Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Best practices for building a pond

The sheepsfoot is the ultimate tool in compacting clay, but for building a pond dam, it's kind of overkill. It's never bad to have it too strong, but it's rarely used and not really needed. A sheepsfoot roller and compactor is needed for compacting soil to building code levels before bulding a structure on it, but not really needed for what you have.

First thing you need to be sure of is if your soil contains enough clay to hold water. Then you need to be sure it's both tall and wide enough to hold back the water in your pond. Lots of ponds have been dug without a core trench, but it's not advised as it's a simple, easy way to make the dam stronger with less dirt.

Digging out the dam to create a core trench after it's been dug is probably a futile waste of time and money. Have the soil tested, then if it's good clay, review the size of your dam. I've seen four foot wide dams at the top with good clay holding back six feet of water with only a foot of freeboard on the top.

Eddie