Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Am I Crazy? - Cheryl's new pond

Brand new pond......We have spent all summer clearing land excavating and digging out our pond. This has been a great project and all of our freinds have donated their labor (for beer and barbecue of course). Our original intent was to line with Bentonite but we live in Washington State and the freight cost is just too much.

The pond is 40 x 60 and approx 10' deep. I would say most of the excavated area is clay with on area that is mucky gravel. The bottom appears to be mostly clay and we have water in the bottom now that we are having a hard time keeping pumped out.

contimued from above....
The local quarry donated their excess clay for free to line the pond with and we will be ready to compact this weekend. Unfortunately the sides are to steep and the bottom to wet to use a sheeps foot roller so we are planning to use a plate compactor. I just keep telling everyone this is an experiment and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the pond will hold water. I have to say that just about everyone in town thinks I am crazy for doing this. Any thoughts or suggestions or encouragement would be greatly appreciated. I have spent allot of time on this site and all of the information has been very very helpfull with this project. Keep your fingers crossed!

Cherylann,

I suspect all of us pond fanatics are a bit crazy...at least when viewed by the outsiders(and even some pond boss insiders in my case) How else could you explain grown adults digging holes in the ground and spending their children's inheritance in the process?

Check out your neighbors...do they have ponds that hold water? Sounds like you have a very good chance of having one also...but you MUST cover every portion that is non-clay with something which is impermeable, preferably clay from your site. Two feet of good packed clay is virtually impermeable....and low cost if you have it at the site. Pay very careful attention to the mucky gravel area, it can be heartbreaking if not properly covered.

crazy in el dorado

sounds like you might have groundwater coming in through gravel layer. i had similar situation with groundwater entering through fractured bedrock.....during renovation we had groundwater collecting at deep end of pond, we kept a low spot to collect the water and dug out bedrock around the area as far as practical (to gain pond depth). then we dumped a big pile of clay on it which pushed aside the water and plugged it from the top. we went to work on another side of pond for a couple days. after the deep end had dried out some, we went back in and layered and compacted in about 2 feet of clay around the entire deep end area using the track hoe weight followed by two dozers, and this method worked in my situation.

compactor mounted on tractor or hoe, i hope

We have a very high water table here. We have a dug well that we use for the gardens that is only 17 feet deep and does not go dry. When we were excavating we definitely hit water. There are two ponds just down the road that hold water year round. This area that we have the pond in is definitely a wet spot on our property. I have been putting clay on top of the area that appears to have the water in it and it is helping (some). We managed to get ahold of 40 bags of bentonite from the local co-op that we will also till in on the gravel side along with the clay we have layered on top. Do you think the plate compactor will work for compacting?

Hey, Cherylann...
Thrilled for ya and surely hope it works out!
If you are speaking of a one-man compactor, I have used both the vibratory and jumpin' jack types. The jumpin' jack is the one you want. The vibratory don't compare in compaction. I just used a jumping jack compactor (fairly extensively) this last summer...it was a one-man gas powered model. It absolutely rocks. I was packing clay that, in my estimation, would compact 4 - 6 inches within about 5 strokes of the compactor. 5 strokes happens within about 2 seconds. The problem is mobility on slopes. The forward or backward lateral progress occurs by "leaning" the unit into the direction desired. If the grade is flat and somewhat consistent, it will move along well at a pace that is kinda slow, but man-oh-man the soil is compacted. But...as soon as you get past about 15% grade (and that ain't much), it won't move uphill....and...going downhill is too fast and difficult to control.
I don't know how this performance compares to other models (like pneumatic)...?

Brettski, i am sore and out of breath just reading your directions.

Cheryl, 40x60 probly aint a huge amount to do with a manually operated compactor, and if you are just doing a fraction of that then maybe the manually operated one brettski outlines will suffice. or maybe your man is a lumberjack? otherwise, ask around town and you can probly find somebody with one on his backhoe that will come and do a much better, and much safer job, for a couple hundred dollars. your dirt guy should have one, could get one, or has a buddy.

a ton of betonite should go a long way sealing the rocky part with some clay scratched over the rock.

sounds like you will be ok with your high water table and the low spot. and its probly hard to tell for sure even if you had some photos. so you could do a bunch of work and not have level you want or maybe do less work and have a great level. its all part of the excitement.

cherylann:

Somebody around there has to have something like this Hoe mounted compactor

My buddy has a smaller version on his backhoe. He can easily reach 12-15 in all directions. Figure maybe $75/hr, and they can do a bunch in a couple hours. Call around to foundation (concrete) contractors. Tony uses his to compact for footing work. Save your back, spend a few bucks if you can and have it done right. He could also place the clay with the hoe, then compact and it'll be done right...

...and by the way...if you're crazy, welcome to the club!

everyone here is so awesome....thanks so much for all the info. Hopefully we can find the hoe mounted compactor, that seems the way to go. We are getting closer to completion everyday and are very excited to see the outcome. Finding this site has helped so much! And it's nice to know I'm not the only crazy one out there. I think my husband is going to start giving me sleeping pills at night so I sleep instead of thinking up these crazy projects.

wait till its got water...

but hopefully you go thru pond birthing process just once per pond