Inexpensive Pond Liner

[troutsqueezer]

I know it's not the most exciting of topics but I'm leveraging the power of TBN to solve a minor issue I'm having regarding a small pond that I just finished digging. It was another chore for the B21 in digging the pond followed by a lot of hand shoveling and rock manipulating to get it ready for lining. When I started, I figured it couldn't cost that much for a 20' x 30' rubber liner but boy, was I wrong. A 20' x 30' 45 mil rubber liner is $530 down at the local nursery supply store. It is a little cheaper on the Internet but that size weighs over a hundred pounds so there are shipping cost penalties.

Anyone find something much cheaper that will do the job? I've heard of people using black plastic maybe 6 mil but I doubt it will last long. Concrete is out of the question.

I need to have a place to store trout for when I need them. :thumbsup: Actually, my wife wants to have a frog pond and I'd like to stick my game cam up there to see what animals come for a drink.

 

[JRobyn]

Couple of bags of bentonite?

- Jay

 

[MossRoad]

We get 24' round swimming pool liners for a hundred bucks. They make oval sizes, too. But they can get holes poked through them very easily. How about some rubber roofing material at a local supply store. You'd probably have to weld the seams, though. Thinking about it, that's a pretty good size hole to do in one pieces. A pond liner is made for lining ponds and is probably the best choice. $530 doesn't seem that bad when you think about it.

 

[deerseeker001]

i bought mine at fleet farm its like a farm supply/sporting goods/clothing.i had a 15x12 garden pond i know i didn't pay more than 100.00.i had fish in mine.i would stay away from those pond stores they are way over priced. Ron

 

[newbury]

I've read of people reusing billboard material.

Used and Recycled Tarps from Billboard Vinyl | repurposedMATERIALS- Repurposed Materials

About $70 for a 10'x36' but shipping will probably be a killer.

but many of them were able to get it from a local billboard company sometimes for free.

 

[teejk]

I'll be watching this one! I want to see if I can raise domestic ducks for personal consumption but I think I need to have a pond for them. Our soil is such that 10 inches of rain would not be noticed after an hour or two! Yeah it's sandy and full of gravel because the property is on the very edge of the last glacier movement but that has some benefits...my SWMBO got us a high end rock tumbler for Christmas so I can see what is hidden inside all these pretty rocks we find here (reds, blues, greens, etc.) I would not be surprised to find gold or silver here in which case my assistant will be posting comments here.

On the down side, my wife had a koi pond in our previous house (read money pit, especially when the koi had to go the koi vet). Around here I think I have convinced that koi won't work because of eagles and bears.

 

[LJH]

Cheap to free method:

sealing earth dams in volcanic soils [Archive] - Permaculture Forums from the Permaculture Research Institute

 

[troutsqueezer]

Bentonite, I've never heard of it so I googled it. Interesting, would definitely be an experiment. It doesn't look like the bags are cheap though.

I checked out the swimming pool liners and they are a couple hundred bucks, at least. That might be risky since my pond was dug out from a very rocky area. It is not a sandy area, that's for sure. $530 is more than I planned, I could do it but the wife will remind me that I told her it wouldn't cost much. unch:

I think the shipping on the re-purposed billboard material would be cost-prohibitive although I like the idea.

I don't think I can put koi or any fish in the pond because this area is rife with herons and I see them all the time sitting on the neighbor's ponds. I'd be happy with some big bullfrogs.

LJH, thanks for the link. It's interesting stuff. I like the idea about stocking the pond with ducks to seal the bottom. Now, if I could just get them to stick around.

I might have to bite the bullet. $530 bucks could buy me a new Playstation 4 and a game or two. On the other hand, I'd like to spend as much of my money as I can before I buy the farm. I just wish I knew when that was....

 

[Gunny]

Have you checked with any flat roof installation companies in your area? It's been years since I did our last garden pond so I can't remember how much it cost, but I do remember that it was about 1/2 what Lowes wanted for theirs. The EPDM that I bought was in 12 foot widths, so I had to glue two edges together to get it wide enough for my pond (10' wide with 3' deep sides, so I had lots of overlap)

 

[ultrarunner]

I bought a 6' x 25' pond liner for $65 at one of the local fish pond places.

I will call to get a price for you Thursday... 20 x 30'

It might be worth it if you ever get down to Castro Valley... that's were I bought mine.

 

[sd455dan]

We tried the thickest plastic we could find, after the attempts with 6 mil plastic in 3 layers failed. (multiple times)
Then tried a plastic pool liner a friend gave us- it failed by spring - freezes during winter.
Wife finally got fed up with completely tearing the pond apart and having to remove everything due to leaks.

Bit the bullet and bought some heavy duty (rubber) pond liner- and even though it wasn't cheap it has been trouble and leak free for years now.

 

[cqaigy2]

I've heard duck or goose poo will seal a pond, but if you can't get some water in it, it do see why a duck or goose would bother to give you the time of day.

 

[pilotman]

I have 2 small ponds 200 yards apart, one has sandy bottom and will not fill. The other one has a clay bottom and holds water just from rain water.

 

[RalphVa]

A master gardener/master naturalist friend of mine used bentonite clay to line her ponds.

Ralph

 

[troutsqueezer]

Thanks for the replies, I certainly appreciate them.

ultrarunner, $65 sounds pretty good, was it the 42 mil stuff? I know there's 20 mil out there for about half the price. Appreciate your looking into it.

The Bentonite and clay seem like they might involve some sort of skill level that I might not have.

I've thought about having to tear the pond apart if I used some thin plastic and I have to agree with your wife, Dan. Maybe when the wife gets tired of looking at the big, ugly hole I dug, she'll come around. :thumbsup:

 

[ultrarunner]

Thanks for the replies, I certainly appreciate them.

ultrarunner, $65 sounds pretty good, was it the 42 mil stuff? I know there's 20 mil out there for about half the price. Appreciate your looking into it.

The Bentonite and clay seem like they might involve some sort of skill level that I might not have.

I've thought about having to tear the pond apart if I used some thin plastic and I have to agree with your wife, Dan. Maybe when the wife gets tired of looking at the big, ugly hole I dug, she'll come around. :thumbsup:

I spent the day taking mom to Doctor's appointments... 3.5 hours at her eye doctor... mostly waiting so arrived late at all the others... thought I would be done by noon and didn't get her home until 5 pm.

I'm really sorry I have not come through... not like me at all.

 

[Creamer]

Living here in Northern Indiana we have lots of ponds - this area is known for them. Probably because we have heavy clay in our soils and so you just dig a pond wherever you want and they naturally seal as long as you do not hit a vein of sand. Bentonite will do it with a lot less thickness and do not get worried about the skill level - all you need to do is spread it over the surface and the water will take care of the rest. When I was a kid we used it in cattle water tanks to plug small holes.

 

[deerseeker001]

we had our pond for about 5 years 15x12 with 6 foot waterfall .we bought a pond kit with heavy duty liner.i dug it 3 ft deep with a 4 inch sand base and never had a problem with leaks.the electric bill doubled over the years and decided to get rid of it.

 

[sd455dan]

Thanks for the replies, I certainly appreciate them.
I've thought about having to tear the pond apart if I used some thin plastic and I have to agree with your wife, Dan. Maybe when the wife gets tired of looking at the big, ugly hole I dug, she'll come around. :thumbsup:

I mentioned the thread to my wife and she reminded me of one of the main reasons that we had such poor luck with everything- but the heavy duty rubber liner.

The game that would come in at night to get drinks -mainly deer and sometimes elk
(would invariably step on the liner).
After the first hoof- with the animals full weight pushing down and we had a leaking- ruined pool. I dug the pool for her with the excavator and helped with the spring and August cleaning- we had Koi for the first few years and the tear down got to be more expensive- time wise than just buying the good stuff... this is a picture from 2011 when we were experimenting with making a small waterfall -

It is nice to sit by the little pool and listen to the water on a summer afternoon.. Good Luck with what ever way you choose to go, these small pools are a great addition for a stress reducer.

 

[troutsqueezer]

It is all about reducing stress for us. Thanks for posting the pic. Every day I walk by this hole, something's going to happen, I can feel it.