"Galen Hekhuis" wrote in message
...
I imagine there are a thousand ways to screw up building a pond, so
don't take this as encyclopedic, I've only stumbled on a few.

Dig the notch for the skimmer way too low when you first dig the pond.
It is critical that this be done if you are going to mount the skimmer
and bond it to the liner later. Too low, of course.

LOL, I haven't actually installed mine yet. I just have to slit the liner in
the Spring, put the nut on the Bulhead and attach the floating skimmer. I
can't tell you how many times I measured the skimmer, the depth of the
bulkhead, etc. Although since it's a floating skimmer, I've got some room
for screw ups.

Make your pond full of sharp angles and difficult to line areas.

Pretty hard not to with a small deep pond.

Don't worry about wrinkles in your pond liner as the Magic Pond Fairy
will be along to straighten things out.

You mean they won't be gone in the Spring? I was hoping the Pond Fairies
would do their magic under the snow. :O
I think I'll have the liner tape out in the Spring.

Actually place the skimmer (and hence, the water level) too low in
your pond. This will help expose more of the wrinkled liner to help
the Magic Pond Fairy who hasn't shown up yet.

Yet to be determined.

Get too big a pump for the pond. You'll thrill to the sight of the
water absolutely gushing into your skimmer. You'll gasp at the
geyser-like output.

You can never have too big a pump! :-)

Make sure at least one side of your pond is lined with bricks (in my
case, cinderblocks) that look like they are about to tumble into the
pond. Not only will it provide that old, worn look, it will also
provide many hours of entertainment as to what to do should they
actually tumble into the pond. (To be honest, my cinderblocks will
probably never fall into the pond. To do so, they would have to make
it over a huge wrinkle in the liner, which the Magic Pond Fairy still
hasn't fixed.)

No cinderblocks, but two rows of overlapping pavers to hold the liner at the
top. This turned out very well for the original pond, but they look a little
wobbly in the reno.


I di get two things right. The overflow pipe for the pond is exactly
the right height for the skimmer, which would be ideal, except the
skimmer is too low. OK, maybe I only got one thing right. But at
least the skimmer (though low) is perfectly level. Water doesn't rush
into it any faster on the right than it does on the left. You can
balance a dime on its cover.

Haven't put the overflow in yet, I'm hoping it's the right height for the
filter since I really can't move the filter too much. (Basement filter room)

Anyway, they say you learn from your mistakes. I have sure learned a
lot digging this pond. One thing is not to count on that Magic Pond
Fairy.

I'll either be a genius or a Dumkoff in the Spring when I attach the bottom
drain and pipes tunneled under the sidewalk and hope there are no leaks. It
really would have been much less work to dig up the sidewalk than to tunnel
12' under the sidewalk. Especially if I'd paid someone to do it. :-)


Galen Hekhuis
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