Photo Diary of 1/2 acre pond construction

[Larry_Van_Horn]

I have always enjoyed viewing the pictures of the projects folks have undertaken. The following pictures chronicle the construction of my new pond at my new house which I will be moving into in two weeks. I wanted to get the pond in and banks seeded before the weather became too bad.

This pond is constructed outside of Rochester NY. I cannot say enough nice things about the gentleman who worked on the pond. It also became clear to me in the process that despite my original interest in doing the work myself, that would have been sheer folly. I have a backhoe, but the amount of excavation as well as the engineering of the core trench is something left for those with many years of experience.

Hopefully you will enjoy. I have designed in some unique features including a 10 ft waterfall, a cantalevered deack and a large sand beach for the kids - each engineering feats in their own right.

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #1 the site

Here is the site as well as the three test pits I dug with my backhoe down to 13 feet deep.

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture 2: Dozer arrives

Pond contractor has a D6, and a Deere 690 track excavator

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #3: Topsoil stripped, core trench begun

Difficult to tell where the pond will be at this stage

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #4: Another view

Looking back towards the house on the construction of the core trench

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #5: Initial excavation

Here is the initial excavation

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #6: Pushing up the sides

Just to put things in perspective, that Cat D6 is about 10 feet tall

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #7: Look at this clay

Once we got down to it, the clay could not have been any thicker, the dozer just peeled layer after layer

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #8: Track Excavator at Work

The water was coming in through seems creating a slurry in some parts. The dozer got stuck a could of times. Glad we had the excavator there.

 

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Picture #9: The Stones

Here is a picture of my truck with some of the stones that I am brining in from the local quarry to build the rock wall and waterfall. The stones range in size from 1 to 4 tons a piece. Beat the crap out of the truck. I have brought in 40 tons so far. In case you were wondering these babies are $12 per ton.