

[Jon Nannen]

Hey everyone. As the title suggests, I recently found wet soil around my waterfall. Good news, some is running back into the pond. Bad news the pond water level lowers quite a bit.

I looked at my waterfall (old owners of house built or had built) and found a piece of concrete that was loose. Sure enough that's where the water was trickling out. Will try to get pictures. In the mean time, what can I do to seal it up? Foam, new concrete,

 

[tbendl]

It's hard to tell the best way to fix it without pictures. Is it a concrete pond or is the waterfall concrete?

 

[sissy]

If it is liner easy just patch it but if it is concrete you will need to use an additive to the concrete and to the area to make the 2 surfaces bond together .And it will need to be clean and dry and for liner same thing clean and dry and it will need a patch kit for 45 mil assuming it is 45 mil liner

 

[Meyer Jordan]

If it is liner easy just patch it but if it is concrete you will need to use an additive to the concrete and to the area to make the 2 surfaces bond together .And it will need to be clean and dry and for liner same thing clean and dry and it will need a patch kit for 45 mil assuming it is 45 mil liner

The area of the concrete repair will need to be re-sealed also. Foam will not work.

 

[Jon Nannen]

The waterfall appears to have liner underneath 3 large flat flagstones that make up the actual waterfall. The waterfall has rocks on each side that keep the water moving in the right direction. Said rocks are bonded to the waterfall with concrete it appears, and it seems a piece of the concrete finally came loose and has opened a tiny hole in the side where water is escaping. Its getting out that hole, down the dirt, and some trickling back into the pond, some escaping elsewhere. Headed home to get pictures.

 

[Jon Nannen]

The pond itself is not all concrete to the naked eye, but could be

 

[tbendl]

Yeah pictures might help since if it's a liner underneath you'll need to patch the liner and if it's a concrete section, that patch is different.

 

[sissy]

To me if there is no hole it is just a matter of pushing the liner back up and put dirt under it to hold it up and then rock just needs to be put back on .Not sure that is what you need to do but that's all I can come up with

 

[Jon Nannen]

ok so one is a view of my waterfal. A few close up of the hole where the water is leaking out, and one where it is escaping to and pooling. As you may be able to see, the liner has fallen a bit but its difficult to contort as there is concrete and rocks on every other piece of it surrounding it. So what do i do? I feel it wouls be best to seal the hole somehow, not sure how, but input, ideas, and how to's are welcome and appreciated!

 

[tbendl]

Wow it looks like it is leaking from the side of the waterfall, at the edge where the liner ends. The end result is, since it is a liner, you will need to either extend the liner with a seam to widen the liner or patch it. It's still kinda hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like over time the liner has moved away from the side of the waterfall and that is where your water leak is, does that sound right?

 

[tbendl]

Also it looks like the leak is near the top of the waterfall (in your first picture it's to the left of the spigot right after the first drop?) The only other thing I can think of would be to narrow that first step so you use the existing liner.

 

[sissy]

A liner replacement may be just the easiest and cheapest .I think if you pulled that rock up and pushed dirt under it then your liner will be back up where it belongs

 

[Jon Nannen]

Sounds right and as far as moving the rock and dirt, some of the rocks are cemented into place. I attempted moving a few of the free moving rocks topush it bback into place but it still trickles out.

Is there no cement or filler I can use to plug that hole? And yes it is not where the water comes out, but the first drop

 

[Meyer Jordan]

A liner replacement may be just the easiest and cheapest .I think if you pulled that rock up and pushed dirt under it then your liner will be back up where it belongs

I agree with Sissy. Any patches or plugs that you attempt will only be 'Band-Aid' fixes. Seaming is out of the question because of the convoluted condition of the existing liner.
Do a demo on the existing waterfall, install a new wider liner and just foam the rock. Do not use concrete again..

 

[RobAmy]

I agree after seeing the pictures that a redo with the liner and foam vs concrete will be best.