Raised Pond Wall ?

[skybluescooby]

Hi, i'm aiming to install a pre-formed 4mx6m pond with approx 1meter gap from pond edge to wall backfilled with soil for planting purposes,there will be small children present so i'm aiming to raise it so its approx 4ft high. I have looked at a few possible wall options and i have discounted sleepers for a breeze block wall with decking attached at a later date to disguise the wall. Will i need to double up on this wall as i don't want it to collapse under the pressure or will the single run of blocks be sufficient. Any ideas welcome as i'm a novice to this area of diy and wish to tackle the project fully armed.

 

[nstreet]

4ft sounds a little high to me. Don't forget you will have to regularly get to the pond to remove algae, blanket weed, dead material including fish and to plant and introduce new stock. You will also regualrly need to clean the pump filters. If you do go for a wall this high, then high density concrete blocks should be ok, especially if you get the hollow type as they can be filled with concrete to give them an extra bond. My last pond was raised to 2'6in and the depth of the pond was 4ft.

If you have children that young that you need a 4ft high wall then I would reconsider having a pond at all.

 

[Jasonb]

As nstreet says, hollow blocks filled wiyh concrete are the strongest, built my 5ft deep koi pond this way but you could use 100mm dence concrete blocks laid flat like bricks as the bigger ones get a bit heavy.

4mx6m is quite a big pre-formed pond, Whats the depth and what you going to put in it?

Here's a few pics of my pond under construction

Jason

 

[skybluescooby]

Cheers for that, your pond looks rather cool,
Some misleading info here, the total size of the pond area is 6 x 4 yet the pond will be sufficiently smaller to incorporate planting, the wall will probably be about 2ft 6 high but when i say 4ft i was kinda thinking of the wall with its hidden footings. Bit hard to put into words really but its similar to your photos but raised above ground so little ones can't fall in.
I was merely wondering how to build the wall, what depth footings etc, and what mix to use as i don't want the weight of the pond and its retaining soil to weaken the wall. Hope you follow this ?

 

[Jasonb]

That sounds a better height, just right to sit at and hand feed the fish

18" below ground should be fine, cast a concrete strip 6" deep and 12" wider than your wall then build the wall of of this with a few weep holes at the base to let any surface water drain out.

A 1:6 cement to balast mix will be OK for the foundation.

Jason

 

[skybluescooby]

cheers,
So just to double check, the wall will be 2.6 with an 18" below soil level wall. The weep holes will be approx 6" off the ground, the footing base will be 6"deep x say 18" wide and a 1 cement to 6 ballast for the footings..... ?
Whats best mix for blocks and i note from your picture you have a saw, have you used the lightweight easy to saw blocks ??

 

[Jasonb]

That all sounds fine.

1:5 cement:building sand for laying the blocks.

The saw was for the thermalite blocks used to "round" the internal corners, all others were dence concrete.

Jason

 

[nstreet]

Nice pond (Koi pool) Jasonb, a job well done.