Saturday, February 21, 2015

Waterfall construction

The largest design update to the existing landscape design was planned to reinforce an existing concrete retaining wall and direct water drainage away from the foundation.  We hoped to camouflage the concrete retaining wall with some type of stonework. And since we were dealing with a drainage issue, a waterfall became a desirable addition.  We initially envisioned a waterfall gradually trickling down the hill into a small pond or even terminating in a lower maintenance "pondless" waterfall.  But over time our vision (and budget) expanded to a larger stone retaining wall that would include waterfall feature spilling from the top into a pond below at some distance from the house.  The inspiration came from the waterfalls viewed along I-41 at Shade Today, a nursery willing to build our dream water feature for a larger fee than we had originally budgeted.

Shade Today waterfall inspring our waterfall design
Waterfall under construction in our yard:
Hill sloped from garage down to walk-out basement level






Existing landscape when we purchased home.

Ground built up to slope away from corner where wall meets
corner of house to prevent water from leaking into basement. 
Boulders being stacked in front of existing concrete retaining
wall to reinforce and extend it out into the yard

Construction equipment 

Stacked stones extended out into yard.
Forms laid out for pond.


Concrete pond completed

Stone wall continued on around pond
Stone extended to create planting beds.


Our favorite Australian Shepherd checks out
 paver path constructed from basement concrete patio
 beneath deck to paver patio with fire pit in center.












The waterfall started up when we turned on the pump
this past spring after the ice finally melted, though
the hose promptly disconnected from the pump resulting
in a huge geyser of water spewing from the pond.  So,
once the pipe was  reconnected to the pump it
ran for while until it abruptly stopped.
Upon draining the pond we discovered a very rusty pump
that will most likely have to be replaced-a rather pricey
proposition, but money well-spent given how much we've
been enjoying the yard.

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