"puddleduck" wrote in message
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Lostin1999 wrote:
*"puddleduck" wrote in
message
news

Can someone tell me if i'll be ok building a raised pond out of
railway
sleepers, i'm wanting the pond to be 10' x 7' x3'5". anyone got
any
suggestions on this, i'll be keeping just a few goldish in the
pond
nothing fancy.
PLEASE ADVISE.


Hi Puddle Duck

I've built a similar pond to your design, although making it 10 foot
long
will be more awkward because sleepers are 8' long, so yours will need
them
cut a lot (having done this by hand I recommend hiring a chain saw
for this
purpose!!

there's pictures of my pond at
http://tinyurl.com/67dqc

mine is however 8' X 5' X 4 foot deep (in the middle) with a 12-18
inch
planting shelf (18 " at ends 12" along sides)16" deep.. it was only
built
a couple of months ago...

you will need to drill holes and put shafts down through the sleepers
to
stop slippage due to water weight... are you putting the sleepers
flat or
vertical? (flats easier but makes for a smaller pond and wider
edge...

hope the pictures help inspire you

Lost *



Thanks for replying to my msg the photos on both reply's helped a
great deal, just one thing do i have to dig in the first sleeper or
can i just put staight on to the muck. i'm thinking now of having 3'
above ground and dig a 1' hole in the middle to make it a 4' deep pond.
Also can i use reclaimed sleepers or have they to be new one's.

Hiya

Mine are "reclaimed" however its cheaper (or for me it would have been) to
use new ones.. I feel the reclaimed ones with the treatment they have had
will last a lot longer...

however getting neat "joins" isn't so easy.. (however on the outside that
creates a "rustic look") so on the inside I used expanding foam to fill up
holes and such so the liner was less likely to get pierced..

the only thing I would do differently if I was building mine now would be it
would have been square.. but that's because the extra size wouldn't have
changed any of the cost etc..

I've found a bonus to a raised pond is any children don't seem as likely too
fall in (although I never have unsupervised children in my garden (even my
own))

Lost