Filling a Pond

DampCat · 2 Aug 2013 at 17:12

Hola

I need to fill a pond in. I've removed all of the linings and paving slabs, and now i've just got a big hole in the ground. I dropped in a bunch of layabout hardcore that was up in the "hell hole" (the corner of the garden to which nobody ventures) but now i'm not really sure how to proceed.

I dont want to plant over it, i'm probably going to shingle that portion of the garden, maybe make a small patio.

What do i fill the remainder of the pond with? Soil? How do i estimate how much i will need, and should i get more to account for subsidence?

I assume then having filled it i need to lay a membrane before laying some more soil and then finally applying shingle. Is this correct?

I'm doing man jobs for my Mum while im visiting, but i'm really not experienced at this

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 2 Aug 2013 at 17:25

If your going to membrane and cover with shingle then you can fill it with anything you can find. But if its something that will settle you will want to give it a good compacting.

If using soil try to avoid fluffing it up too much.

I would to to maily fill with hardcore and just 3-4 inches of soil/sand at the top, should drain well

Ray.uk · 3 Aug 2013 at 09:16

You need to top membrane with shingle[no soil] otherwise you are defeating the object of laying a membrane

Nightglow · 3 Aug 2013 at 09:56

How big is this hole, & what's the remaining depth to be filled?

Will need to lay some Geotextile Fabric before laying the shingle, otherwise it will just be walked into the ground, you can buy it in various lengths & widths.
If you shingling a large area buy it in bulk loose, cheaper, usually look at around 50mm depth.

DampCat · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:09

Cor. I dont know. It's pretty big.

Maybe i ought to get someone to actually tell me how much i need. I'll also need to find some more hardcore.

Do i just google for shingle and soil? Crikey ive never even considered where one would buy dirt.

Nightglow · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:17

Define BIG please.

If it's deep, then your wasting money using top soil,use hardcore.

You can get recycled crushed hardcore, brick, concrete usually 40-50mm to dust in size, buy it in bulk loose.

Here is a calculator to work out amounts needed.

http://www.longwatergravel.co.uk/calc.asp

DampCat · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:26

It's actually not that big. It's averag epond size. A rough tape measurement just now guestimates about 3mx3m wide and about 1m deep. So what's that, 9m3?

About 15 tonnes of crushed concrete, according to that handy calculator. Crikey.

Nightglow · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:29

According to calculator around 15 tons, a 4 wheeler lorry. :eek:

DampCat · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:32

Well that's more than i was expecting.

I can fill about half of it myself, so about 7 tonnes. Then i want to shingle a much larger area, so another couple of tonnes. Maybe 10 in total then.

Jeez.

Nightglow · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:37

Don't use Shingle to fill hole, too expensive, allowing for compacting say 8 tons, buy direct, look on Yell, probably around £20 a ton now, might be less depends on area, a while since I bought it in bulk.
Also buy Shingle direct, will be cheaper, & use a geotextile under it.

DampCat · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:49

Christ. i might make a hardcore wanted freecycle post or something.

Nightglow · 3 Aug 2013 at 11:52

DampCat said:
Christ. i might make a hardcore wanted freecycle post or something.

Be very careful if you do that, you'll get all type of **** delivered.

I laid a hardstanding last year here, a business just down the road was having a car park relaid, I got 30 tons of scalping totally free, slightly more than I actually wanted.

But, it was cheaper for the firm to dump it here than truck it 30 miles to their yard.

DampCat · 3 Aug 2013 at 12:34

i wish i was more manly.

pitchfork · 3 Aug 2013 at 13:36

I have some bodies to get rid of, maybe we can work something out?

DampCat · 3 Aug 2013 at 15:35

Christ if it saves me a couple of tons im in.

DampCat · 8 Aug 2013 at 21:57

So i thought 15 was going to be too much, and I had kinda half filled the pond with random crap anyway, so I went for 5 tons. I still needed to get sand and top layer gravel so if i needed more hardcore i could just get some in the second order.

Anyway. This is how my day went today.

5 tons.

4.9 tons.

No tons.

No pond!

Turns out 5 tons is perfect. I've watered it, hoping its going to settle over night. Then i can level it off and start membraning it.

Nightglow · 8 Aug 2013 at 22:41

Good job well done,interest to know what the 5 tons cost.

Settle overnight :eek:

, it will still be settling in weeks time.

DampCat · 8 Aug 2013 at 23:14

5 tons was £140 delivered same day. They weren't the cheapest but they did deliver that afternoon and they were a pleasure to deal with on the phone so it was worth the extra £20 or so.

That's fine, i'm in no rush to cover it. I just wanted it filled at least. I'm also replacing gates, fence panels and laying paving so i can just leave the pond until last.

DampCat · 9 Aug 2013 at 15:35

More today. Dug a hole for the fenceposts to make a new gate. Got to 1.5 feet and hit a sewer! So that'll have to do

Th eold gate was right at the end of the house. The new one is bigger and more secure so i've brought it further back into the garden to give it more space.

Then dug up all the old gravel, rocks and membrane that you can see if the first pic

This guy caused some trouble. It's an outdoor socket, but the black line runs up the garden to the shed, which handled all the electrics for the pond pumps etc. I didnt have two spanners big enough to take it out (all my dad's tools are locked up in storage until ive made this place safe), so i dealt with it the only way i could think of. See the next pic

(yes im aware of the terrible paint job. 17 year old me didnt care, and Dad left it knowing one day it would annoy me. It annoys me.)

Started laying the new paving. You can also see how i dealt with that powerline. I turned it all off first

OCD beware the next pic

I have no way of cutting these slabs sadly. I tried chiselling but it would take months to get tham all. So i'm just going to let them sit out of line. This isnt the main part of the garden so its not essential for it to be perfect. If i wanted a perfect job id have paid someone to do it

Just a shot overlooking the area ive filled with hardcore into the nice part. Shoudl tie together nicely. That crappy fence will come out of course.

DampCat · 13 Aug 2013 at 16:30

I dont think anyone is reading this but I quite fancy keeping a log for myself so thbthtbhbthbt!

So from this:

To this:

Not bad at all eh? Gonna reinforce and straighten that one fence post on the left but otherwise dead happy. The panels next to the gate are actually the old gate chopped up. Love recycling!