Hello All,
I'm digging a Koi pond.
Started my dig today which has gone well so far and we've got down 30 inches or so, and we will have 24 inches above ground to give just over 4 feet in depth. My pond will be 6 feet from my rear of house wall. and 9 feet in diameter, approx 1400 gallons and is a moulded plastic tub.
Background info, my cottage is 200 years old and has had an extension around 30 years ago, before I bought the property.
Now, my pick hit a rock and gave off a 'hollow' ting, arousing suspicion; excavated carefully around the rock (limestone) and pulled it up to reveal it was capping a brick gulley 10 inches wide 2 courses deep running across my pond footprint just off centre (bottom drain will miss it). The courses of bricks have been capped with whatever the builder could get their hands on, large limestone and sandstone.
The gulley runs over my land into my neighbours land where I'm assuming it terminates into a soak away, the gulley looks like its leading to my roof downpipes and is serving to clear rain/storm water. The bricks are not mortared together just butt against each other and the gulley was half full of dirt. I ran a hose full bore into the down pipe gulley trap for half an hour and sure enough water ran into the gulley, so I'm certain it is an old soak away.
I need advice ! My initial thoughts are to lift the rocks off the brick gulley, clean out the gulley as best as I could and then cap with 400mm paving slabs the cover over with sharp sand and kingspan which my pond will then sit on. Then I had another thought to shove 110mm soil pipe up the gulley as far as I could toward the House rainwater down pipe and then infill the gulley around the soil pipe with gravel etc and complete the pipe run pushing soil pipe down away from my house until it leaves my land onto my neighbours land.
Do these ideas sound like a plan and would concrete slabs support my ponds across a 10 inch gulley assuming I don't do the soil pipe and backfill option ?
Cheers,
Mark
ginboomerang
New member
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 12:22 am
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I'm digging a Koi pond.
Started my dig today which has gone well so far and we've got down 30 inches or so, and we will have 24 inches above ground to give just over 4 feet in depth. My pond will be 6 feet from my rear of house wall. and 9 feet in diameter, approx 1400 gallons and is a moulded plastic tub.
Background info, my cottage is 200 years old and has had an extension around 30 years ago, before I bought the property.
Now, my pick hit a rock and gave off a 'hollow' ting, arousing suspicion; excavated carefully around the rock (limestone) and pulled it up to reveal it was capping a brick gulley 10 inches wide 2 courses deep running across my pond footprint just off centre (bottom drain will miss it). The courses of bricks have been capped with whatever the builder could get their hands on, large limestone and sandstone.
The gulley runs over my land into my neighbours land where I'm assuming it terminates into a soak away, the gulley looks like its leading to my roof downpipes and is serving to clear rain/storm water. The bricks are not mortared together just butt against each other and the gulley was half full of dirt. I ran a hose full bore into the down pipe gulley trap for half an hour and sure enough water ran into the gulley, so I'm certain it is an old soak away.
I need advice ! My initial thoughts are to lift the rocks off the brick gulley, clean out the gulley as best as I could and then cap with 400mm paving slabs the cover over with sharp sand and kingspan which my pond will then sit on. Then I had another thought to shove 110mm soil pipe up the gulley as far as I could toward the House rainwater down pipe and then infill the gulley around the soil pipe with gravel etc and complete the pipe run pushing soil pipe down away from my house until it leaves my land onto my neighbours land.
Do these ideas sound like a plan and would concrete slabs support my ponds across a 10 inch gulley assuming I don't do the soil pipe and backfill option ?
Cheers,
Mark
ginboomerang
New member
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 12:22 am
Top
