Does anyone out there have any unique edging materials or ideas for their ponds that they would care to share photos of with me. I'd really love to see how people are masking their liners and rims. I have this pond to work on now and we just finished digging the hole. It won't be done this season as it is too late in the year but perhaps next spring. Hopefully, we will be able to at least get it set in sand and leveled this year but if not, that will get added to the ever increasing to do list.
Thats the same pond liner I had before I built a bigger one. Word of caution from experence. Build a bun of dirt around it higher then the surounding area. Water will get under it and float it. I layed rock around mine in cement. That was another mistake, as water under it pushed it up in the middle and broke the liner.
I have been setting my preforms in sand which is a tremendous help with heaving. There is about 8" of sand that the preform is resting on and approximately 4-5" of sand that will be filled in around it. I was taught to elevate the pond 2" above grade to reduce the potential for wicking which does make sense to me. I am in zone 5 and we can get some wicked winters. Was your preform set and leveled in sand? If the rock around your pond that was set in cement was a mistake, what have you done for your edge now? I was actually leaning toward rock in cement but now I don't want to do that with what you said. Are you in a position to post a photo of how you handled the edge on your preform so I can get a few ideas of which direction to go? Thank much if you can.
I am not one that should give too much advice as I went to a rubber liner on the next one. But the big problem was rain water getting under the tub. Build up the bun under the edge at least 4 to 6 inch's and a foot wide. Then lay rock around the bun and then another row on top of the first and over the edge of the tub. Do not cement any thing. If ever it got washed out or wanted to float it can come out of the hole without cracking. Or is you want to patch it later you can remove and replace it easy. Yes I had mine on sand. You will get no wicking if you do not have anything in the water going over the bun.
So, I can still use a rock edge? I just don't mortar it in place?
I don't think I will have much of a problem with deer or raccoons up by the very front of the house so there shouldn't be that many stones falling into the preform. At least I hope not. We do have a heron who frequents our place but he mostly stands right in the middle of our ponds and helps himself to whatever he can get at and slurp down. Which reminds me, I need to start thinking about a metal grate to have made to go over the top of that particular pond as it is right in the path of the heron. You don't by any chance have any ideas about grating do you?
Hi Equilibrium, What is the size of that pond? Do you want to have something made out of stock? Before I took my classes in welding I would go to a local body shop with the materials and plan and they would do the cutting and welding for me. They laughed a couple of times about the crazy lady but they did what I wanted. When I needed something cut from 1/2 in gauge or larger I went to a metal fabricator. The prices were pretty reasonable.
Hi jessamine, that pond is about 250 gallons. I have pretty much decided to go with slate or bluestone around the edge of this pond and I am not going to mortar it. I have another pond right outside my front door that is either slate or bluestone and it looks fine. Might as well create the edge material out of the same material as they are in such close proximity. We did add a slate looking style concrete bench to the area right in front of the astilbe pictured above so that looks nice.
About this pond, this one will have 3 Wakins in it sometime next ponding season. It will be my only pond that is not for wildlife. I do need to get a grate of some sort. I can remove it if we have guests for appearances and keep it in place for the protection of the fish the rest of the time. The heron will eat whatever is placed in that pond and that is for certain.
I would take something made out of stock as that sounds more affordable to me. What stock is or would be is beyond me. We do have a metal fabricator in the area and I have gone to them to have them fabricate specialty window well cover frames to hold plexiglass for our last house. I never thought of having anything actually welded but it is the route I am going to take. Thanks for suggesting it. I don't weld and have never taken any welding classes so I would have never in a million years thought of using metal anything. Tell me what you think of this idea- I wait until a neighbor gets a delivery of a refrigerator or freezer and places the box out for the recyclers. I grab the box and use it to create a template of the shape of the pond. I can give the metal fabricators my cardboard template and tell them to create sides that are 6" high and weld some sort of 1" grating to the top of that and then add a handle or grip on each end so that my husband and I can lift it off together. Does this sound ok? I am not going to weld anything or take classes. I am too afraid of torching myself.
