Just finishing construction of our pond here in NE Iowa and want to put in a beach area for swimming. Have a nice small finger of our 1 acre pond that will make a nice corner beach. They just finished excavation yesterday and I'd like to get the beach in before the water begins to fill it up. My question is: Should we just dump sand on top of the clay or should we excavate down a foot or so and then replace with 3/4 inch roadstone and then sand on top? My concern with just sand on clay would be the eventual mixing of the two to create a less than desirable beach. Should we put landscape fabric down first? My plan was to extend the sand into the water about 10-15 ft or 3-4 feet of depth.
I just read in another post about using some railroad ties or larger rocks to keep the sand from washing into the basin and I have access to some small boulders and thought of lining that area in the water at the bottom of the beach with those to try and keep the sand from washing down. Is that a worthy idea?
Guess I'm just looking for some direction on this one. Any one have experience with this?
Thanks guys, loving this site.

Sounds like a nice project, Chiroeye. I haven't done this, but most posts on the topic do strongly recommend installing a barrier of some sort at the end of your sand area to combat the migration of the sand out of your swimming area. Putting some fabric down is also a great idea. As for a bed of gravel for your base, I really don't know if it's necessary if you use a fabric barrier, but others may have different thoughts. I think a real key is to use plenty of sand and then to be sure to use the swimming area frequently to keep it generally clean. Sediment and other materials will still work their way into that area, but regular use should keep it generally clean.

How about some pics when you get it done?

This thread has what you need.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=260168&page=1

B'ski and Omaha and others on the linked thread please check your pics (missing).

Great, just started with the thread. I could be here awhile, but looks to give me all the info I need. I didnt get that post when I searched, so thank you for directing me. I'll definitely post pics of the process.

I think that happened when I moved pictures in my Photobucket account to different folders, thus changing the link. I don't remember all of what they were now, but if need be could probably figure it out sometime.

Lot of solid info in that thread though.

Yeah, just read all of it and contacted my contractor, dont think the pics will be necessary. They have construction grade fabric at their shop and we'll use the 10-12" of excavated dirt for the sand recess to make our berm underwater to hold the sand. You all think that 12-15" of sand will be enough? My kids like to dig and I dont want them to disturb the fabric.
Also, our beach area will receive virtually no runoff so I'm not going to place a berm around the beach above water because I dont think material washing onto the exposed beach will be an issue.
Thanks again for the link and help!

My thoughts and believe these are included in the thread - these are my beach construction plans:

Dig beach area down 12"
Apply landscape fabric to reduce weed growth and prevent mixing of sand with clay and use landscaping staples to secure [be sure to overlap material]
Build 6-12" ridge of clay around beach area underwater to prevent sand from spilling out of the area over time

From my notes of forum research this is plan I established. I think following these steps will ensure a long lived and clean beach area.

Sounds like I might be on the right track, now just to put it into action!
Thanks for the steps teehjaeh57!

Reconsider.
Our project does have some land that is part of the same beach slope, but above the beach. It is not a substantial runoff for the pond, but it does lean down to the top of the beach area. As water always does, it makes it's own path on the way downhill. I regret not making the berm ever-so higher across the top of our beach area because 2 areas of water coming down the slope did wash some smaller amounts of clay/loam soil into the sand zone. Going back, I would have raised the berm by a couple of inches and paid more attention to make sure it is a negative slope all the way across the top to keep southbound water streams from topping the berm.

Point taken Brettski, I'll speak with my contractor. Thank you.

i did not excavate any, just laid down 3/4 minus gravel, then sand.
really good results.
good luck

I just finished mine and read alot. All of these ideas are great, but I have heavy clay, it is near a pier and the sand as it washes around will fill in a bigger area for the kids to have a nicer bottom. But I put in enough sand that covered 30x 50x 1.5 ft to account for washouts. I'll try and send a pic later. Either way your family will enjoy it!

Mike,
Were you happy with the 1.5' of sand? I was thinking of going just 1ft, but with three young children I'm thinking I could use more. The nice thing is, our beach location is easily accessible for more sand in the future.

i think regular topping off of the sand with fresh sand would be better than putting down a really thick layer to start.

we have heavy clay for native soil. we put down 8" or so of gravel, let that sort of work itself into the clay, which after a month of settlement, the gravel was partially embedded into the clay. then we added the sand, similarly about 8". it then worked itself into the gravel. it is totally sand on top, but it seems to be 'anchored' into the gravel and not washing about as much as i feared.

as you walk deeper into the pond from the beach, the bottom progresses from pure sand, to more gravel, and finally to mostly clay at 4' depth.

the beach itself looks just like that, a beach. here is a pic.

Wow Adam, what a picturesque scene that is! Definitely doesnt look like that here in Iowa. The beach looks nice and I like the idea of placing gravel as a base above water. My contractor is working on the excavation and berm for the beach today and the sand should come tomorrow. I've got a little pile of extra rock and I might spread that out on top of the clay tonight and drive over it a few times with the tractor.
Thanks for the input guys, I'll post a pic in a few days of final product!

Adam that's a great looking pond with a beautiful view.

Got the beach finished up. Put in 12-15" of concrete sand and just moved all the individual stones yesterday(loaded into tractor by hand and placed by hand). I think it turned out pretty well, the pink flags mark the edge of the water.
We did end up putting a small berm around the one side and at the base in the water. The contractor put heavy landscape fabric down. The kids have been spending HOURS in it everyday.
Anyway, here is the finished product, now we need some water...

That looks great!

Great job. That was a lot of work!

That looks nice. Your family will have a lot of fun!

Here is a birds-eye view of the beach and pond from the roof of my house. Got the well hooked up yesterday and pumping water. Thought this was a better picture of beach in the overall setting.