By reading the posts here at Pond Boss I have managed to avoid a lot of mistakes, still managed a few on my own & so will journal my experience with the hope it helps someone else. It will be dry & to the point because as all good folk of German descent, I lack humor. Called NRCS July 2006, & they provided topo & soil maps. One of their guys came out & we found really the only good spot to dig a 4-5acre pond on 284 acres.The red dots outline the pond's perimeter.
The area was solid trees requiring that lanes be cut through the dry creek & to areas allowing for soil test holes to be dug
A dirt contractor was called & he came out, looked the situation over, gave a non-binding verbal idea of the cost & I began clearing the 5 acres of woods with a JD555
There were quite a few large white oaks(post oak) in the borrow area, so rather than burn them I decided to save them & have them rough-sawn for a pavilion. That pipe will be discussed later
The other trees were burned & others piled up to go back into the pond.
The first serious mistake was not getting a firm bid from the first contractor early on. When I finally got one in Dec 2006 it was 50% higher than the original guesstimate!I had been waiting 3 months to get this guy in there(because good dirt contractors are booked up) & now couldn't afford him.Talked to three more contractors & finally found one at a reasonable price, but had to wait until Aug 2007. It can't be over emphasized how important a comprehensive contract with all issues spelled out is. The contractor's son made the deal, but the dad ended up doing the work & he expected a bunch of the work was extra! I made a copy of the signed contract & brought it to the job & that was the end of that.Even so, when the work began(8 months later) all the flags were grown up in weeds or gone & there was an issue over where the water line was suppose to be. So make sure the benchmark used to survey is immovable, permanent & not in the clearing area until the pond is finished.
Backtracking a little, I also called DigTess & had them check for any utilities before I started digging. They found none, but here is what was in the middle of the woods
Had to make many, many phone calls to find this 4' line was abandoned & could be safely cut-up & removed. Another important matter was the creek, which was described as fish habitat that couldn't be reproduced with a dozier, so it must be preserved. That required cutting off trees with a chain saw & dragging them out without disturbing the side walls of the creek.
The last photo illustrates some common sense-trees will fall in any direction & that direction is directly affected by anything valuable inside the fall line..Another important consideration is that the pond doesn't back water up on a neighbors' property, so dam height was critical as this pond's origin was within 10' of neighbor's fence.The sandstone rock below is the pond's origin, with the fence being just behind this photo.
I found a used transit to be a very valuable tool for identifying the water line so the trees along the shore could be saved, establishing a pier height, & building the pavilion above the water line. I used the transit evry time I turned around.
Still no dirt has been moved, but a lot of planning goes into one of these projects. I don't believe there can be too much planning. Along the way my crawler broke & when I loaded it onto my 29' dovetail(slightly wet & slightly sloped) trailer, it slid off & could of been really bad. My neighbor came over & righted it..good neighbors are hard to find, but I've got one
Another hot topic addressed during the bidding stages was whether a draw-down pipe was needed.It was decided that this pond didn't require one because the watershed area was minimal at best(110ac for approx 5 ac pond) However my fact gathering would have led me to use this type if one had been needed
The digging took 5 weeks with a JD850, one 13yd & one 15yd scraper. The creek was cored 20' wide & 15' deep. The dam back slope is 4/1, the front 3/1, & it's 120' wide toe to toe at the deepest
After running a cultipacker & rye grass spreader with my JD6310, I can tell you my butt was puckered on that 4/1 slope!
The slope behind the dam allows for a grass spillway that's 40' wide with 2' freeboard on the dam
There was very little rock turned up, but what there was I pushed up around a built up area. This was one of those places where there was a lot of shallow area, so dug part of it deep & raised the rest to form a peninsula(pond not designed for ducks)
Moved about 33,000cu yd & also one other important point; had 2ac feet of top soil removed intially & stockpiled to cover the dam, as the deeper soils won't grow anything like grass to cover the dam
The pier project included 3&1/8' thick walled pipe & used guardrail. Dimensions are 26' across & 26' deep(that's how guardrail comes), there will be about 14' water at the pier end with 6"freeboard when water is at the spillway. This is all self engineered, so don't be too harsh. Started with an idea, a drawing & then with my wife's help, a pier. Later, a floating dock project.
I don't have a finished product picture, but a rail goes around the top for obvious reasons( I've seen some of your posts with a type of beverage,Corona something). The pavilion started the same way, drawings,etc
Don't have any cool CAD software, so please don't make fun of my drawings LOL. The pavilion was really born out of what to do with those big white oaks.The slab was stained & stamped to give a rock-like appearance( cost $2.00/ft more)
The metal braces are 3/8" thick & posts are anchored using Hilte epoxyed anchor bolts 4' deep
The upright posts are 9x9", 8' tall, cross beams are 3x8" 16' across & 24' long. Rafters are 2x6" & roof will be decked with 1" oak planks, felt, & a standing seam roof(Mueller) as soon as my knee heals from falling off the ladder!
Some of those nasty red cedar trees can also be rough sawn for extra heavy picnic tables. Used a clear spar finish.
And of course I couldn't have done this without my wife's help, she's a real trooper
