BIG MISTAKE!!

[auntiesue]

Ok so I don't listen well . Many of you might already know that DH and I finished a new pond late last fall. We were very excited about finally getting it operational before our winter hit last year. The pond got through the winter in good shape, but with the frost coming out of the ground and some recent rains, the integrity of the pond sides failed. I was told several times that no matter how hard the clay is, that when doing as deep as we did, the only sure way to ensure the sides don't cave was to reinforce it with cinder block, which we didn't do. You can build bricks out of our clay soil and still we had problems. I'll try to get outside tomorrow and take some pictures, but in the meantime, here is the before shots .

Hopefully, once you see this mess, you that about to build will take a lesson from this and not short cut the construction process.

Before pictures:

http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6367

After pictures to follow tomorrow. Thankfully DH decided we don't have to clean this mess up ourselves. WE've hired some YOUNG men to come over and dig us out this weekend, weather permitting of course. We'll be up and running by May 1st I'm sure. Thankfully none of the plumbing was destroyed.

[LouAnn]

Sorry Auntie Sue. But I have heard experience is the best teacher. But sure is a tough leson to learn. Hope it cleans up easy.

[Noahsnana]

Oh No ... Isn't that a kick in the pants...borrowed that from EM but it fits. I hope you are able to find a solution.

[Jeff R.]

I am so sorry to hear of your misfortune Auntie Sue. It is not always easy to own up to a mistake in public but I thank you on behalf of those who are spared a similiar fate by your sharing.

[CarolinaGirl]

What a hard lesson to learn! Clay soil is actually very unstable. It seems hard as a rock, but tends to slip and shift. Aren't you glad it happened now, instead of in the spring after you got everything up and going for the summer! I am happy that your plumbing was not destroyed!

[Lynn]

Sue, like Jeff, I thank you for helping to prevent future problems for other pond builders. My dad has built every house that our family has lived in so we had his expertise on which to rely when we built ours. It is concrete block, and tho it was hard work to put those walls up I am sure glad we did.

[schildkoi]

Hang in there, its all part of the learning curve.

Steve

[Sandyd]

Sue, I am so sorry that this happened. You have a beautiful pond and set up with the before pics.


I know that there is suppose to be reinforcing with straight sides and deep and we couldn't afford brickwork when we put ours in, so we choose to have 2 - 1 foot steps going to 4 foot deep. We had to make it large in circumferance to accomodate the fish and insure no access to predators and we haven't had any problems with the sides collapsing in 3 years. It isn't hard to keep clean (the 2 ledges), the koi keep it swept off to the retro bottom drain. I just enlarged the pond this last weekend with a 12 inch wide by 6 inch deep ledge to accomodate the rock and keep it just at the water line to keep the koi away from the sharp edges of the rock.

Hope the cleanup goes fast and when it is done you will definately enjoy what you have.

Sandyd

[emmalou]

Aw Sue...that sucksoutloud! And everything looked so fabulous too. Thanks to you posting, I have learned a thing or to about what NOT to do when my pond goes in..Thanks for that Sue...but so sorry you have to go through this..

[JoeKoi]

Thank you for sharing this traumatic experience with us, Sue. I wish you the best when getting this situation worked out.