Hey everyone. My friend and I are planning to build an above ground pond with viewing windows in my backyard. Just to give some background, we live in Hawaii in an area that has pretty warm and dry, yet humid climate and my backyard is pretty flat and even. We've been looking at a lot of different designs and we've come up with a design that incorporates a lot from what we've seen online and I've been messing around with the design on google sketchup.
The planned inside dimensions are 12'longx8'widex4'deep. The tricky part of the plans is that we wanted 1ft of the pond to be underground (represented by the different colored wood on the outside of the bottom of the pond). We were planning on just digging a foot or so, making sure the ground is level and decently solid, then just putting the assembled pond in the hole in the ground.
This is our first concern, because we were wondering if it is even possible to do this. If it isn't possible what can we do to make it work. We wanted to do this to keep the walls from going too high making it uncomfortable to look at by "vertically challenged people" or from a seat, but also wanted to keep the depth to keep our fish comfortable.
We were planning on building the main frame (and areas around the windows) out of 4x4s (darker wood) and the inner studs out of 2x4s(lighter colored). I placed studs evenly throughout, and tried to place them under all the seams where the plywood will meet to provide better support against bowing.
We were wondering if we could afford to replace some of the 4x4s with 2x4s, or maybe use less 2x4s. I don't want to cut corners, but just wondering if you think it would be safe to use less. And if you think we need more then let us know, too.
For the inner plywood, we were planning on using 3/4" for the bottom and 5/8" for the sides. Considering the support from the frame, will the plywood be thick enough, can we use thinner, or do we need to use thicker?
For the windows, we were planning on using two 3/4" (if possible) or 1" thick 2'x4' plexiglass sheets, just because shipping to Hawaii is crazy and I figured glass is way heavier. What would you suggest? We were also planning on doing the whole silicone and water pressure method.
And for the pond liner, we were leaning towards sweetwater, again for the cheaper shipping prices compared to shipping the millions of pounds of pond liner haha. We were planning on using a couple coats of the stuff on the inside and maybe a coat or two on the outside. Any suggestions? We were also thinking maybe deck treatment for the outside of the pond.
And we were planning on using deck screws and metal plates (for the frame) to hold everything together. Should we use wood glue too?
We didn't even think about the filter/plumbing situation yet. The plan in the end is to stock with a bunch of koi and silver arowanas (black if we can afford and jardinis if they don't kill everyone else)
Sorry that was so long. Thanks ahead of time for the advice and help
The planned inside dimensions are 12'longx8'widex4'deep. The tricky part of the plans is that we wanted 1ft of the pond to be underground (represented by the different colored wood on the outside of the bottom of the pond). We were planning on just digging a foot or so, making sure the ground is level and decently solid, then just putting the assembled pond in the hole in the ground.
This is our first concern, because we were wondering if it is even possible to do this. If it isn't possible what can we do to make it work. We wanted to do this to keep the walls from going too high making it uncomfortable to look at by "vertically challenged people" or from a seat, but also wanted to keep the depth to keep our fish comfortable.
We were planning on building the main frame (and areas around the windows) out of 4x4s (darker wood) and the inner studs out of 2x4s(lighter colored). I placed studs evenly throughout, and tried to place them under all the seams where the plywood will meet to provide better support against bowing.
We were wondering if we could afford to replace some of the 4x4s with 2x4s, or maybe use less 2x4s. I don't want to cut corners, but just wondering if you think it would be safe to use less. And if you think we need more then let us know, too.
For the inner plywood, we were planning on using 3/4" for the bottom and 5/8" for the sides. Considering the support from the frame, will the plywood be thick enough, can we use thinner, or do we need to use thicker?
For the windows, we were planning on using two 3/4" (if possible) or 1" thick 2'x4' plexiglass sheets, just because shipping to Hawaii is crazy and I figured glass is way heavier. What would you suggest? We were also planning on doing the whole silicone and water pressure method.
And for the pond liner, we were leaning towards sweetwater, again for the cheaper shipping prices compared to shipping the millions of pounds of pond liner haha. We were planning on using a couple coats of the stuff on the inside and maybe a coat or two on the outside. Any suggestions? We were also thinking maybe deck treatment for the outside of the pond.
And we were planning on using deck screws and metal plates (for the frame) to hold everything together. Should we use wood glue too?
We didn't even think about the filter/plumbing situation yet. The plan in the end is to stock with a bunch of koi and silver arowanas (black if we can afford and jardinis if they don't kill everyone else)
Sorry that was so long. Thanks ahead of time for the advice and help
