Creating a Lake

[EddieWalker]

There's a few things that have to be done for the dike, or dam, to hold water. The keyway is one. Good soil, the proper slope and size are also required. But compaction is what I understand to be the second biggest reason for leaks after the keyway.

Since I don't have a sheeps foot for compaction, and the dozer isn't the best tool for it, I'll have to get it by building it in small lifts and continously going over the same ground.

 

[HuckBB62]

Eddie, I don't have as much clay as you're showing but up here, the dirt work guys say that using water along the way really helps move the dirt to higher compaction. It's seeming to work on my dirt but I have a lot of disentegrated granite and some sand with little clay. Just an idea. I'm building up areas and have thought about getting some kind of heavy roller setup. Any old grist mill wheels laying around?! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ocaj11]

Eddie,

Thanks for all the photos. I just finished reading the entire thread and will follow this one until you are finished. I'm currently living outside of Texarkana and we're going to build a lake on 60 acres there this summer. I'm confident we will have at least 10 surface acres of water.

I'll be visiting pondboss regularly to make sure we build the dam properly. I certainly don't want any leaks down the road....

Good Luck!!!

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Just finished reading this post from beginning to end. I plan on building a pond/lake on my place in the next couple of years. My initial thoughts are that it will be around 3 acres. I honestly didn't realize how complicated these projects are until reading this. I guess I will need a lot of help and advice. I was hoping to get a lot of free help from the NRCS, but an earlier post seemed to indicate that they don't do much of that anymore. I have also heard that they aren't nearly as free with their $'s as in the past. Does anyone know how much I should expect to pay for a consultant to come in and help me lay out the project? I'm probably going to get sticker shock wnen I start to get a handle on the bottom line of this project.

 

[Panache]

NRCS designed my pond. In 96 it cost ~$3 per yard of dirt moved. This included the stand pipe and all clearing.

 

[leaddog]

Make sure you don't have any roots in the dam fill. When I was working with the scs people for mine they told me about a pond that had a root running under the dam and after a few years it decayed and the water flowed out. They said it looked like a big whirlpooland there was now way to stop it. Water is very hard to control. Good luck, looks like a great project.
leaddog

 

[EddieWalker]

As the weather warms and the ground dries up, I try to get a little further into the lake area to clear brush. I'm terrified of getting stuck, but dumb enough to keep pushing it.

My latest brain fart was to knock over the sapplings and run on top of them to stop from breaking through the solid surface into the bottomless much below.

The idea worked, but the sapplings fought back.

This is where they got me.

 

[EddieWalker]

I cleared the brush as good as I could, but there was a tree dead center in the middle underneath. The real problem with the tree was the root ball was filling up all the space under there.

My only choice was to crawl in through the back, twist and suffer until I got it off. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

This cost a little over $8 to replace, but over 6 hours of work!!

 

[notamustang]

Nice project, cute dog and girlfriend /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I hate those 6 hour projects for 10 minutes worth of work. Looking forward to further posts and completion.
Steven

 

[GuglioLS]

You go for it Eddie - It's your land and "Dam" the government . This country was founded on private land ownership and the pursuit of happiness. Glad to see your are doing both. Enjoy your Pond Lake.

And keep those toys out-a-the muck.