Need Advice On pond

I started digging a hole for a pond during our drought. Then it rained and the hole would not dry up in order to dig it deeper.
So I put cross ties around the pond area ----2 high----so the water would be deeper.
Some of the cross ties have splinters.
Could I put a double layer of roofing felt on the inside of the cross ties so it doesnt damage my liner? will roofing felt work?


heres a picture of the pond under construction.
I plan to paint the cross ties gray and making it look like concrete blocks.
Hoping to morter rock it later in the future.

I don't have an answer to your question about roofing felt. It seems like that would work. There is also pond liner underlayment available. Would that be sufficient? I do have a question about the cross ties. Are they chemically treated in any way? If so, any contact with pond water could be a problem, as well as any adjacent plant material. If they have been creosote treated than any plant material or grass etc. they come in contact with will not grow. There is also a risk of hydrostatic pressure from ground water to bubble up the bottom of the liner. This I do know for certain - It would be important to make sure that the bottom of the liner will always be above the water table.

The pond liner is goin to cover the cross ties and wrap over the top ledge. Surely the krescote wont seep through the roofing felt and the pond liner. The top ledge will be capped with painted 2x6s. The cross ties are old. Grass use to grow around them nicely.
The pond has a 16 inch deep shelf on both sides for water plants.
There will be no flowering plants around the outside of the pond. Just Grass.
I have water lilies, umbrella plants, cat tail, water hyacinth, frog bite, and few other plants for the inside the pond. I have 7 Koi, 10 goldfish, and about 50 baby gold fish. I have other smaller ponds that are too small for my fish.
There will be some weeping willows and mimosas 20 feet from the pond.
The pond will hold 4300 gallons of water.
Purchasing a solar powered 2000gph pump with filter and fountain.

I already have roofing felt and did not want to purchase pond liner underlayment if I don't have to. I live from paycheck to paycheck.
It has been raining about every three days. I was digging the whole with a tractor and box blade. With the rain in the hole---its muddy and cannot get the tractor in the whole. Away from the muddy area is so hard you cannot dig it with a shovel. It is like rock. I do not know what the water table is. I only know it stays wet and muddy during rain season.

That is going to be a nice pond. As long as the water doesn't rise up from the water table under the liner things should be ok. As for the creosote, it is not good for plants or fish at any concentration. Roofing felt has a 20 year life span, so my contractor friend tells me. It is also treated with chemicals so be careful how you use it. No contact with water or plants. Please post pictures. It sounds like it will be spectacular.
I understand the rain thing. It is pouring as I post. We have already been declared a federal disaster area from flooding twice in the last 15 days. Today will be another. My ponds are overflowing at this moment. I expect the koi to be swimming up by the back door momentarily. LOL

heres a closer up picture of the pond under construction.
that small mud puddle is keeping me from operating the tractor.
The center depth will be about 26 inches.
The front yard is so big that it makes the pond look small too.

Yeah buddy, big front yard is right. Those of us with small suburban lots have a huge case of land envy. Just watch that water table. You absolutely do not want water under the liner pushing it up. Hydrostatic pressure is relentless. No amount of water on top of the liner will hold it down. Can you go up another cross tie maybe? If the ground you were working with wasn't so hard I would suggest digging a few explorations around the area to see where the water table normally is. Is there a local governmental sewer or engineering office you could contact? They know the geology and ground water situation well and should be glad to advise you on what local conditions are. I have seen full ponds with the liner pushed to the surface from water below. It isn't pretty.

well oopsy---if the pond starts rising---guess i get to go fishing.
It should be ok. My other pond has not floated yet and its preformed and in the ground. small one too.
I do not have any more cross ties left to add another layer.----Not only that but I already have my pond liner and it is not big enough to make the pond deeper. The liner is only 20x30.

That is good news. The standing water is most likely a drainage issue and not ground water. A high water table is not something you can do much about. Poor drainage is a nuisance but not lethal. The preformed pond sounds like it is sitting above any ground water. Facing the ties with rock is a neat idea. That should be very attractive. Is there a good supply of native stone laying around that you will scavage or are you going to a quarry or stone yard? I laid quite a bit of flagstone the last two years and mortared flagstone on one set of steps. It is hard work, made worse by the fact that I had absolutely no experience. There is no easy supply of native stone here. You have to buy it. So, we had to do it a little at a time as the budget could stand it. You are going to have quite a show piece when it is all done. The willow will be really nice in that setting.

The pic is the last stone project I did, a front walk.

thats a beautiful rock walk.

we have tons of native rocks. Free. You can fill the truck up in 30 minutes.

I still have alot to do to get the pond ready before i can place the liner in. I still have to buy my pond pump, filter and fountain for it. I probly wont get around to actually facing the rock on until next year. Til then, I will collect the rock. It should take 4 pick up loads. I dread scratching up the truck bed. I might put an old bed liner in it for hauling rock. Its a new truck.

Consider yourself very lucky with the rock. Imagine paying 25 cents a pound for it, and that is the cheap stuff. A bed liner is a pretty good idea. A neighbor uses old carpet. He doesn't leave it in all the time, just for the rough stuff. Rocks will scratch and dent stuff up in a hurry. What have you chosen for filtration?

Using a 2000 gph pump with heavy duty prefilter.
Only getting one of those for now. I will get another one later. The pump is $70.
I was thinking about putting a birthbath fountain in when I get my next pump/filter.

I have to cut my 2x4s today that go on the outside at each cross tie joint. This evening we are painting everything gray. Tomorrow I will start putting the roofing felt and carpet on then by tomorrow evening we can set the liner. If all goes well.
The 2x4s will stick out further than the cross ties of course so I will be putting a 2x8 cap on top instead of 2x6s. And the cross ties are not all the same widths so I will have to make some wedges so the entire 2x8 top runs together smoothly. Some cross ties are 1/2" thicker than others.
It will take me a month to get it set up with pump cause I still have to buy some electrical wiring and outdoor outlet.
STill have to dig my trench to run the wiring. I havent measured it yet but its about a 150-175 foot distance.
Digging the trench shouldnt be too hard cause I have a tractor with boxblade that has individual teeth. I just leave one tooth on the box blade and dig a trench.
I will be doing all this myself. The only thing hubby has to do is use the paint sprayer to paint it all----I will roll paint the 2x8s before they are set on top. Hubby will do the electrical work and he will help me set the pond liner.

We have table saws, generators, air guns, air compressor, paint sprayers. So the actual job is easy just time consuming. Its a shame I dont have a concrete mixer. I will probly put a gully layer of concrete around the bottom edge of the cross ties to prevent water from flowing under the liner. I will have to mix that in a wheel barrell.

So --the next 4 weeks is goin to be busy.

My hat is off to any gal who operates a tractor with digging equipment. I thought I was special because I laid around 9 tons of flagstone by myself (2 ponds, 1 raised bird pool with fountain, 1 patio and three walkways). Turns out I don't have anything on you. LOL We (hubby & I ) do the electrical stuff sort of together but I am mostly an assistant in that department. I really look forward to seeing your pond come together. I hope you can find the time to take some pictures as you progress and post them. This forum constantly amazes me with the number of competant capable women who accomplish big projects. Looks like you are one of em.

I got ahead of myself last night.
A few hours after hubby painted the cross ties---I was putting roofing felt around the inside of the cross ties.
Before I knew it--I was laying carpet in the bottom and put 6 layers of tarp on top of that right at dark 30. Hubby was impatient to lay the pond liner. So we pulled all three pick up trucks up to the pond after dark and turned the head lights on. The pond liner was in by 9 pm.

I couldnt sleep last night---thinking about filling that pond today.
I got up this morning, fixed a few wrinkles in the pond liner---now its filling up.
I will not tack down the pond liner until it fills up. Then I will cut the excess pond liner off and tack it down.
I will go today and get my 2x10s for the top ledge. I will paint them before I put them in place. It should take 11 2x10s.

I have a very similar pond to yours and I built an arbor over it to provide some shade for the fish. You may not have as hot temperatures as Ok. has but the water heats up a lot here without some shade, and it always takes the water lilies and other plants a while to get going good.

I will be planting some weeping willows and mimosas to help shade the pond in the future. Til then---floating water plants will have to do. Frogbite, Water Hyacinth, and Water lettuce and the leaves on the water lilies.
Trying to find some fairy moss.
If it gets too extremely hot, I have a 65% shade cloth that is 16x16 foot.
It rarely gets above 100 degrees here. Mostly 95 to 99.

Well, I never got around to buying 2x10s today. Spent 8 1/2 hours filling the pond up with water and potting up baby water lillies and a few other pond plants.

This pond really looks small in the middle of my 2 acre front yard. It would look like a mud hole in the middle of the 8 acre back yard. I just want ponds every where.

painting the 2x10s

putting the 2x10s on top ledge.
Have to make a few adjustments before they get nailed on.

a distant view-----with 7 yr old chad walking around with the pond liner box over his head.

whole front yard under construction.

I love Chad, the walking pond ornament. Coming together very, very nicely. I thought you posted this would take four weeks? You are moving pretty fast! I like the way the cross ties look painted, from the photos less like wood and almost like block stone. Are you sure you want to go to the trouble of rocking them over? They look good as is. Would rocking them over might make it cooler though or warmer, if either is an issue?

I agree with Snapple that it looks good just the way it is. I like the top ledge you put on, it looks lke a good place to sit and enjoy the pond. Please keep posting the pics as I know it is going to be wonderful when you get it done! Since it is above ground and square you could either plant as a formal or naturalistic pond and then change it around if you wanted to. :)

I still haven't bought my water fountain yet. I did order 60 water hyacinths and some water lettuce. The Electrical and Fountain is what will take so long to complete. $$$$$$$
With the cross ties being painted, and 70% covered, I am goin to try growing some cannas in a few spots to hide the rough damaged cross ties. If they do badly then I will remove them. Just an experiment.
I planted my 2 willows and 2 mimosas yesterday. They do not show up in photo cause they are just 4 foot tall twiggy sticks for now. The company that shipped them trimmed all their leaves off and trimed most of the roots. I was disappointed. The trees are planted 13 feet from each corner of the pond.
My plan is to have my own botanical garden in the front yard.
The very front yard has a circle drive shaped kinda like a Triangle. The drive is 200ft x 230 ft x road frontage of 230 ft. Thats just the drive area.
In that triangle is where I am putting the botanical garden with at least 3 water gardens hopefully. Down one side of the drive is differant colored Crape Myrtles.
Then there is about 75ft to 100 ft of road frontage to each side of the circle drive. One side already has a mini orchard of young apples, plums, figs, pears, cherries, peaches, and mature grapes and blueberries.
The other side of the circle drive is my greenhouse business.
Water Gardening is just a hobby ---for now.



Partial Picture view across the front yard--Early Spring--

This picture is of the back yard. The back yard is 70% clear land and 8 acres. We want to have a Large Pond dug for Bass, brim, Catfish filled with Water Lilies and Cattails. That will take a long while.

Cricket you will do fine with the ties this is my front pond. We have had it for 9 yrs or so. Just make sure the ties are covered at top with the liner.

I have heard that an inexpensive way to line your new pond is by going to your local capet place and asking for there garbage line the pond with it. We are going to try it with our new pond. Approx 6000 - 7000 gallans I think.
7'X27'X4'deep. And i know exactly what you mean by the rain as you can see in this picture. Just us your pump to keep it pumped out it will dry so you can work again. This pond was half full from the lost rains. Wish it had been ready with the liner in. That was a good rain. Good luck and I will be watching to see how it goes.

As said above GIRL POWER. I love tractor and am a power tool nut, just ask my hubby.

Hey, CricketsGarden, that is going to be an amazing place. Please keep posting. Posters here on DG will likely be saying, "I knew about that when place they first began".

Also I have a serious case of land envy, here on my suburban 70 x 140 lot. LOL

I have just enough cross ties left to build a 5x30x 3 feet deep pond. That is a project for Sept if the rains let me.
I have more fish than I thought and they will spawn again come spring.

nwmedic------thanks for the info. Thats goin to be a nice new pond . Like your old one too. lol its a small version of mine.

fish---what you can see of them.

Cricket nice variety. They will be so gorgeous when they grow up. And you have gave them plenty of growing room. Too take Pictures of mine I feed them. The little pigs always come up for food. Actually they come up and time they see someone out there. PIGS PIGS I tell ya. Good Luck. and cant wait to see the new one too.