Ponds & Streams Using Flexible Liner | Dig & Create Levels

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Tools Required ...

Spade shovel, level, straight edge, pegs 60cm long, trowel, lump hammer.

Materials Required ...

Sand, cement, pond liner, edging stone, 4inch concrete blocks.

Decisions Required ...

1) Site and aspect and details of design. 2) Are you going to face the inside of the pond with rockery stone, building stone or wood or nothing?

Method ...

1) Lay down a rope or hose pipe to mark the pond shape.

2) Cut and remove the turf.

3) Dig out the first 22cm down from the required level of the water, this will be the level of the marginal shelf.

4) Dig out a further 25cm leaving a ledge in the required places around the edge. Better to have more marginal shelf than you think is necessary. The width of the marginal shelf should be 12 inches plus the width of a 4 inch concrete block, plus the width of any stone facing inside of the liner.

The liner account for this when sizing up the liner.

5) If the soil from the second dig looks like lifeless subsoil, make sure it is kept separate from the top soil.

6) Using pegs marked for the required depth of the pond, bang them in level around the pond, and dig down to the marks. If there is going to be a paved pond surround, then the proposed water level should be the thickness of the paving below the turf or soil.

7) The concrete blocks are laid on the marginal shelf level with the pegs to form the skeleton of the pond. Once laid, on a normal 3:1 cement mix, they will define the final water level.

8) When the blocks have set, dig out a footing for any paving. The depth will depend on how much traffic (human or otherwise) is expected.