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 This was the fourth day in our new house - the big dig had begun! The digger was provided by our old next door neighbours in Bournemouth, S Francis Groundworks and this was the first pond they have ever dug or built! As Andy knew what had to be done and at what stage he was on site all the time directing the progress - when not in the garden he was decorating!! The "swimming pool" in the background is the home for the fish for the time being - the grey tank above and to the side is a Nexus filter ("wheelie bin" as refered to by Peter Waddington) which will cope with the filtration of the pool for the time being. We seeded this filter with media from our old pond which meant the there was bacteria present as soon as we switched the system on allowing the biological side of the filtration it to mature just that little bit quicker. The topsoil was kept for a later date to the side of the garden ready for the landscaping at the end of the project.
The depth of the pond is to be about seven foot so allowing for the two layers of the thick concrete base, the pond was dug to about eight or nine foot using a laser level system to ensure a constant level was attained, as the garden slopes off towards the bottom of the garden (about two foot difference). Neighbours got a bit of a shock when they saw this gaping hole!
About halfway dug on the second day of digging. We were a bit worried about the root system from the large willow at the side but surprisingly enough there was only one small root branch off from the main stem which was cut back and will not cause a problem in the future. Normally one of the biggest expenses is getting rid of the earth, or in this case the mix of sand and clay as this would normally cast around £120.00 per 12 ton lorry to dispose of. We disposed of 12 lorry loads but managed to find someone local who was building a BMX course and needed the soil to built the jumps and mounds, so the only cost incurred by us was the cost of the driver and the hire of the vehicle - considerably less then dumping it! Some of the sub-soil was kept to level the garden off before the retained top-soil is put down and seeded.
Day four - digging now finished on the main pond area and in went the polythene membrane and the steel mesh to reinforce the concrete base of the pond prior to the ready mix arriving the next day. We had ordered two loads so that there was no way the base would not be thick enough. As the house is built on clay and sand we went a bit over the top on the strength side due to the contraction and expansion of clay based soils. We also had strengthening fibres added to the ready mix - just in case.
The first load of concrete is delivered and spread out over the steel mesh reinforcing the second load closely followed and the whole area was raked over to provide a good adhesion layer when the blocks are laid on top. The base of the waterfall was also laid with remaining concrete left over from the second lorry load. This can be seen just in front of the "swimming pool".
Day five - All set and ready for the blocks to be laid just waiting for the first delivery of blocks. We managed to get hold of the highest spec newton block (normally used in prison walls, bank vaults and lift shafts) these will be laid at the base of the wall where the pressure would be the greatest. These will be laid flat to add to the strength and depth of the walls. Single upright blocks would not be capable of containing the outward pressure of the tons of water the finished pond will hold.
The blocks are delivered directly into the pond base by one of our customers Brian Reed who is the owner/driver of the lorry. Thanks to his skill, this makes it much easier for the brickies to handle as they do not then have to pass the heavy blocks down to the pond base ready for laying.
The brickwork begins! Blocks are laid on their side to add to the strength of the walls and directly on to the base concrete. Laser level can be seen in the centre of the picture to ensure the walls are exactly the same level all round as the garden slopes towards the bottom. Andy has started to arrange and connect the pipework and bottom drains to go to the filters. The bottom drains and pipework will eventually be encased in the next layer of concrete in the base.
Pipes in place for the filter ready to connect to the bottom drains. Four filters will be fitted to cope with the approx 18,000 gallons of water to be able to work efficiently, hence four bottom drains and the four pipes.
Bottom drains in position and being connected to the filter pipes. Inlet pipes are now positioned on back wall ready to be bricked in. These are set at an angle so that the returned water from the filter will create a clockwise circular current of water at mid level allowing constant movement and flow around the pond, this ensures that there are no "dead" areas of water at all and also assists the bottom drains to work as efficiently as possible as any debris will be carried to them to go to the filters. The shape of the pond and careful positioning of the bottom drains were designed to allow this.
The walls are built and two places are left for the fitting of two skimmers which will situated at the surface of the water to collect any floating debris such as leaves and dust. These will not be working all the time and will only be used as needed especially in the Autumn as the leaves fall off the numerous trees around the garden.
Skimmer in position and final layer of blocks to finish the shelf around the top of the pond. This shelf will be below water level and landscaped natural rocks placed so they are sitting in the water creating a natural finish. This is still a long way off completion.
Waterfall has now been built and the shelf has been finished around the top of the pond. This has been plumbed in so that the flow can be turned off so as not to annoy the neighbours or can run like Niagra falls when you have a barbeque!!! Ladder was essential item as it was removed during the day so that the brickies could not escape until the required amout of work was done!
The whole pond has now been rendered after the final laver of concrete had been poured. The top of the bottom drains can now be seen and all the pipework had been covered and sealed in. The whole pond will be fibreglassed in the spring as we ran out of good weather to be able to get it done.
One job we needed to do was to put in some sort of soakaway to take care of the water discharged from the filter when it is cleaned out as we do not have any mains drainage and the quantities of water discharged would mean it would not be possible to be passed into the septic tank. A three metre chamber was built at the lowest point of the garden and three concrete rings were laid on top of each other with the gaps around back filled with coarse stones to allow an even distibution of water leakage. Not an ideal way of getting rid of the water but the only option open to us.
The "Naughty Boy" chamber in progress!
After putting in the chamber, a discharge pipe was run from the filters.
The final stage for this year was to get the base in for the filters as the weather was now closing in meaning we could not get any more work done as the downpours started!
The final view of 2009. Pond now filling up nicely!! Too much rain!
The first view of 2010 now follows. As the weather was so extremely cold we ordered some hay bales to put around the Koi's temporary home just to give some sort of insulation to the water as temperatures plunged to -8 degrees. We also lagged the external Nexus filter with polywrap and an old duvet, and put a tarpaulin over most of the top to keep the snow out. Ice on the pond which was now nearly half full measured about 4" thick note the water comes up to the inlet pipes!.
Heres to a decent spring and bumper hot summer!!!
PART TWO!!!
Now the better weather has returned and all the water has been pumped out of the pond and allowed to totally dry out we have had various quotes for fibreglassing the inside of the pond. We decided on buying the raw materials from GRPMS ourselves and getting a few lads from a well known local "Luxury Motor Yacht Company" to do the work! The Koi seem to have weathered the extremely cold temperatures of the winter and are now feeding well - must feel like a hot tub to them at the moment!
FLAMING JUNE! Literally!!
The pond was well and truly dry and any loose rendering which was affected by the ice was removed and patched over and the whole pond was literally "hoovered" to remove any loose material and dust (another use for a Dyson). We were all set for a weekend start with the preparations starting on the Friday night - delivery of the materials were in two parts on the Thursday and the remainder on the Friday. The forcast had changed for the weekend at the last moment with showers arriving on Sunday morning - not good news but they had been wrong numerous weeks before so the lads turned up at 7am on Saturday and began work in earnest.
Firstly the bottom of the pond was fibreglassed with extra attention paid to the adhesion of the fibreglass to the bottom drains - sandpaper and an etching solution was used to create a "rough" surface for it to bond to. The pond was "painted" in sections first to effectively "seal" the concrete and the matting was laid down quickly afterwards as the resin had to be tacky for the matting to stick to, and a further coat of resin was painted on top. This was continued all around the top of the pond and also laid vertically on the walls, yet again the etching solution and sandpaper was used on the inlet pipes and plates and also on the skimmer returns so that there was a rough surface for the fibreglass to bond to.(Looks like Prayers were also said!)
Care was taken fibreglassing around the skimmers ( yes, you have guessed it sandpaper and etching solution again!). The skimmers will be and important part of the pond as the leaves begin to fall in the Autumn, as they will effectively skim off the surface layer of water to remove the vast majority of the the leaves so they will not go through the filter pumps and block them.
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At this stage it was late into the afternoon and the intention was to complete the fibreglassing that day ready for the gel coat on the Sunday. Needless to say the lads worked well into the evening and eventually left at 10pm that night! The following morning the lads arrived at 7am and began to sand down the now hardened surface to get rid of any "spikes" left from the resin lifting any loose fibres of the matting, this is essential otherwise the fish could damage themselves by rubbing on the side of the pond, some of the spikes were like little knives! After carefully sanding the lads started in earnest applying the gel coat. We decided on black as the colour, you could choose any colour really, but black seems to make the colours of the Koi stand out more.
Gel coat finished and left to cure. This took the lads well into the evening, and they had to come back the next day and go over a couple of areas where the gel had not quite penetrated the matting layer, however the whole process was carried out with the minimum of problems! The new fence from the next door neighbour also looks better!
The next stage was to get a quote for the Purbeck stone which was to run round the top ledge of the pond, but the big problem was how to work out how to locate the stone on the other side. Brian Reed who delivered the blocks for the wall construction came round to have a look to see if the crane on the back of his lorry would reach round to the other side. After careful consideration he decided that with the help of a couple of short scaffold poles to "roll" the rock around that rim that he might just be able to manage it, but we would have to get the earth which we were keeping for landscaping and levelling out of the way to make room for the lorry. The local farmer volunteered to remove this (for a price!) as he needed to level off one of his fields!
With this decided Andy went down to Landers quarry in Wareham to have a look at the different stone on offer. He left details of what size stones (length and width and depth) he wanted and these were selected and wieghed to get a price to include delivery. The date was arranged! After waiting until 9pm for the stone to be delivered it eventually turned up two hours late with the driver claiming a mechanical fault with the lorry on loading! Andy was a bit worried when the first pallet load was swung round over the pond and the strapping broke. Luckily it had just passed over the pond and landed with a thud with just inches to spare from the side of the pond - Andy then insisted it be swung over to the other side which would take longer due to the Willow being in the way but this was a safer route! Sorry about the dark pics but it was late!
Andy checked the strapping on the rest of the load just to make sure, not the safest of lorries or equipment but at least it had arrived! Brian was to come round the next day to start putting the stone around the top so we could not put off the unloading.
The next day all the stone was ready to be swung into position around the top of the pond and Brian duly arrived for duty.
Andys mate John Applebee came round to give a hand with positioning the stone on the far side of the pond as it would take two people to move the scaffold rollers while the stone was rolled along and round the shelf, a bit like moving the giant stones for the pyramids! After a few hair-raising moments all the stone was in position and as there were a few left these were placed round the outside of the pond ready for some planting. We even have a "Flintstone" table and chairs under the willow, although the birds and pheasants use it for a feeding station!.
Andy started levelling the stones around the pond by levering them up with a fencing spike and I had the task of putting smaller stones underneath to build the level up. Good job I trust him, otherwise I would have been pinned by the arms under the stones (I also checked that the life insurance was up to date!). Now the job was the planting of some of the trees and shrubs which came with us from our old house and placing some of the Japanese Lanterns.
The next week we had some rain which gave the pond a bit of a washout as there were a load of stone chips and earth in the bottom, this would have to be pumped out before we filled it, but it is now looking more like a pond and not a hole in the ground. All we need to do now is fill it!
As October passed and the weather deteriorated we decided to make sure all the pipework was in the right place and which pipes went to what and then just fill the pond. We still cant decide which filter system to use. It would be too late to install then now and have the filters "seeded" ready for the winter months. Just hope we have better weather than last year!
MAY 2011
NEWS! FISH ARE NOW IN THE POND
Picture taken from the waterfall late June. The rockery has been planted and it looks a bit more mature. Still deciding what filters to use and have looked at the 'Baki Showers' produced by 'Yume Koi' at Portishead and have now decided that two 5 tray filters and the 'bacteria house' special media is the most likely way to go, coupled with four sieves straight off the bottom drains, two going to each filter. This picture shows the four aerated bottom drains doing their job but without the filters the water is a bit green!!! Koi love it, but we have to watch out not to feed them too much as too much waste matter from the fish will pollute the water and create a 'protein foam' thus we have been replacing the water on a regular basis.
Picture taken from the decking at the back of the house towards the waterfall. The noise of the waterfall is quite relaxing on the odd evening when you can sit outside without getting soaked from the rain!!! The planting around the pond is maturing nicely and we are getting quite a few Martin's skimming the pond for insects, and two hatches of Mallard Ducks. Andy has now built a 'hide' at the bottom of the garden as we have a local Barn Owl which quarters the field most evenings looking for voles and mice to feed to its young.
On the subject of Voles, our stray shop cat 'Meers' (she was in the shop for six weeks and most of our local customers met her) is a dab hand at catching them, and mice!! After having her kittens (4) she has taken to hunting in the fields and coming back to the house and dropping the mice live in the dining room to further the kittens education!!! Unfortunately I do not like 'live' mice or Voles running about the house and picked them up for their own safety and release, only to get bitten several times in the process!!!
Believe it or not there are 4 'kitts' in the above picture - three black and white boys and one black girlie!! Two have now been re-homed with our bait dealer and we have kept one boy 'Mungo' and the girlie 'Midge' along with 'Meers' the mum. 'Paws'our older cat (who is now 13yrs old) is the typical 'grumpy old man' is a bit put out by the new additions (they keep nicking his food) but he is slowly coming to terms with the new additions, a few hissing fits etc!!!
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