Waterfalls ... DIY

I've always wanted to live by the ocean.  

Clearly not an option at the present ... unless I win the lottery.

So when you can't go to the water ... you try to bring the water to you.

We moved into an older home ... and little by little ... 

I'm making changes.  One of my first projects ...

BUILD A WATERFALL

We do have a pool ... yes a big plus ... but behind that ... there was

an ugly ... ugly ... boring corner.

I mean nothin going on!

So I googled ... and googled ... and researched ... and read.

The first step ...  lay out the shape of the land  and ... dig the hole.

I wanted the top of the waterfall to be as high as possible for the space.

That meant bringing in more dirt ... and  building up a small mountain.

I was able to use all the dirt from the hole.

***notice ... lots of fun roots to cut through***

The hole is an important part of the equation.

Most important ... the top edges of the pond have to be level.

The pond water will find it's own level ... and you don't want water slopping out on

one side ... and too low on the other.

Now there are two schools of thought for the pond ...

dig a deep hole and cover it with plastic ... or ...

 dig deep hole and lay a preformed plastic pool form 

inside the deep hole.

***notice both options involve digging a deep hole ... rats***

I opted for the plastic pool liner ... because I thought it would be easier.  It wasn't.

As it turned out ... you have to make the hole fit the  exact shape  of the hard liner.

Anyway hole dug ... liner inserted ... hill mounded.

Next  line the hill with plastic.  This is where the water will run down to the pond.

The next part involved moving the rocks in.  I don't have pictures of this.

Needless to say ... it was a lot of work.   Now if you have alley access to the backyard ... 

you can have large boulders delivered and positioned by a crane.

Unfortunately ... I had to roll each one in by hand.

Knowing that we had no alley access and a small gate to go through ... I chose the largest

boulders that would possibly fit.  If wishes were horses ... I'd have chosen big honkin rocks.

The last step is to  put a pump in the pond  and  run the hose up to the top 

of the waterfall ... plug er in  and ....

wham bam thank you ma'am .... we've got a waterfall!

I love it.

As you can see  I added some lights  and of course  landscaping.

It takes a bit of planning to decide where to place all the rocks ... and I had to try a few

configurations.  I used flat slate rocks all the way down for the water to cascade over. 

 Although I put plastic down along the water's path ... I still used

some quick cement to fill in any gaps or holes between rocks.

I recently added an  automatic sprinkler drip system ...

and  a timer for the waterfall. 

 It's important to have the water recirculate on a regular basis as well as chlorine tabs occasionally.

Now I must say my husband did help me move the rocks from the front yard to the back yard ...

other than that ... I did this bad boy all by myself ... the planning ... the digging ... and 

the lifting and cementing of all those heavy boulders.

Now this is my type of DIY.

 I love the sound of falling water .... how about you guys?

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