Waterfall Trial and Error

[TurtTown]

Last week I embarked upon creating my first water feature. My goal was a natural rock aesthetic with minimal splashing, and for it to hold the water in the higher pond at just the right level. For waterproofing, I've used epdm rubber with a large overlap of rubber between the ponds. I'm also securing the rocks with mortar combined with admix to keep it relatively watertight. Using mortar is pretty committing and I wanted a way to test the design first. If I just organized the stones without mortar and turned the pump on, most of the water would have flown under and through the cracks of the water feature, I would have little idea of the appearance of the water flow and the resulting water level in the pond above. Here was my solution: I bought modeling clay and temporarily sealed up the cracks. When I started the pump, it still leaked a lot, maybe 5% leaked through, but it answered my questions and I'm so glad I did the sample run. The waterfall looked terrible and the upper pond over flowed at the sides. My next attempt looked much better and I then was able to confidently commit with mortar. I'm going to wait a few more days for it to cure before running the water again, but I've included some pictures of the process so far. One thing to note about modeling clay or at least the type I used, is that it is oil based so I made sure to scrub the rocks clean before applying mortar. Has anyone else come up with a solution to this problem of how to test a water feature before committing to mortar or foam? I have one more waterfall to go and it's much larger!

 

[Lisak1]

Dude. You test it in your MIND. haha!

Just kidding. Although not really. You've hit upon what I think is the biggest challenge to a DIY pondbuilder - knowing how "water works". When you watch the pros, they can look at a rock and tell you exactly what will happen when the water starts to flow. Some people have the gift; the rest of us just cross our fingers.

You're working with a uniquely challenging situation there, but I think a far better solution would be a water fall weir. Then the water flows just the way it should and the rocks are just to camoflague what's underneath.

Do a google search for weirs and you'll see what I mean.

 

[TurtTown]

Dude. You test it in your MIND. haha!

Just kidding. Although not really. You've hit upon what I think is the biggest challenge to a DIY pondbuilder - knowing how "water works". When you watch the pros, they can look at a rock and tell you exactly what will happen when the water starts to flow. Some people have the gift; the rest of us just cross our fingers.

You're working with a uniquely challenging situation there, but I think a far better solution would be a water fall weir. Then the water flows just the way it should and the rocks are just to camoflague what's underneath.

Do a google search for weirs and you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for the great reply! I was pretty confident in my waterflow intuition and am grateful to have questioned it with an inexpensive purchase of clay. Maybe someday I'll develop the gift... Weirs certainly look like a great solution for many waterfalls and seem pretty straight forward. That's great advice! In my case I was looking for a more natural look with big rocks framing the space which eliminated that option.

 

[GBBUDD]

Waterfall foam is the way to go it's fast and relitivly cheap when all your doing is just trying to divert the water like yourself. I fyou find you don't like what you created you simply pull it apart and scrape off the foam and try again,

Howe ever you said you wanted a natural looking waterfall. When's the last time you saw a piece of slate, or a thin rock stuck between two rocks and water fell across the level rock.? it's the rock under your weir rock that is what would look natural all to often we build stairs and drape water over this step and wonder why it just doesn't look right. The pro's don't use the flat rock they pick a rock that can sheet the water or they will cut and grind the rock to create air and white water.

Your side stones protrude out into the area which is what you want, as they help to catch the splash. But another trick your missing is to start at the bottom and work your way up .

 

[TurtTown]

Waterfall foam is the way to go it's fast and relitivly cheap when all your doing is just trying to divert the water like yourself. I fyou find you don't like what you created you simply pull it apart and scrape off the foam and try again,

Howe ever you said you wanted a natural looking waterfall. When's the last time you saw a piece of slate, or a thin rock stuck between two rocks and water fell across the level rock.? it's the rock under your weir rock that is what would look natural all to often we build stairs and drape water over this step and wonder why it just doesn't look right. The pro's don't use the flat rock they pick a rock that can sheet the water or they will cut and grind the rock to create air and white water.

Your side stones protrude out into the area which is what you want, as they help to catch the splash. But another trick your missing is to start at the bottom and work your way up .

That's a great point about foam over mortar! I definitely agree that my attempt at "natural" is subpar. I did some research beforehand on how to achieve the look. The main thing I got out of it was to focus on the large perimeter rocks and then lastly on the center rock or rocks that the water flows over. This rock doesn't have to be big, flat, or interesting at all as long as he water flows over it in the desired way. I tried following this school of thought with my first attempt (not photographed) which I quickly scraped after seeing the disappointing water flow. I had a piece of flagstone that fit so figured I'd give it a try. This flowed much better despite looking more artificial so I went with it. Definitely my first go and lots of room to improve. I'm optimistic about the larger falls to come!

 

[GBBUDD]

Larger falls require larger containment areas. a 3 foot waterfall can splash as far as ten feet. And the taller the falls especially with lower flows of water the wind can real push the water creating spray.

Go to you tube and look for team aquascapes they do a good job explaining waterfalls as they build them

 

[sissy]

you may fail once or twice or 3 times but eventually you will figure it . Best is taking a video and pics and look at them on your puter zoom in and look closely for what is working and what is not . I even d that when I buld decks and pergolas . It saves me the headache of rebuilding and rebuilding again . You have to look closely at the video and pics but you will figure it out .Watch videos on youtube also helps you get to where you want to be

 

[TurtTown]

you may fail once or twice or 3 times but eventually you will figure it . Best is taking a video and pics and look at them on your puter zoom in and look closely for what is working and what is not . I even d that when I buld decks and pergolas . It saves me the headache of rebuilding and rebuilding again . You have to look closely at the video and pics but you will figure it out .Watch videos on youtube also helps you get to where you want to be

Larger falls require larger containment areas. a 3 foot waterfall can splash as far as ten feet. And the taller the falls especially with lower flows of water the wind can real push the water creating spray.

Go to you tube and look for team aquascapes they do a good job explaining waterfalls as they build them

Thanks for the resource! The team aquascapes guys have a lot of great advice. Overall, I'm pleased with the small falls (7 inch drop). Considering my ponds are rectangular and will be edged cleanly with flagstone, it should fit in well despite it's unnatural look. I'm definitely keeping it as is for now especially since the mortar is dry! Today I'll be working on the larger falls (14 inch drop). Hopefully splash will not be too bad at that height, and like before I'll be doing a mock run with clay putty before committing. I think wind may be an issue where I live. A possible solution is to use a smart switch on the pump power source controlled by an app like Smart Life. Smart Life can be integrated with weather apps and have controls to turn on and off based on parameters like wind.

 

[GBBUDD]

I'm just text on the internet. It's your paradise, I don't think I have ever heard we built our 1st waterfall and it's been that way untouched for years. Pretty much everyone learns as they build see one more video and the light may click ahhh now I get it. So your far from being alone.

 

[Lisak1]

It is amazing how that works. One minute you're looking at a pond and you know you love it but you can't really put your finger on what it is that makes it work - the next minute, the light bulb goes on.

In our case we did pond tours for about four years before we even considered building our own. I'd estimate we saw in the neighborhood of 120-130 ponds - every single one different, unique and beautiful in it's own way. We started paying careful attention to the elements that we liked on every pond we saw and asked tons and tons of questions. I would say the owners were present 99% of the time so we could pick their brains. What do you like? What do you wish you had changed? Is this the first, second or third iteration of this pond? Took lots of pictures. It was also fun to see the evolution of Aquascape - we toured ponds that were some of their earliest pro builds and then some that were built a year or two ago. You could see how they were learning and growing as pond builders with each pond they built.

To this day there are a half dozen ponds from those tours that still stick out in my mind. Unforgettable.

@TurtTown the most important part is knowing it's yours. You can build it how you want and change it if you decide it's not what you had in mind. You may love it for five years and then think "you know what would be better..." We've all been there!

 

[sissy]

my son is an electrician and when I built the pond he put indoor switchs on all the outlets he said better safe than sorry . He did not want me going out in bad weather after the one winter disaster had . Problem is now he moved back to NJ because of his towing company he owns . One winter I had the pond almost go empty . Ice on top made it look full but a hose brkke and liner cracked and a filter cracked when we went from almost 80 degrees down to a blizzard and snow and temperture dropped to 30 dgrees just in 2 hurs and then if i remember correctly 20 degrees and there i was running hoses from the basement trying to save my fiish in PJ's and barefeet NOT FUN LAST name is murphy explains it all

 

[sissy]

MOTTO FOR PONDERS SHOULD BE MISTAKES WE MAKE ARE THE SAME MISTAKES OTHER PONDERS MAKE AND WE LEARN FROM