[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
>> So we have the bottom of the pond completely rocked in, and
we're up on the upper bench.
We're getting ready to start setting some character stone.
This is where I want you to take a great deal of time,
cuz it really makes a big difference in the way the overall pond looks.
Before I start setting some of these stones, I wanna give you a little safety tip.
A lot of times I'll come out onto a job site, and I will see a skimmer installed, and
there's a big, open, two foot deep pole, and people are carrying rocks around the pond.
It's just a dangerous situation.
So before you start rocking in the pond,
I want you to put some kind of cover over the lid of the skimmer to make it safe.
This particular pond we're using the Helix pond skimmer, and
we have this nice, beautiful piece of flagstone.
It's nice and level.
One of the signature moves we use on,
on our construction team is, we'll put large character stones next to the skimmer.
And I like to make the skimmer a real area of interest, instead of, you know,
stacking some small rocks next to a plastic stone.
So we're gonna show you that trick right now.
I'm gonna set some character stones right next to the skimmer.
[SOUND]
Give me a nice fold right here in front of the skimmer.
[NOISE] You know what we wanna dig this out,
dig some of this dirt out right here.
Grab a shovel please.
[SOUND]
>> Okay. You can backfill that.
Just a little bit to hold it up.
[SOUND] Okay, do this side.
[SOUND]
Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on.
This is the top right here.
[SOUND] All right.
[SOUND] It can be wedged out of this side.
[SOUND]
Hold that, pull the liner up.
Okay, easy, easy.
[NOISE] Here we go.
[NOISE] Yeah.
[SOUND] Okay, give me the wedge over here.
[NOISE] Yeah,
[NOISE] bigger.
That one.
[SOUND]
Pull this back up to it.
That side more.
All right that'll work.
Well, we seal that up in a little bit.
>> Put this liner up here.
>> Is this leaning against?
>> No.
>> So we need some backfill there.
Now, when we, when we excavated the pond here, we overdug it just a little bit,
and that allows me to set my rocks in place, and
then backfill them, and I don't have to set the rocks exactly to the excavation.
We can kind of put the rock where we want and pull dirt to it, and give it a compaction,
and then the rock is exactly how we want it.
[SOUND] Okay.
Got plenty a slack for a face plate attachment.
Nice.
Okay, give me another rock.
[SOUND]
Let's see, lets save this guy for
the coping over here.
Give me give me that big one right there.
[NOISE] Now, as I come off this skimmer, and I start heading towards the waterfall,
I can graduate this side and they can have different levels happening here.
So, this one I might pop up, and that side I'm gonna keep nice and level.
[NOISE] That's where the destination spot's gonna be.
[NOISE] Yeah, let's get this guy kind of sticking up in a jagged format.
Yeah, that's really nice.
[NOISE] Here take this.
[SOUND] Pull the liner.
Yeah.
[SOUND]
Let me stand back and take a look at that guy.
Hold that.
Yeah, that's not working for me.
>> Too high.
>> Yeah.
Let's, like, this, the top.
Let's make this side the bottom, this side will be the top.
>> Yeah.
[SOUND] Wait, you know, what?
>> Maybe if we rotate it >> I think I want this to the top.
I love that top.
So let's put this as the bottom, this as the top, and
the bottom will tuck in here, will be high like that.
Yeah, right there, let's go up.
[NOISE] Ready?
>> Ready.
>> Oh yeah, I love that.
That's it.
Bam, look at that click.
That's it.
but pull that rock up.
No, no we got to back fill that.
You don't always nail it the first try.
Sometimes you gotta muscle that big rock around, to get it just like you want it.
[SOUND] Back fill, put a foot on it.
Yeah.
I think that's gonna look real nice.
Okay.
[SOUND] Okay, so we started at the skimmer.
We're working towards the waterfall.
I'm gonna take my level and I'm gonna, I'm gonna judge these rocks, so
that I go through there.
I encourage you do to that.
So that first rock I sat next to the skimmer, I know it's sticking above water level three,
four inches.
So if I put that level on this rock, and I come over.
I can tell you that water level is gonna be right on the top of this rock.
So that's not gonna quite work.
I don't like it when a rock, the water level is here, and
another rock touches the seam right where the water level is at.
So I'm gonna wanna get this rock up, or
I'm gonna take this rock out and put a different one in.
But please use the level as you work your way around the pond.
It's gonna be very helpful for you to make your pond very accurate and precise looking.
We have the pond about 90% rocked in.
We of course haven't stacked any rock in front of the waterfall filter,
because we're gonna do a waterfall construction video.
I do wanna recap that we've taken boulders, and on all the vertical
planes of our excavation we've stacked our rock work to protect the liner, and
provide some extra strength in the excavation.
Now on all the horizontal planes we gonna put some smooth cobble on,
just a little bit to cover the surface, and provide a nice area for
beneficial bacteria to colonize on, and help keep this pond crystal clear.
If you have any questions about what we did today, and you didn't quite get it,
please list them in the comments section below and I'll get to them.
I'm Eric Triplett The Pond Digger.
Thanks for watching.
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