Ok, I'm officially starting on my sess pool, I mean pond, renovation! Here are the two links to previous discussions and pictures if you're interested:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/461746/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/485491/
As of right now, the water is draining. If my pump batteries hold up, I hope to have it all drained tonight. If not, I will get batteries tomorrow and finish up. Then comes bagging all those nasty leaves and figuring how to clean all the dirt out of the bottom. I hope to be done with that by the end of the weekend b/c I need to measure the crack in the bottom so I know how much Raycrete to order. So after I get that stuff, I'll patch the crack. Then I will paint in that liquid liner stuff y'all told me about. So all of this is based on the suggestions in the previous posts! :)
I'm excited if ya can't tell!!!
Jamie
Here we go!
First things first (you'll know why in a minute)...
Here is the murky nastiness that is my pond water right now...
This is standing on the north side of the pond facing south. You can see all the leaves I have raked up on to the shelf and some out onto the ground by the pond.
You may also notice the 2 hydrangea, hosta and caladium I put out there. Yes, a true gardener, I already started landscaping it!
And from the other direction...
My husband started on the patio we are going to put on the north side of the pond. I dug out a bunch of bricks and he dug out the dirt. We will fill it with decomposed granite and then lay pavers he is making himself. In fact, you can see 2 of them in the picture. After adding all the costs of the materials, it won't be much cheaper than buying pavers pre-made, but he just loved making his own forms and designing the shape that I don't have the heart to tell him. But making 3 pavers at a time means we won't have the patio done as quickly as I'd like. Oh well, as long as he is enjoying himself... and they do look really cool to me! :)
And here is an upclose of the pump. There are no less than 2,000 mosquitoes flying around that nasty stuff! On that note, better go make sure my pump hasn't gotten clogged with Magnolia leaves. Blah! I will post pictures as things progress and hopefully have some fabulous "after" photos to post in a brand new thread!
Jamie
That is one SERIOUS case of 'leaf-itis'!!! LOL! Good luck.
Yep... I see lots and lots of lawn bags in my future. LOL!
Yes Pixy, it is a very pretty tree! It is as tall as my mature live oaks and it was obvioulsy pruned to grow as a tree. A lot of southern magnolias, in this area anyway, seem to be left to grow naturally which means they have branches all the way to the ground and look like huge shrubs. Mine has a canopy and all that- I had it pruned to thin out the canopy. Anyway, I have not stayed on top of the leaves so it's been about a year since we cleaned all the leaves out. I think if I skim the pond every couple of days with a net, it will be fine. And in the fall/winter when it really starts dumping on me I will put a net over the pond. What I hate is that the leaves are so waxy that they just don't break down! Some of those leaves I cleaned out last night were at the bottom of the pond submerged in water for the better part of a year. They were no where close to breaking down!
Yep- those nasty mosquitoes LOVE to chew on me for some reason. :)
Well, I'd sacrifice a lot of time cleaning leaves for a beautiful southern magnolia! The smell alone is worth the trouble. My worst leaves are from the laurels. Not as waxy as the magnolia, for sure, but they do take forever to break down. I've taken to netting them so they don't clog the skimmer. Seems to work. I also put in a bottom drain and it really helps keep the bottom clear of large debris.
Good luck with the cleaning and the repair!
Thanks Pixy! "Trash trees" are a blessing and a curse I guess. :)
Looks like alot of work, But ohhhhh so worth it. Just got our patio and walk in, will be laying sod tomorrow. I cant wait to get the mud out of the front yard. I just put a mag in and I'm making it a tree, not a big bush, its far from the pond, I did think of that, but I do have a mountain ash that is over the pond, bright red berries in the fall. Thankfuly the robins eat most of them before they find my pond... errrr.
Looking forward to the progress, and lots of pics..
Viv
Thanks Viv- we just layed sod several weeks ago... looks like we are on opposite "project" schedules huh? :) Don't know if you have ever done it before, we hadn't, but it was not NEAR as bad as I thought it would be- laying sod that is! My issue with that magnolia is more about the fact that they put it MAYBE 8 feet from the house! Then crammed a 6 foot wide (approximate) pond between the two. So I am making due with what I have been given. It was a beautifully, professionally, installed pond, obviously. It's too "symmetrical," even and perfect to be a DIY project. So I hated to fill it in.
As of today I have as much water suctioned out as I can get. I have about 4 inches left in there. Now I just have to get in there in my husband's big rubber boots and bag up leaves before we can get the rest of the water out. I have bagged about 10 bags full already- from all around the outside of the pond and from the inside. I dragged as much as I could up onto the shelves and let them dry out, then bagged. Now I need to bite the bullet and just get in there. BLAH! :)
Just a little update. I got all the leaves bagged last night and as much of the mud and murk as I could get. My husband took a picture of me doing that which was funny, but somehow I named a daylily picture with that description instead and I can't find the actual picture. Oh well.
Anyway, we got to rinsing the pond out this morning with the jet setting on the water hose attachment. We shoveled out as much mud as we could. For the rest of it, we just left the sump pump going while we kept hosing down to the deep end of the pond and we scrubbed it all down with a deck brush.
I will attach a few pictures now.
Here is Abe hosing it all down.
Here is a shot from inside the pond with it all cleaned out.
Here is the shocker so far. First of all, we have never gotten it this clean before. We have drained it with the pump before and gotten out the leaves, and felt along the bottom of it for damage. But we have never gotten all the DIRT out and really gotten a look at the bottom.
As you can see, there IS no crack! We felt the two holes you see at the far edges of the picture, but there is no crack joining them like we thought we felt. Based on the two almost identical holes at suspiciously well-spaced locations, and the "scarring" on the concrete, we think it was intentional! Knowing the dork who used to live here, I can just see him getting sick of the water in the sess pool and thinking a few holes knocked in the bottom is "good enough." Heaven forbid he do the entire job and just get rid of it by filling it in! You can even see another place where it looked like he tried to do a 3rd hole. We felt roots in the holes so we just assumed the magnolia roots had made their way up and cracked it. Not so! These are just roots that grew into a hole that was PUT in the pond. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that tree has affected the pond structurally.
Now that we know this, we are just going to fill in the 2 holes with concrete and paint that epdem liner in. If the hole patching fails at some point, we will use the Raycrete at that time. Since you don't have to drain the water or even remove fish to use Raycrete, it shouldn't be a big deal. But at this point it just doesn't seem necessary.
So far, only GOOD surprises!
Here is a close up of one hole.
And the other one... see what I mean? They are the same size, shape and depth. And each at the outter edge of a curve.
Hope y'all aren't sick of this and at least one person is enjoying seeing the progress. Or better yet, I hope it can help someone else in the future!
Oh Jamie, what a gorgeous pond structure! I have visions of cobalt blue tile in my head. LOL Someone did a really nice job putting that in. I am curious about the little rocks around the ledge. Are they poured in or just sitting there? That is going to be so cool when you get it done. I love the shape of it and how the plant ledge goes all the way around. You keep posting pics.
Thanks Chele! Well, I found THE PERFECT cobal blue urn/pot yesterday with Staci (sweezel) to make my fountain out of, but it was $189! Right scale, right shape, about 3 feet tall, already had a hole in the bottom. . I'll keep shopping. :) But Abe said he didn't mind if I got it since it's "perfect" but he wanted me to PLEASE wait until we get it all up and running. Ok, ok. Geez. LOL! The rocks were set into the concrete around the edges. A few have come loose but for the most part they are secured in place. That is why I was struggling on what to do about a liner! I can't very well pull up those rubber kind over those rocks! But now I know you can get the paint on kind. Good stuff.... I hope. Ha.
What a crazy thing for someone to do! Drill holes in the bottom of a pond? I can't imagine anyone thinking that was a good idea, but I agree it looks purposefull. I am really enjoying your progress! Thanks for sharing.
Well, here's the thing. From what I know of the guy, he would not want to be bothered with the upkeep of a pond. Especially one under a big dumping magnolia. So, rather than go the extra mile and have it filled in if he didn't want to deal with it, this guy would think it was a good idea to jack hammer a few holes in the bottom thinking it would allow rain water to drain. As I have witnessed, and as you can imagine, in places like Texas standing water is a BIG no-no. In fact, you can get fined for it. The mosquitoes are just unreal. So he could not have just left it "as is." You either maintain the pond or you fill it in. Period. He took the lazy way out and just tried to make it where it would at least stay empty of water. I mean, who cares if you have a big concrete HOLE in your yard, right? After seeing some of the horrible short cuts he took in the way of plumbing and electrical "fixes," this just doesn't surprise me! I am going to ask my neighbors if they know anything about it. They have lived in their house for almost 30 years so they would know. Most of the stories I know of this guy are from them! In 80+ years we are only the 5th owners and it was never a rental. They said the Wheelers had the pond put in in the 80s and this guy bought it from them. So he's the one I blame. LOL! :)
Sheesh! Who would have thought! But those holes do look like they were done on purpose. The pond itself is beautifully done! The shape is great, so it's going to be beautiful when you get done! Visions of tropical paradise dance in my head!
I know what you mean about buying a house from a shortcut- taker with little brain! When we bought our house it had been owned by only one family, built in 1964. They had built a greenhouse (yes, that's right), onto the master bedroom. They had used the most beautiful clear fir I've ever seen, and it was hard as nails. Can't get wood like that anymore. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no ventilation at all. The bedroom felt like Houston during the summer! And smelled even worse! There was also no slope to the floor for drainage, so let's talk rot. Plus carpenter ants.
Anyway, you have my sympathy!
But that pond is going to be gorgeous!
Oh how beautiful!
Its gunna be so cool when it gets refilled
Good luck with your poject, looking forward to your after shots. The problem with those magnolia trees is they lose their leaves all year long. At least around here, we can put netting over our pond in late October and remove it in March. Would it just be too crazy to somehow suspend a net up in the tree itself to catch the leaves right over the pond?
"A big concrete hole in your yard"!! How funny, how horrible!! I knew you had a pond that needed work, but that phrase is just cracking me up this morning! When we moved in, hubby wanted to get some "boulders" for the yard. When I asked how big, he said at least as big as the car!! Arrrggh! Needless to say, we don't have any boulders. Can you imagine boulders like that in a city lot? Good thing he didn't know about concrete holes. He'd have wanted one for sure.
Pixydish- YIKES! What a mess! I have looked at many, many things in and around this house and shook my head saying "why Ray, why?" BTW- Ray was the lazy DIY guy.
Earthwormlover- that is exactly right! They dump leaves, cone/seedpods, and this pollen looking stuff ALL YEAR! Yes, it's worse in the fall/winter, but still. Funny you should say that about the net in the tree. Back somewhere in the other 2 threads I have on this topic I mentioned that exact thing. That was my husband's idea- to put a really fine netting material IN the tree under the canopy. He will need a really tall ladder though. We'll work that out at some point. I bet it will involve Jamie and a lot of manual labor via the use of a swimming pool net. :)
Sylvi- My neighbor Ron told me this morning that he thinks Ray's main use for his concrete hole was a trash can for him and his buddies to throw beer cans in. You might be a redneck if.... :) Oh, this is the same guy who was all into hunting and used to hang and bleed his deer in the driveway!!! Gross! Well I'm glad you were able to stop your husband from bringing in the boulders. Good grief! Ha!
Sounds like a plan.
Texasgarden,
I hope you called the shop in Forney and told them to hold the big blue pot! When hubby is in agreement, you just can't pass up such a good thing.
Wow Jamie, you guys have been doing some work. I guess looking for the pot Saturday was a bit of encouragement. :) It looked like a nice little pond when seeing it dirty, but with it empty and clean, you can really imagine what it is going to look like all done. Fabulous!
Nope, I didn't call. I don't know the risk of them selling out or if they replace that stuff. They had a BUNCH of the glazed ceramic in all shapes and sizes so I'm sure it will be fine. I have 2 other places to check this week and if I don't find anything then I'm going back to Forney.
Thanks Staci! :) We had been draining it all week. Saturday when I got home we went to Home Depot and got a bunch of big trash bags and a big trash can for outside. I dragged it down in the pond and started bagging. As an added bonus, I got the nice nasty muddy stuff out of the bottom and tossed it in my flower beds. There was no less than 1,000 earthworms that I could not throw in the trash. LOL!
Anyway, finding that urn was great incentive so now I am fighting my ADHD like crazy and MAKING myself dig out that dirt. As incentive, Abe said he won't start mixing the concrete to patch those holes until he sees me well underway on the digging project. Probaby a good idea! But that part should be all done this weekend. I am ordering my paint in liner stuff this afternoon. Woo hoo!
Woo hoo is right! So there was a plus to the murk, besides breeding 1000s of mosquitos, you bred a 1000 earthworms! And those darn husband's with their ultimatums, like they think they can keep us in line. Hrmmph....
Ha! So true! With one look I would have that boy saying "ok, ok I'll go mix up some concrete." :0)
I didn't know earthworms would live and breed like that underwater but I guess they do. My biggest fear was some sort of dead animal being in that mess or better yet, a snake! Ahhhh!!!!
Wow, it looks great just like I knew it would!!! And I am so jealous about the earthworms. I have been meaning to order a bunch and just haven't gotten around to it yet.
At the rate you're going, bet you will be going to Forney this weekend. :-)
Well Terrie I would have put some in a container for you if I would have known that! Would that cross the line? It's bad enough we meet for lunch and bring each other plants. Would worms be too much? :)
We'll see how it goes. I need to get a better square footage number tonight before I order the liquid epdem liner. It's too expensive to risk ordering way more than I need. But they have a TWO WEEK backlog right now so I really want to get my order in ASAP.
I found that picture Abe took of me while I was digging out all that gunk. Ha! I cannot believe I am sharing this one!
