Cheap pier for my small pond

[EddieWalker]

I have a small 3/4 acre pond near the front of my land and close to my house. With the drought we've been having, it's about three feet low right now and I've been thinking about building a small pier on it.

I have quite a bit of scrap lumber that I could use, plus a bunch of cedar logs that I think should work for posts. The posts have been my sticking point on getting started on this. The water has been down for awhile, and I've been kicking this around in my head for about a year now without coming up with the perfect solution.

The pond will have a fence all around it and be part of a longhorn pasture that will be part of my entrance. Nobody will be allowed near the pond or on the pier except us. It's just a place to sit and feed the fish type of thing, so safety isn't an issue.

Having it last is my problem. After weighing the options, I went with cedar because I think it will last just as long as PT wood from the stores. Steel and concrete would have been better, but this is also a project without a budget. No money for it as I have other priorities.

The first thing, and the hardest, was to measure out where it would fit and how I'd tie it into the bank. I decided on 24 feet long and a frame 3 feet wide with decking to be 4 feet wide.

Here's my Centruy 2535 CUT with my Limbach Line post hole digger and 12 inch auger. I'm drilling 8 holes for posts in the exposed bottom of my pond.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

The bottom of the pond had a very strange clay. It's grey and kind of sandy feeling, but it's also extremly hard and comes apart in layers. Water does not penetrate it at all. The advantage to it is my posts will never sink. The bottoms of the holes are like concrete with or without water. The negative aspect of this material is that it doesn't compact again. It will always remain unstable and loose.

My posts are between 8 to 12 inches across at the bottoms. The bigger ones required me to shave the sides of the holes so they would fit. I feel that they are large enough to support anything, but the real reason I wanted large posts is to make them last longer. How long will they last is anybodies guess. From searches I've done online, I can't find a single difinitive answer, so it's gonna be a "wait and see" type of thing.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Because I can't rely on the fill around the posts to add any support to them, I cross braced some of the posts to make them self supporting and eliminate any racking.

One of the problems with PT lumber is how badly it twists after you buy it. Sometimes I return it, but sometimes I get the boards real cheap or even free. I've been cutting short lengths out of the longer boards to get almost straight lengths. The board laying across my framing will be cut, along with another one, to use as the center joists before the decking goes on.

As a side note, the pallets on the left hand side of the picture and next to my island are for the fish. I read that they provide good structure for them to spawn, along with some protection from the predator fish.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Last week we got an inch of rain, which got me to thinking it was time to start this project. I needed the exposed bottom to set the posts and tie it all together. Working under water really isn't something I'm cabable of.

Yesterday, the forecast was 40% for rain again, but I've sort of become jaded about our local forecasts. They change hourly and I can wake up in the morning to an 80% chance of rain, only to have it down to 20% by lunch. The forecast for the day it rained last week was ten percent.

But it looked like rain outside, so I was trying to get all the posts tied together just in case. Then while putting on the joist hangers, it started to rain. I put all my tools away except for my framing square and speed square. I was getting wet and wanted to get in before it started coming down really hard.

Stupid me, I had no idea it would rain as hard, nor would we get as much as we did. My rain guage shows 3.75 inches of rain. Most of that came down in two hours!!!

My pond is up over two feet, and as you can see in this picture, I got REAL lucky in getting done what I did!!!!

Eddie

 

[CharlieTR]

That's a really nice project and good timing too!
I think those posts will be around long after we've gone.
I did read that up until sometime in the 1700's the soldiers would char the ground end of fort walls in a fire before setting them into the ground. Getting the post good and black prevented the termites for a period of time anyway.

Thanks for the interesting post.

CR

 

[kcir]

What timing Eddie. I am about an hour west of you and I only got 1/4". I am at Lake ForK and it is down about 4' right now.

That will make a good looking dock.

Rick

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Eddie,
Boy talk about timing Very nice job! All you need is the fishin pole now

 

[PineRidge]

One of the problems with PT lumber is how badly it twists after you buy it. Sometimes I return it, but sometimes I get the boards real cheap or even free.

Eddie

Eddie I always enjoy your posts and this is no exception.

I have always been told that when it comes to PT lumber it's always best to nail it in place before it has had a chance to dry. It minimizes warping if you do so. Our attached deck is over 80' in length and all the decking looks great as a result of following this advice.

Of course if the lumber is warped when you buy it then that's another story.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the kind words.

I got on it this morning just in case the rains decide to show up again. We have it in the forcast for every day this week. Usualy it doesn't mean anything, but I'm a little gunshy after yesterdays strom.

I had to finish up the framing, then cut the decking to 4 foot lengths.

Then it's just a matter of scrwing them down and keeping everything square.

Eddie

 

[bones1]

Boy, you're short....oh you're standing in water.
Are you using an electric drill in these pictures?.

Nice job Ed.