Again and again you come into the situation that you have to glue pond liners. You can read in detail in our article how this works, what differences there are in individual pond liners and which adhesives and bonding methods are suitable.

Sometimes pond liner has to be glued to pond elements

Situations where gluing is required

The gluing of pond liners is only necessary under certain special circumstances:

  • if the pond liner has to be attached to other materials (such as a concrete wall) during installation
  • when the individual parts have to be joined together in a stream that is to be lined with pond liner
  • when a pond liner needs to be repaired

A film does not have to be glued for the installation itself. As a rule, the manufacturer already provides the foil in the required dimensions. For this purpose, the film is welded together from individual strips by the manufacturer - special, industrial welding processes are used for this that you cannot use on the construction site yourself.

In principle, self-welding is only possible with PVC foils, and solvent welding agents have to be used for this. The process is complex and error-prone and generally not recommended for use by laypersons. Gluing is always the safer alternative.

Types of pond liners

First of all, you have to figure out which ones type of pond liner you want to glue at all. There is

  • PVC pond liners
  • PE pond liners
  • Pond liners made of EPDM, this is a special rubber material
  • in rare cases, special (very expensive) geotextiles are also used as a substitute for the foil

PVC foils

PVC films are still the most widespread, despite their many disadvantages. However, they are the most cost-effective foils and are also used in professional gardening and landscaping construction to line ponds.

Their durability is quite limited, they are not environmentally friendly and due to the chemical conversion processes that take place (escape of the plasticizers after just a few years and the material becomes brittle as a result), older films can often no longer be glued cleanly and tightly.

EPDM foils

EPDM foils are the slightly more expensive, but very ecological and environmentally friendly variant. They have enormous durability and are also the easiest to repair in practice. Gluing is not a problem here.

PE foils

Films made of PE are rarely found, but are still occasionally used. They are slightly more environmentally friendly than PVC films. The same bonding methods and also the same adhesives can usually be used for them as for PVC, but the adhesive strength is usually somewhat limited here - this should always be taken into account when gluing the films.

geotextiles

Very different materials are sometimes used here, but they are extremely rarely found in pond construction and practically not at all in private ponds. If such foils have to be glued or repaired, a professional repair is almost always necessary.

Glue for repair

Foils - no matter how durable and tear-resistant - always get damaged. Foils can almost always be repaired well by gluing, with the exception of PVC foils, where gluing can often become problematic after just a few years. In these cases, however, the film is usually already so brittle and so leaky that it should then be completely replaced or renewed anyway.

Bonding of PVC foils

Special adhesives are used for PVC foils, which are intended to create a tight connection. These adhesives can usually also be used for PE films. Many of them liquefy the material during the exposure time and thus create a stable connection in the edge areas when the material that has flowed into one another has solidified again.

Before gluing, however, there are a few things to consider - the correct procedure can be found in our brief instructions:

Glue PVC film correctly - step by step

  • PVC film
  • suitable glue
  • Sandbags (or sandbags, depending on the size of the splice)

1. Preparation

Lay the film with the planned splice on a completely flat surface (e.g. a board). The film must be absolutely clean and completely dry before sticking.

2. Treatment of the splice

The film must be roughened and pre-treated with an adhesion primer. Then the glue is applied. According to the manufacturer's instructions, it must act for a certain period of time.

3. Gluing

The sutures are then placed together and pressed firmly together. After that, you have to remain weighted down with sandbags for a while so that the glued area holds well.

4. Post-treatment

For greater tightness, the seams must then be sealed.

Glue EPDM foil

Gluing is much easier with EPDM foils. For easy and hassle-free repairs, you can easily liquid pond liner use. The liquid pond liner is simply painted over the damaged area in 2 - 3 layers.

For a repair with glue, use a special rubber glue. When gluing, always follow the manufacturer's instructions exactly. It is best to additionally secure an adhesive point on EPDM foils with a special EPDM adhesive tape.

tips

After a repair, you should always wait at least 1 - 2 days before the repaired area comes into contact with water again. So only fill up your pond again after this rest period. A great deal of effort can be required to find any damage at all - read this article to find out how best to proceed.

Category:

Garden design