More Pond, or How To Reduce Flooding
- Thread starter OkeeDon
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This shows what I'm filling into. The area beyond the fence is the front of the neighbor's house pad. When the pad was constructed, it made my flooding a lot worse. My own driveway was raised and trapped the water. Now, I'm filling in between. The neighbor's house is near the front of the property, as are most of the others in this neighborhood. Mine will be back about 400' from the road. So, this area is along the entrance driveway, not near my house area.
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This next shot is much further back on the property. My barn will be to the left; the oak hammock that will be between the barn and the house is to the right. This area will be slightly dipped and gently sloping away from me to carry water towards the highway, which os off behid the trees, about 225' from where I'm standing (my property is 280' wide) As you can see, it just needs a little tweaking to fill the low spot and it will work poretty well. Th dirt to raise it is already stockpiled to the left. I'll handle it with the box blade.
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I turned around in the same spot; this is the area that is being drained. The land on the other side of the fence is my neighbor's; I'm afraid I'm not making his any better, but I've talked to him, and if he builds a pond or otherwise gets fill to raise his property, we'll set it up so he drains across mine. He'll have to be a tad higher, of course.
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This shows another spot to the right of the last shot. The area around the palm needs to be tweaked. The shipping container in the background is my temporary storage until the barn is constructed; I'm stockpiling some dirt to fill that area once it's moved. This entire area will be my wife's butterfly garden, heavy with flowering srubs. There will be a small garden pond between the palms in the background and the one in the front.
I'm standing on the driveway that goes past my barn area (behind me) and heads on over towards Amy & Doug's property (behind the container).
I'm standing on the driveway that goes past my barn area (behind me) and heads on over towards Amy & Doug's property (behind the container).
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Turning to my right, this is where the driveway will go over to Amy & Doug's, and join their circular driveway.
Obviously, this is the area that needs the most work after last night's rain showed up the weak spots. There's a problem, however, because their garage (built by the previous owner) is low. If you look very closely, the corner of the garage is barely visible at the left edge of the photo. The low garage has been a problem since they bought the place; one solution is to build forms and pour concrete to raise the slab higher. That's another entire subject.
What I'm going to have to do is build up the area directly in front to as high as it can go without flooding the garage, then slop the area to the right down towards the highway about 200' away. It will have to be the most gentle possible slope,because if we get much lower near the highway, the highway drainage ditch will back up onto our property. It's a very delicate balancing act.
Obviously, this is the area that needs the most work after last night's rain showed up the weak spots. There's a problem, however, because their garage (built by the previous owner) is low. If you look very closely, the corner of the garage is barely visible at the left edge of the photo. The low garage has been a problem since they bought the place; one solution is to build forms and pour concrete to raise the slab higher. That's another entire subject.
What I'm going to have to do is build up the area directly in front to as high as it can go without flooding the garage, then slop the area to the right down towards the highway about 200' away. It will have to be the most gentle possible slope,because if we get much lower near the highway, the highway drainage ditch will back up onto our property. It's a very delicate balancing act.
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...and this is where we're going. You can see the state highway; the ditch into which we have to drain is between the power pole and the highway. The pole marks the edge of my property, which is about 6' on the other side of the fence. We'll head towards the spot that is already slightly lower just to the left of the pole, and make it a bit lower, so everything should drain.
I've been doing quite a lot of reading about draining flat areas. About the least amount of slope one can have and still move any water is .1%, or about 1' drop in 1,000'. Aan ideal slope is 1%, or 1' in 100'. I'll be somewhere in between, dropping about 6" in 200', which is 3" in 100' or about .3%.
A couple of years ago, when laser levels were starting to get popular but still relatively expensive, I bought a used Nikon automatic level, tripod and measuring rod on EBay, cheap. It's not a laser level, but it was among the better things availabel before the laser levels cam eout, and I've figured out how to use it. We'll shoot our final slopes with that, and stake it along the path so I can get the grading just right. Lots of seat time with the box blade...
I've been doing quite a lot of reading about draining flat areas. About the least amount of slope one can have and still move any water is .1%, or about 1' drop in 1,000'. Aan ideal slope is 1%, or 1' in 100'. I'll be somewhere in between, dropping about 6" in 200', which is 3" in 100' or about .3%.
A couple of years ago, when laser levels were starting to get popular but still relatively expensive, I bought a used Nikon automatic level, tripod and measuring rod on EBay, cheap. It's not a laser level, but it was among the better things availabel before the laser levels cam eout, and I've figured out how to use it. We'll shoot our final slopes with that, and stake it along the path so I can get the grading just right. Lots of seat time with the box blade...
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Just a couple of more pictures for now (you can tell I'm killing time waiting for my tire to come in). This is the dirt pile left at Amy & Doug's pond to cover any eventualities over there. For example, when their addition is completed, we'll slope from there to the pond (the area where the puddle is, now). If there's anything left over, we'll load it in my dump trailer and truck it to my side.
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Finally, I need a vote. This picture shows a part of my pond where they stopped digging. I told them to take out the cabbage palm, but Angie, the gal running the track hoe (I asked if that made her a track 'ho /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif), was fooling around and said she was making me an island.
When complete, the pond will come back to about where I'm standing, behind the dirt pile to my left, and will extend almost to the right edge of the photo before rejoining the existing pond. The question: Should I really leave the little island that's taking shape, complete with the single palm?
It would be pure whimsey, because it won't be large enough to be of any practical use. Although, it has been suggested that I could put a couple of deck chairs on it, and a couple of bottles of Corona, and it would make a good TV ad. Someone else asked me how I would keep it trimmed, and I said I guess I would have to use a boat and a weedeater. Or, plant it with a ground cover.
It would be just a little too far out in the pond to make a practical and inexpensive bridge, and, like I said, it would be too small to do anything once you were out there, anyway.
My house will be on the far side of the pond in this picture, facing towards the pond. I do want to have a pond fountain, and I think the fountain and the island might compete with each other for attention. It would make a cool place to decorate the palm tree for Christmas, however.
What do you think?
When complete, the pond will come back to about where I'm standing, behind the dirt pile to my left, and will extend almost to the right edge of the photo before rejoining the existing pond. The question: Should I really leave the little island that's taking shape, complete with the single palm?
It would be pure whimsey, because it won't be large enough to be of any practical use. Although, it has been suggested that I could put a couple of deck chairs on it, and a couple of bottles of Corona, and it would make a good TV ad. Someone else asked me how I would keep it trimmed, and I said I guess I would have to use a boat and a weedeater. Or, plant it with a ground cover.
It would be just a little too far out in the pond to make a practical and inexpensive bridge, and, like I said, it would be too small to do anything once you were out there, anyway.
My house will be on the far side of the pond in this picture, facing towards the pond. I do want to have a pond fountain, and I think the fountain and the island might compete with each other for attention. It would make a cool place to decorate the palm tree for Christmas, however.
What do you think?
