| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| palmettogirl |
Posted - Jan 02 2011 : 1:08:15 PM
not sure if this is where i should post it, however......we bought this land and the previous owner decided to build a pond. he dug out a space l00 x 200, put a dam at the one end and filled it with water. it was probably about 4 ft. deep and incidently, the water table is close to the top because some places, if you dug a hole, water would kind of seep up. But, it never held water...so...we hired a guy with a bulldozer....he went in and leveled it, cleaned it out (you know, underbrush, bushes/trees that start to grow in what became a swampy mess). he made it about 150 x 220 (about 5 ft deep now in the center) with the sides gradually coming up to the "grass" and then brought in lots of loads of kaolin ?sp/pottery type of clay---it's white and gunky! well, we heard that this should work----however, now that we've been filling it again, it seems like it's losing even more water, faster. does anyone have any ideas or has anyone had any experience like this, or know anything else about putting in a pond?? this thing is becoming a money pit! i'd appreciate ANY and ALL ideas that anyone might have! thanks so much! p.s. we have a "black water pond" down a ways on a lower part of our property and my husband was thinking of pumping it up from there??? but i think that would still be a problem since it seems to leak....and the electric bill is getting rediculous to keep this think filled?? |
| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| palmettogirl |
Posted - Jan 12 2011 : 4:05:48 PM
thanks ladies.....i do keep coming back and checking on this and i appreciate your input!! we are actually going to try a few of these things.....again, thank you! sue |
| sherrye |
Posted - Jan 11 2011 : 06:36:02 AM
howdy there, thought i would add my 2 cents here. we have a pond. its small compared toy urs. ours is about 60 by 60 and 4 deep. we used clay also. the thing we found is they all leak some. we added dry powdered clay on top of water. sprinkled it on. as it wets it sinks. the clay will be drawn to the areas that leak. it will settle there. this helps. then we put ducks on the pond. they pound the clay in when hunting for food on the bottom. the help it seal. if you just had the pond redone it may take a while to settle. now if its leaking badly then get boob bob back make him figure it out. slow leaks maybe adding clay every other day may slow it up a bit. you must have a lot of land? lucky you. do you grow hay? hope this helps. what do you do for algae? happy days sherrye
the learn as we go silk purse farm
farm girl #1014
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| KD Earthwork |
Posted - Jan 09 2011 : 06:59:21 AM
I've watched a few ponds being built lately, one three times. My husband (not a boob, but a ballet dancer on any equipment) told me the clay has to be very carefully and systematically compacted, working from the bottom up final shaping as it goes up and after compaction. It sounds to me if you interview a few equipment operators and you get a good one, they are out there.It could be recompacted.
Also if the guy who did the redo, is a licensed contractor ( you can look up his business name in the State licensing board) then he should be liable to repair a job that doesn't work. It's good to have a written contract before you begin work.But I think you could take him to court, god I hate to say that, we never would do that to anyone.But maybe you could just threaten that.
Ponds scare me too . We have a four year old and I made my husband fill in a small pond, deep with no ledge last fall. Maybe when she's older.
Good, good luck Katie
http://www.rosemancreekranch.com |
| msdoolittle |
Posted - Jan 07 2011 : 9:22:08 PM
Lol! I am constantly finding things around this house that BOB (Boob On a Bulldozer) did! Some men should NOT be permitted access to heavy equipment!!! Or even a screwdriver for that matter. Why, just a couple of days ago, my dear husband (who is mechanically gifted...thank you, Lord) re-installed the cutting board which BOB apparently ripped out of the kitchen where it had been since 1952 and used it as an addition to his workbench! I mean, seriously...was wood hard to find that year or something? He removed an integral part of a farm kitchen to...gasp...add it onto his workbench in his Man Cave?
There is NO surface on my kitchen to attach my vintage graters and peelers, with the one exception of this particular board...and it had been removed. Oh, my dear husband unscrewed it and now I finally, finally have a good work surface in the kitchen. The chi of my kitchen has been restored!
Sorry, that had absolutely nothing to do with a pond, lol!
FarmGirl #1390
www.mylittlecountry.wordpress.com |
| palmettogirl |
Posted - Jan 04 2011 : 11:14:05 AM
dear msdolittle! thanks for your input....and i have to say, the way you wrote your story, you really made me laugh! thanks for that!!! |
| msdoolittle |
Posted - Jan 04 2011 : 08:51:56 AM
Clay (kaolin) is used as a liner to keep water in, since clay particles are so very tiny and compacted.
I would recommend that you call your agricultural extension office or conservation office...here, our Extension agent comes out for free and gives you all sorts of information. I had someone come and look at our 'pond' (I use the word loosely). Our pond was totally built all wrong, with no emergency overflow and ridiculously placed drain pipes, which truly serve no purpose. In fact, our 'pond' looks like a mud puddle this year and I am pretty sure it will never recover as it is now. Another thing is that the former landowner (let's refer to him as Boob on a Bulldozer) got down in the pond and dug out these ridiculous holes...and I'm sure that this ruined the clay liner. In fact, now the 'pond' is actually rather dangerous since the edge no longer gently slopes. No, now it's a dangerous ledge around a quarter of it. If anyone fell in when it was full, you'd never find them. NOT good when you have small children, as we do.
Getting a good pond builder is probably quite expensive. I am sure that with the dirt work, dam building and correct drain installation, it would cost us 10-20K. It wouldn't surprise me if it did, anyway. Therefore, for now, it shall remain a mud puddle!
FarmGirl #1390
www.mylittlecountry.wordpress.com |
| palmettogirl |
Posted - Jan 03 2011 : 10:19:31 AM
thanks ladies for your input! (and if anyone else has some advice i'm still open!!) |
| Lessie Louise |
Posted - Jan 02 2011 : 1:36:53 PM
We were able to get advice on our pond from the Conservation Dept. here in Missouri and they were very helpful. Maybe try and call them tomorrow? Not Missouri but S. Carolina's. Good luck, Carol
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting them in a fruit salad!
Farmgirl #680! |
| nut4fabric |
Posted - Jan 02 2011 : 1:26:15 PM
Sue My in-laws owned a private water ski lake in the California desert and it was lined with clay and it held water very well. After the clay was delivered they had a mud bath party...some water was added to the clay just enough to make a gunky mess and then it was spread all around the lakebed, once it was all covered about 3 in deep in mud they filled the lake. The lake is now many many years old and still holding water.
Kathy |
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