How to lay a flexible liner

Hello all,

I've been doing battle with the existing pond liner in our rented garden pond for some weeks to no avail - despite draining, cleaning, resealing, refilling, redraining, resealing on repeat it continues to leak from unknown source. Gave up today and pulled the whole liner out, cleaned with a hose and examined every inch to no avail. I assume it's leaking through a tiny split somewhere but dammed if I can find it.

So onto plan (b) which is buying and laying a new liner. Current one is 8ftx5.6ft so I've been looking at 9x6ft. Question is, do I need to do anything to the ground before laying it? The pond is shaped a bit like a saucepan, with the "pan" end about 3ft deep with a waterlily sitting in the hole, and the "handle" end tapering up out the water, but no more than a foot deep at the lowest point. Other half would like to widen the handle a bit and shelve it to get more plants in; I like the wider ground area for filling with marginals. Opinions on either? There's definitely scope to make the handle a bit deeper too.

Basically, within the confines of the space, is there anything you would change about the landscaping of the pond? It's all new to me - my last pond was in my parent's garden, and was filled in when I, aged 3, decided I wanted to cuddle the fish

As it originally stood, at the highest waterline than held:


From above once emptied - the deep "pan" end is where the lily is at the bottom of the picture and the shallower "handle" is the narrow channel with pondweed in it.



Current liner:



Waterlily temporarily rehoused:



Big empty hole - the area to the right of the picture is the bit with potential for widening the channel:



And from above, the deep end:

 

Kind of depends on how much work you want to put in and how much you want to spend.

I'd definitely dig out a lot more of the soil, the design of it, with the wall around two sides would have been good if the liner had been taken under the top layer of bricks .
Hiding the edges of the liner is usually a big problem if it is not taken into the original design.
Really it's a bit of a disaster, but I'd be inclined to just dig it out and make it bigger and deeper if you just want to work with what is already there.

 

Hi @pete, yeah, the layout isn't ideal I know We rent the property so major construction work on the wall isn't really an option. It's hard to tell from the photos, but I think originally the liner was fixed by being concreted to the bricks with stone/rubble - you can see the remains of those in the first picture, along the short edge at the top. Over time the liner has steadily pulled away, and the stones were just lying there by the time we arrived, though you can see the outline of where they once attached. Hiding the liner is a concern - I'm hoping that if we widen the narrow channel area we might be able to make a gentler incline at the deepest end and do something clever with rocks

Is it worth deepening the whole pond to the same level as the end where the lilies were? I'd like to get a range of different plants in there (no fish, again, renting) - bearing in mind it is a small pond would that be better acheived with uniform depth or staggered as it is now?

 

Well, I did think the renting aspect would put restraints on how far you want to go with it.

Personally I'd go for a deep end, up the end with the wall, then a flat bottom for a few feet before sloping upwards to something resembling a beach at the other end.

Would be good for wildlife that way.

 

Hi 2b We've had both scenarios...the UK pond was properly done with a flap of liner concealed under slabs but over here, because the pond was dug on a slope, there's a lot of formerly exposed liner at the top end which we've had to disguise with plants.
I appreciate that it's a rented property but would it be possible to at least prise up the blue brick edging and stick the edge of the new liner underneath before mortaring the bricks down again? Frankly, whatever you do it'll be an improvement so perhaps the landlord will be grateful? It's definitely a good opportunity to re-contour but don't forget to recalculate the size of the liner...

 

Just a thought, but to avoid upsetting the bricks you could maybe secure the liner to the wall by doubling it over and screwing black PVC to the wall, after filling of course.

To me the rocks at that end and to the side are not a great idea.

 

I don't think easing the bricks up would be an easy job, the wall itself is well built - I suspect the pond was added later, hence the stones concreted to it rather than neatly laying the liner between the bricks. I'll have another look tomorrow but I fear it's a bigger job than we want to take on

Just to make sure I'm not misunderstanding - do you mean folding the top of the liner and then screwing directly through that into the wall? Or something slightly different? Either way sounds like a potential compromise...

 

Another option might be a preformed pond maybe. You might be able to find one that will fit your area. They do come in different sizes and designs and would avoid the issue of securing the liner to bricks. Appreciate you don't wish to spend a lot of money so lots of second hand ones around on Ebay, etc.

 

Yes it was intended as a compromise, not ideal but might do the job.
My thoughts were buying a length of black PVC cladding, just as an example.
Shiplap External Cladding 150mm Black Ash PVC, PlasticBuildingSupplies.com

Then screwing this to the top of the brickwork on the inside, trapping the liner, doubled up, underneath it.
Just a thought, it would do away with the need for the rocks along the wall and create more space for water.