Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Recore question

I’ve had a pond for about 12 years that always leaked. This year I decided to spend the money and get it rebuilt. We drained it about 4 months ago and this week they came out and re cored the damn. They went about 4 feet below water level but what concerns me is the wet soil at the bottom of the core trench as shown in the pictures. Any advice would be appreciated. It’s almost put back together the last three days but I hope I didn’t just spend that money for nothing. Edited: I can’t get pictures to load

Joe, sorry to hear about your leaky pond.

Your pictures are showing up for me.

However, the pictures don't give me a clear view of the actual situation on your property.

I would want the core trench to go about four feet below the level of the pond BOTTOM, not the normal pond water level. Or is there still a little water in your "drained" pond and they went four feet below that?

Clay does need to be moist for proper compaction. However, if the clay is water saturated, that is too much moisture and the clay will flow rather than be compacted.

Also, I can see some pebble/gravel size material in your first picture. If there is too much gravel, you cannot compact the material enough to form a seal against water losses. If the gravel pieces touch enough other pieces of gravel (point contacts), then they create a rigid structure such that the clay particles in between cannot be compacted.

I know I did not give you any answers. Hopefully, I provided a little clarification so you can ask more questions of your contractor, or more specific questions on the forum.

Good luck on your dam repair project.

There's a pond about a mile and a half from me that I drive by twice a day on the way to/from work. It used to go down at least 4 feet every Summer. Then the owners hired the excavator who dug our ponds (but not their leaker) to recore it. Based on water levels before and after, I'd say at least 80% of the prior leakage has been eliminated.

Hopefully recoring will be successful on your pond as well.

As Theo says, a GOOD pond builder is almost worth his weight in gold!

Yes i agree. Hopefully it works out for me

Thanks for the reply and helping boost my confidence. How much water shed you think that pond has.