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Henryc's Pond Construction

#1 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:22 PM

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#2 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:23 PM

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#3 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:26 PM

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#4 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:28 PM

This next part was what took a little convincing for me. I have loved the diffuser type bottom drains since I first retrofitted the drains on the old pond. The new pond does not have diffusers on top of the drains. Instead, there are 2 air pits in-between the 3 bottom drains. Once again, these provide no projections into the pond. Inside the air pits are large air stones. At 8ft depth some people have reported problems with super saturation caused by the pressure required to force air through the rubber diffuser membranes at that depth. So far, the air stones have not caused the same effect. Below is a shot of one of the air pits. The is before more work was done to smooth out the top and counter sink any SS screws. The air stones screw into the pre-drilled and tapped holes in the plate at the bottom.

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#5 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:29 PM

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#6 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:30 PM

With the Koi happy in their temporary home, I drained the pond, removed the existing screen enclosure and pulled up the brick pavers from around the pond. I also dug up the landscaping that was just outside the screen area. Notice all the pavers stacked up in the second photo (that is how an anal retentive engineer does things). Those pavers along with some new pavers were laid back down after the pond was completed.

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#7 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:32 PM

Jan 12th - The real demolition began. John and Bob did not hesitate to start ripping up what I took so much care to create. My feelings about this part of the transition were mixed. On one hand I was excited about the new pond, but watching all my hard work being torn apart was a bit rough.

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#8 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:34 PM

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#9 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:35 PM

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#10 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:37 PM

Once the main dig was complete, they started setting the bottom drains. A hole was dug out around where the drain was to be placed and 3 pieces of rebar driven into the ground to just the right height (checked by laser level) to rest the bottom drain lip onto. A trench was dug for each bottom drain line that extended past the outer edge of where the pond walls will be. The 4" pipe was glued to the drain and a cap placed on the other end of the pipe. Once the walls were complete, they dug down outside the pond wall and tied into these lines. The air pits where also put in place. They are 6" higher than the bottom drains (refer to drawings posted earlier). The photo may make them appear to be out of line, but they are each perfectly centered in the pond. Each was cemented in place, but only about half way up. This is to hold them in place during the pond bottom pour.

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#11 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:38 PM

Below is some of the final prep done for the pond slab. Rebar was driven into the pond walls at the bottom to mark the level of the top of the slab. More rebar was driven into the pond bottom to mark the point where the pond bottom will begin to slope down towards the bottom drains. Rebar was placed around the outer perimeter for the wall footer. The drain and air pit grates were removed and cardboard put in place to prevent any cement from getting into the drain/air pit.

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#12 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:39 PM

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#13 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:41 PM

The layout for the filter pit was completed on Jan 16th. The Nexus filters were placed in the filter pit to help determine placement for the plumbing. A change was made to the original plumbing design. The 4" ball valves for flushing the drain lines are much larger than I thought so they could not be placed the way I had designed (see the last photo and compare the valve size to my sneakers). The solution was to drop them down below the filter pit floor in valve boxes. This actually makes for a much cleaner filter pit area. The photos below show the new layout of the flush lines. After each 4" flush valve, a section of 4" clear PVC is used to allow the flushed water to be viewed. The big 4" ball valves have large handles so they are easily opened and closed. The Nexus filters are actually a bit higher once the filter pit slab was poured and have a 4" slide valve prior to the inlet. You can also see the 2" pipe for the Nexus waste lines. The inner and outer chamber drain lines and the outlet polisher drain line for each Nexus are connected to the 2" lines. An overflow line is also connected to one of them.

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#14 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:43 PM

Jan 18th - concrete day. The concrete pump and concrete truck arrived around noon. The concrete used for the pond and filter pit floors is 4000psi with fiber reinforcing. Below are shots of the filter pit pour.

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#15 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:45 PM

After the filter pit pour, they moved on to the pond. First they surrounded the bottom drains and air pits then Carl moved to the outer ring. After pouring the pond wall footer, the rest of the floor was poured and smoothed out. The floor is bowled around each bottom drain. The slope down to each bottom drain is steeper than it appears in the photos.

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#16 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:46 PM

An attempt to show the slope down to the drains in photos. You can see the air pits are higher than the drains.

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#17 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:47 PM

Jan 19th ? block day.  After the first 2 courses of block for the pond were finished, the block crew moved over to the filter pit so the plumbing for the TPRs could be installed.  There are 6 TPRs about 16" off the bottom. The pump returns tie into a 3" header that surrounds the pond and the TPRs are tee'd off that (see design photos towards the beginning of this thread).  In the last photo, Carl is drilling the holes in the slab for the vertical rebar. This is a little more work than putting the vertical rebar in prior to pouring the concrete, but it allows the vertical rebar to be centered in each and every cell.

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#18 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:48 PM

Jan 20th ? more block.   Filter pit block is complete except for the cap blocks. It will then be plastered and painted.

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#19 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:50 PM

The masons worked fast. These guys really know what they are doing. The first photo below was from 8:15 in the morning. The second is from 8:30.  The last is from 11:45.

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#20 User is offline   HenryC 

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 07:51 PM

There is a ton of steel in the walls. Below you can see Carl cutting slots in the blocks to lay the final level of rebar and Bobby inserting vertical rebar into each cell.

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