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Donna Huling – 2009

My name is Todd Wilson – I am an owner of a landscape company in Atlanta, Georgia. I have personally built and repaired over 30 ponds in the last 5 years. It is not the main aspect of our company but it is something I love to do. Since posting this article I have realized a lot of people are looking for information on do-it-yourself ponds so I am trying to provide you with everything you will need to create the pond of your dreams.

In the article below I have created a quick overview of the materials and construction of a waterfall pond. The book listed in the banner above is a much more comprehensive instructional on the many details that need to be addressed before, during and after construction. Its only $14.95 but priceless with information. I highly recommend this book.

The link at the very top has every possible thing you can imagine to build a pond except for the rocks. If you are in need of supplies – check them out. They have a wide selection of makes and models of pumps to meet any need you have – Great Prices Too!!!

If you have any questions or comments please post below and I will be happy to answer them for you.

Supplies Needed to Build Backyard Waterfalls — The Cheap Way!

• Rocks.
• Submersible pump.
• Tubing to run from pump to top of waterfall.
• Large plastic flower pot (or similar) to house tubing. 
• Rigid pond liner.
• Carpenter’s level.
• Shovel.
• Sand.
• Garden hose. 

I have built many waterfall features over the years and I have repaired or reconfigured quite a few too.  Water features add so much to the landscape its hard to describe.  I just went outside in my backyard – there is a picture of the pond I built in my backyard in the photo album.  Its about 10:30 p.m. but I can hear the waterfall and the stream flowing and it just seems alive and very much like being in the great outdoors.  I love it. 

Water features are not difficult to build.  There is a some work involved but if you are building a small one, its not that bad.  The rewards are huge for a little work.  Most important part of the waterfall pond is of course – The Waterfall.  More importantly the pump creating the waterfall.  For a small project a submersible pump of about 120 GPH, which stands for – gallons per hour will be fine.  The tubing you get needs to be long enough to get from the pump to the waterfall and since you will be hiding it along its path you need to make sure you have a length that will allow slack to be used to position it for optimum concealment.

The stones for a small project should be on the flatter side of shape.  You can use some of the larger ones to create the waterfall and the other rocks will be used to conceal the pond form.  For a simple pond utilizing a preformed pond liner will be best.  You can also collect some random rocks you find in your yard or go searching for.  When I was a kid my parents took my brother and I out every weekend and we collected rocks for a fountain we built in the basement.  It was great family fun and we still talk about and actually still have some of the rocks we collected. 

One last thing to make sure is in place before installing your pond is the access to power for the pump.  You will conceal the wire coming out of the pond but you still need to plug it in somewhere.   Sometimes having a certified electrician install an outdoor GFCI outlet near the pond is an investment you need to make for your soothing landscape piece.  The best position for a pond is close to a patio so you can enjoy the sounds and with the waterfall flowing towards the house.  Feng Shui says this is best to retain health and wealth.  I just know it makes a better sound. 

Your first landscaping task is to remove any weeds from the area you’ve selected for your waterfall pond and waterfall, and make sure it’s level. Then you will dig out the hole, into which the preformed liner will be placed. To get an accurate measurement for the hole’s dimensions, simply flip the preformed liner upside down and trace around it.

Incidentally, I suggest taking care of the waterfall pond structure first, simply because you’ll be laying your rocks for the cascading waterfall structure in such a way that the front of it overhangs the waterfall pond (see the waterfall picture at right). This entails placing some of the bottom rocks very close to the waterfall pond. If you were to build the cascading waterfall structure first and then dig the waterfall pond, you might undermine those rocks. Besides, the overhang of the waterfall structure will just be in your way while digging.

Make the depth of your waterfall pond’s hole about what the depth of the preformed liner is. Try to make the diameter of the hole match that of the preformed liner as closely as possible, for a good tight fit. If, however, you find you’ve made the hole too wide, use sand to fill in the gap.

Sand will also be used at the bottom of the hole, since sand floors provide the malleablity needed to play with the height of preformed liners. Put about an inch of sand in, so that the top rim of the preformed liner will stand about an inch above ground level — reducing the amount of dirt that will keep falling into your waterfall pond. You’ll be pushing the sand around to get the level of the preformed liner just right.

Next, place the preformed liner into the hole for the waterfall pond. Check for levelness by placing a carpenter’s level across it — both front to back and left to right. Depending on the readings you get from the carpenter’s level, it is at this point that you’ll have to remove the preformed liner from the hole and adjust its sandy floor accordingly.

Before moving on to the waterfall structure itself, a word of caution is in order. I will be discussing strategies for minimizing water-loss on the following pages. But regardless of how well you do at minimizing water-loss, it is prudent to check the level of your waterfall pond water periodically. Should the pond go dry due to water-loss, you’ll burn out the pump.

Consequently, you must turn off the pump overnite or when leaving your property. Of course, if you’re frugal, you’ll unplug the pump when you’re not around anyhow, to save money on electricity. Since this water feature is intended only for decoration and for relaxation (it’s not a fish pool), there’s no reason to keep it running if you’re not there to enjoy it.

With the pond complete, that means one of our two structures is out of the way. Now it’s time to turn our attention to the more exciting structure: the cascade design itself. And that means taking another look at the rocks we’ll be using.

The most important rocks are what might be termed the "spillway" rocks. By "spillway" I mean the rocks directly over which the water will cascade. In my sample cascade design, I use two such rocks, one above the other. This gives my cascade design two levels (separate waterfalls, if you will), for greater visual impact.

The spillway rocks should be relatively flat (as opposed to rocks that are more rounded in shape). They should also have sharp, squarish edges. Water will cascade more cleanly over such edges. When rocks have blunt, gently-curving edges, some of the water tends to follow that curve and trickle back under the rocks. Not only is the cascading effect in the latter case less spectacular, but you’ll also lose a lot of your water (because it won’t fall cleanly into the pond).

In sum, the idea behind the selection of spillway rocks for a cascade design is to choose rocks that are most likely to channel the falling water in the precise direction in which you want it to go. How you lay the spillway rocks is also important to this end, as we’ll see later. In addition to seeking out relatively flat rocks with sharp edges, see if you can’t find rocks that are slightly cupped. That is, occasionally you’ll come across rocks that curl up ever so slightly at the edges, leaving a depression in the middle. The natural channel in such rocks will be greatly advantageous for the creation of the spillways in your cascade design. Their raised edges will help keep the water from deviating where you don’t want it (namely, behind the rocks).

You may have been intrigued by one of the supplies I listed  "Large plastic flower pot." Here’s what that’s all about. I used an empty flower pot, 11" high, that had a 1/2"-diameter drainage hole in the bottom (to match the diameter of my tubing). The pot simply functions as housing for the tubing (within the cascading structure for the waterfall). You could easily substitute something else that might work better; I selected a plastic flower pot simply because this is an item gardeners always have in abundance (and usually are dying to find a use for!). For instance, a terra cotta pot would be even better, since it provides more stability. A crate made of rigid plastic would also work. The idea is to have some sort of housing to hold the tubing in place, while you lay up the rocks all around it. This housing won’t show when you’re finished: it will lie hidden at the center of your rock work.

You’ll essentially be building four mini-rock walls around the pot, to box it in. Make a small trench for the tubing to sit in under the rocks, so that the rocks don’t weigh it down. This will keep the tubing free, so that you can slide it through the pot up or down, at will. This gives you the leeway that you need, since you won’t know at exactly what height you’ll want the water spouting out until you’ve finished laying the rocks.

After laying my first course of rocks in the front, I covered them with a sheet of black plastic, 4′ long x 3′ wide. I extended one end of the plastic up to the top of the plastic pot, while tucking the other over the lip of the preformed pond liner and down into the water. I then disguised this plastic with rocks, so that it wouldn’t be visible in the pond (the end of the plastic near the pot will be hidden by rocks later, as I build up the wall). Using this cheap plastic (I simply sliced up a trash bag) is a frugal substitute for the more expensive flexible pond liner that one would use for a larger cascade design (and that you could use in this project, too, if it fits into your budget). The plastic serves the same purpose: namely, to catch more water than the rocks alone could and funnel it into the pond. Much of the water that would otherwise be lost to splashing strikes against this plastic and falls back into the pond, instead.

Also after laying the first course of rocks in front (and just after laying the black plastic), I laid one long, flat rock spanning them all and sitting right on top of that plastic. In the waterfall photo showing the cascade design in progress (above right), the black plastic and the spillway rocks are absent in order to give you a clearer shot of this rock and of the first course of rocks upon which it sits. My long, flat rock juts out in the direction of the pond, forming an overhang. It will serve as a shelf for my first spillway rock, so I’ll refer to it subsequently as my "shelf rock." If you wish to reproduce this cascade design, seek out a long, flat rock of ample mass for such a shelf rock.

Invert the flower pot and thread your tubing through the hole in its bottom. Place the pot on the ground (still inverted) at the center of what will be the rock waterfall structure. How far in back of the pond should this be? Well, that depends on the depth of your rocks. You’ll want the rocks that face the pond to abut it; if possible, they should even overhang the pond slightly. So if the rocks you’ll be using there are 8" in depth (i.e., front to back), the front side of the pot should be about 8" back from the edge of the pond.

How long should the tubing be? Where on the ground should it rest? Well, as far as length goes, I would advise against trying to get a perfect measurement right away and then cutting. Instead, leave yourself with a length that is longer than what you’ll need, and trim later as necessary. This will make your job a lot easier! As to where to run it along the ground, choose either the left or the right side of the pond and rock waterfall. As a cosmetic touch at the end of the project, you can go back and hide it with stones and/or mulch.

Typically, when building rock walls, it’s a good idea to stagger the seams. Of course, these will be very small rock walls, so it’s not a structural concern here. Still, try to do some staggering, if only because it looks better.

As already mentioned in speaking of rock selection, after my first course of rocks in the front, I layed 1 long flat rock spanning them all. Because this rock’s function is to form an overhang, it’s a key piece in your cascade design. Using it as a shelf, you’ll place your first spillway rock (see below) on it, in such a way that the spillway rock overhangs the pond even further.

Continue laying the 4 walls, until you’ve reached the height you desire. Once you’re done encasing the pot with the 4 walls, you need to place 2 longer stones across the top (either front-to-back or left-to-right) to span the walls. Pull up the tubing to gain more length, if necessary, and gently sandwich the tubing in between these 2 longer rocks to hold it in place.

Begin trying to position your first spillway rock on top of your shelf rock. It should jut out over the pond even further than does the shelf rock (ideally, the tip would line up over the middle of the pond, although this is difficult to achieve). Elevate the first spillway rock in the back, to achieve better water run-off. You can elevate this or any rock in the wall by using shims (small flat stones).

Bend the end of the tubing down towards the pond and place one or more capstones over it. It is under here that the waterfall’s "spout" will rest, so to speak. By "capstone" I mean a stone that will partially hide the tubing and/or gently press it down against the second spillway rock (as yet uninstalled). Make sure most of the capstone’s weight rests on the rocks between which the tubing is sandwiched (or on shims), so that the tubing doesn’t become flattened. You’ll have to play with the level of the spout, as you begin to fit in the second spillway rock.

Begin trying to position your second spillway rock on top of your first spillway rock (see photo, above right, in which the second spillway rock is the rock which the gush of water is striking). Again, elevate the rock in the back using a shim, to achieve a steeper pitch. One way to think of the placement of the 2 spillway rocks is that they’re like 2 shingles on a roof. They’re both on a slant, and the top one overlaps the bottom one, forming a continuous chute down which the water can pour.

The position of the end of the tubing that forms the spout can now be determined more precisely, as you size it up on the surface of the second spillway rock. Again, pull to lengthen or shorten your tubing, as necessary.

You’re ready to fill the pond with water, plug in the pump’s cord, and test the flow of your natural rock waterfall. No doubt, you’ll have to make several adjustments before you get everything right. The objective is to get the water to fall as close as possible to the middle of the pond, so that you can minimize water-loss from the splashing that will incur. Note, however, that there’s some compromise involved with your cascade design: greater height equals greater visual impact, but greater height also equals greater water-loss (as the splashes will be more violent). Another consideration on height: keep your natural rock waterfall in proportion with the pond. A general rule of thumb would be, the smaller the pond, the shorter the rock waterfall.

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