Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New Rad Pond

Forms for the deck? I don't get it. Are you going to pour in the water area? or...pound in a few more concrete piles and form/pour above the water line?
Who designed the project? Are there any regulations or codes that must be followed?
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Oh yeah, the swim-up bar. As I recall, that was your idea right from jump street...

Calm, calm, you are getting ahead of the story, in a day or so they will have it formed.

I designed it and had an engineer/architech calculate the steel.

Now given that I know little more about designing houses than I do about ponds, this will be interesting at worst.

This is the platform for the beams that hold the whole thing up. I will get photos of the next step when they form the beams. The 5' wide cantilevered deck/balcony is about 3" lower than the house floor. And as you can see a little too high for the swim up bar.

A 5' projection of an unsupported concrete deck will require some fairly impressive rebar. Yep, I am anxious to see this one, too. Definitely the better decision to have an engineer on the staff. Will there be abutments supporting the deck, or will it be totally flying?

Remember that we are speaking 3 different languages, Thai, English and the one that covers everything else. It is the one where there are no coresponding words in either language or the interpreter doesn't understand the question, to which the answer is usually "yes".

When the architect and I were talking about the deck, I was thinking 1 meter, (40") and he offered up 1 1/2. So I asked how and he said we would use the pre-stressed pieces. So our intent is to have the whole 5' cantilevered. If they are bracing back to the piers I have seen any indication yet.

But, as we say here, "let's go see"

Great stuff Rad, keep it coming.

Here is the photo I said I would post about a year ago. Brettski was asking about a 5 ' cantilevered balcony so here is a picture.

The plant life has taken off and the place is now starting to shape up. Still lots to do clean up, erosion damage, weeds and ants, they are here in the billions. They seemed happy in the jungle but now want in the house???

Beautiful Rad, almost makes me want to forgive the fact that it took you a year to answer my post. Almost.

Are those banana trees I see? I always wanted banana trees in my backyard, but with temps dropping below 0 degree Fahrenheit, I doubt they'd do very good...

Musa basjoo should be able to survive in Virginia. They would die to the ground, but should come back each year from the corm.

I have banana trees here in Midwest this year, I helped a guy dig his up last fall and he give me a few and I over wintered them in the basement until it was warm enough to replant them, our growing season is not long enough for them to bare fruit that is ripe. They are one tough plant and grow very fast. Last year a couple of the trees grew 12'. since planting them this spring mine have grown 6' easily. Big pain though to dig them up every year and put them in the basement.

Someone should invent a banana tree warmer.

What some people will do in the north is put a wire cage around the banana and fill it with mulch and I think throw plastic over it all so it doesn't get wet. That gives the psuedostem a chance to actually survive and flower and fruit, but basjoo fruit isn't palatable, so people are mostly just protecting the psuedostem so it gets taller than it otherwise would.

Nice looking place Rad. How is the new pond doing?

Sorry Jeff.
Yes those are bananas, they grow pretty well around here, some of the plants, we have several different kinds, reach 12 to 15 feet as the fruit matures and then they are cut down to harvest the bananas. Our temps rarely dip below 80.

ewest, the new pond has responded differently, the water is a different color and clarity is about a foot. The old has suspended clay with about 3 inches clarity. The tilapia are slow to establish, part of that is from birds, but not all. There is quite a bit of cover but still reproduction and survival is slow. I am now adding mature fish and will add another 1000 1 1/4" long. I am trying to have a solid forage base so that I can stock Peacock bass.

The plants in the water are on a shoal that is in about 3 feet of water, but even they are slow. I am not getting the nutrients here that I am in the old pond and they are only 100 feet apart.