A stream can flow gently through the garden with a ripple - and finally tumble down a mountain with a whooshing noise, only to end up in the garden pond. Such a waterfall is not only a visual highlight, but also improves the water quality considerably: the strong movement enriches the water with plenty of oxygen, which greatly simplifies pond care.
A stream made of stones looks particularly natural
manual
There are many ideas on how such a waterfall can be built and designed. You can form it out of concrete, use soil and pond liner, or use a wooden base. It can be built with a steep drop or rippling gently down the steps - that's entirely up to your personal taste and the local conditions. In these instructions you will find an easy-to-implement variant that can also be implemented by inexperienced do-it-yourselfers.
Materials needed
To build this waterfall you will need the following materials:
- Pond liner and fleece
- Soil / topsoil / excavation from pond construction
- sand
- Stones, such as quarry stones or field stones
- mortar / cement
The required quantities depend on how big the waterfall should be and are therefore not listed here.
creation of the hill
Since a waterfall always falls from an elevated position, you must of course create one first. To do this, fill up a mound of earth, for which you can, for example, use the excavation from a possible pond construction. The earth should be well consolidated so that the hill does not slip later. Also remember that the hill must not be higher than the incoming stream - water does not flow uphill, at least not without technical support. Therefore, the stream should flow from the top of the hill, with a gradient of two to three percent being perfectly adequate. The garden pond, into which the water flows, is again at the lowest point.
Model waterfall
Once this preparatory work is done, you can start building the waterfall:
- Make an indentation at the top of the hill.
- Lower this in the direction of the creek.
- Build a connection to the creek.
- Lower the indentation towards the front.
- Dig a watercourse down the hill.
- Build it steeply or in terraces.
- Make a connection to the pond.
- Build the subsoil: layer of sand, fleece on top
- Now lay the pond liner on the subsurface.
- Finally, you can design the waterfall hill, for example with quarry or field stones and plants.
tips
Don't lay the return hose under the mound - if this ever needs to be repaired, you'll have to remove the whole mound including the waterfall.