|
How to Install Your Own Liner Pond - Liner
ponds are perfect for the veteran water gardener since they allow for greater
creativity. However, liner ponds call for some planning before you start. Before
you begin a liner pond undertaking, you should buy a pond liner that is a
suitable for your pond size. To find out the suitable liner size, it is
suggested that you use a pond liner calculator. You
should purchase an EPDM liner that is a minimum of 45 mil in thickness. EPDM
creates a stable liner that stays supple in temperatures that range from -40
degrees Fahrenheit to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike some pond liner materials,
it does not have any plasticizers that can become brittle with time. EPDM will
last a lot longer than other pond liner materials because it is resilient to the
damage caused by ultraviolet radiation, and it has good contraction and
expansion characteristics that allow it to conform to tree roots and rocks just
beneath the soil.
After you have designed your pond on a piece of paper and obtained all the
required materials, you are now ready to start. Begin by outlining the shape of
your pond on the ground using a garden hose or a rope.
Begin by shoveling out a
coping shelf. Follow the out line of your pond that you made with your garden
hose or shovel. The coping shelf will aid in holding the rockwork, boulder, and
the liner in place. The coping shelf ought to be about two inches deep and
sixteen to eighteen inches wide. You should use a square shovel to create your
coping shelf, as rounded and sharp-pointer shovels can cause small furrows in
your soil.
Once you are sure that your
coping shelf is level all the way around the pond, shovel out your bog shelf for
pond plants. The majority of ponds are created with shelves nine inches to
twelve inches lower then the water level. Next, the center or deepest part of
your pond should be shoveled out. The deep area of your pond ought to slope in
roughly twenty degrees.
Get your hole ready for your
liner by getting rid of roots and sharp stones. At this time, you have the
choice of lining the hole with pond underlay. Pond underlay is not required, but
does help to protect the liner from underneath. Liner underlay does not have to
be one single piece; therefore, you can use smaller pieces that overlapped each
other. You should tape smaller underlay pieces together in order to prevent the
pieces from moving around after you lay down your liner.
Your pond liner should be
laid-out with care into the hole that you have dug. Even though a forty-five-mil
liner is thick and strong, caution must be taken to ensure that your liner is
not punctured or damaged well you are installing it. Unlike your underlay, the
pond liner must be a single piece. Keep the pleating and folding of the pond
liner to a minimum, as folds trap debris and dirt. A pond liner should last for
at least forty years.
Next, fill your pond with
water. As you are filling your pond, turn off
your hose every so often to
smooth out any wrinkles in the pond liner. When you finish, filling your pond
cut off any extra liner, but make sure to leave enough liner to cover the coping
shelf, and to place underneath any edging that you plan to have. The pond liner
can be attached to the ground with long nails or boulders around its edges.
Edging material should be applied around the liner to hold it down, and add
natural look to your pond.
At this stage, the hardest
part of installing your pond has been done. All that is left to do is to set up
the pump .If you find that you would like to enlarge your pond; you should think
about adding a waterfall or cascade.
|
