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Landscapers start on my new pond tomorrow!


Caryl

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Sorry to hear about the leak - how frustrating for you.

Hope they find it quickly and easily :(

If they can't find it can the pond be lined with plastic or something?

Cheers

Jude (who was about to pop over with some WCMM's to help cycle it :lol: :lol: )

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Hey if I sealed it with bunny poo I would get a good colony of daphnia too! :lol:

Went home for lunch and level has dropped further. Oh dear. It is actually lined underneath the concrete Jude. Methinks they needed a thicker sealant.

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I knew it was lined underneath but thought maybe it was torn or something. Where is the water going? Have you checked to see if some farmer isn't quietly taking advantage of a new lake for irrigation purposes?:lol:

Cheers

Jude

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Caryl, I think you will find it is leaking from the penetrations you have.

They should have been an integral part of the base and surrounded by polythene.

The other leak area is when two pours meet and are not amalgamated together properly. But as long as you have the film thru and is okay that would be covered.

Another is where the steel has been resting on the film.

That could leak there also.

But my money would be on the penetrations.

Alan 104

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Penetrations? They dug the hole put down reinforcing, wire and liner then poured the concrete in one go.

Not sure where the water's going Jude. It is so dry here and we are in an old river bed so perhaps it is just going home :wink: No lakes appeared in neighbours, or over fence in reserve either.

No extra cost to us Ira as they built it so must see it right, which I am sure they will do.

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The penetrations I'm refering to Caryl are the supprts for the pagoda and the platform. Maybe four of them??

They appear to be some sort of pipe??

Can only go by what I see in the pics

Can you get a closeup pic of them C and email it to me??

Alan 104

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I came home to find a note on the door reassuring me they are on the case. They are going to drain the pond and re-seal it. The sealer was sprayed on.

Here are the poles Alan.

Hard to tell what's under the rocks here

pergolaupright.jpg

but under the decks they look like this

pipe.jpg

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Is that a boot print in the bottom right corner? Maybe there to give a jurasic (sp) feel??? lol

It looks a bit like the water level is now at the base of that post?? If thats the case it would indicate a good place to start looking for the leak, the pond wont of course drain below the leak so maybe you need to let it sit for a day or two once the rain stops to see how far the water level drops.

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I too am waiting to see if the level drops further or whether it is the post.I never noticed the footprint :lol:

The last pic was taken at ground level using the display screen and angling the lens. The camera was too heavy for the chopper. :wink:

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great thread going here and a real nice pond in the making :D

Iv just got a few comments to make from my experiances with concrete ponds- its vital to pour or spray the concrete in one layer, any joins- be it concrete to concrete or plastic or wood are likely to leak which seems to have happened here. Also the concrete seems to have been mixed rather dry which gives it that rough look. It also makes it less likely to form a seal around the posts.

As for fixing it, Iv used the product 'nead-it' with success for sealing small cracks in concrete ponds. a few more coats of the pond sealant around the joins may do it too.

good luck, I hope its fixed soon

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Jaze said:

I always add waterproofer and palmolive detergent as a plasticiser, did they pour or spray Caryl? It may be worth finding out what formula they used for the concrete.

We have had a couple of 10,000 gallon concrete water tanks made on site, and these guys also used the washing up liquid in with the mix to aid the flow of the concrete, and to (as I understood).. to bind the concrete into a smaller cell structure to create a waterproof seal.

They used no aggregate fill though.. just sand and cement.

Looking great Caryl :)

Noticed a tree or two in the first pics...

Will these be a prob.

I ask because we have just had to pull up a number of trees that broke through the wall of one of our dams.. and then had to have the thing re-dug and sealed... plus the leaves are a pain once they start dropping.

Bill.

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the waterproof bonding agents effectively change the molecular structure of the concrete to repel water. Its about $15 a litre, and compared to long term water damage - its cheap. I would have gone with the shot spray method, which is a popular way of concreting swimming pools now. Even if for no other reason it was to play with the last legal civil machine gun in the country.

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marks thoughts, as he has had a problem with leaks on his small pond, Due to the rough surface of the bottom of your pond, small holes could possibly have been created, allowing for leakage, with the amount of pressure the water places on the concrete, it would be enough to drain the pond in a short space of time, our 2m x 800mm drained within 72 hours. 8)

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Thanks for all your thoughts and comments. The landscapers have decided it is the size of the stones in the concrete versus the spraying on of the sealant. Water level has dropped further, below the pipes so I am pretty sure it is porous all over. They will re-seal it on Monday.

Too late about the concrete additives since they have already done it :wink: Wonder if it can be added to the sealant?

Tanksman; I was going to hang upside down off the deck until I remembered the display screen and angle capabilities of my camera :wink:

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yes if the sealant is plaster based. Sorry Caryl only option I can see is ripping off the sealant and plastering with a good appropriate plaster(ka-ching ka-ching), waterproofer and a good aggregate on top. I am no professional concreter but I do know that most of the sealants require a maximum size gravel mix to work properly and that the range is in the hundreths of millimetres. One thing I have learnt is that you cant overdo the foundations for waterbearing concrete, if anything its better to overprepare than fix later.

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