BUILDING A RAISED POND - PART I

Building a raised pond is perhaps not quite as daunting a project as it first sounds as in simplistic terms you are essentially making a box lined with waterproofed plastic or rubber. 

In the next couple of blog posts, I’m going to run through how we built a raised pond for the back corner of the garden. 

As with any good project, preparation is key and its always worth spending a good chunk of time on planning, scribbling out your ideas with a hot cuppa and a cookie until you are clear what it is you want to achieve and how you are going to get there.  When you’ve nailed this bit then it’s time to pull on the wellies and get stuck in.

 

Top quality design sketch

Once you’ve decided where your pond is to be sited, measure up the space then prepare a design sketch of what you would like your finished pond to look like.  Include measurements.  My best sketched plans always look like they fell out of a packet of cornflakes but you really don’t have to be a professional garden designer for this project, it’s that simple.  

Our raised pond will sit on a large rectangular bit of concrete that may once have been the base of a greenhouse so I’ve made the overall pond dimensions slightly smaller than the concrete base to allow an overhang.

 

Using an old concrete base on which to put the pond

Using your measurements, work out how much timber you will need.  We’ve used reversible decking planks for the main body of the pond with 4 square pieces of timber for the internal corners. The pond will be 3 planks high.  To make a pond like ours, you’ll need 6 x 1.10 m long pieces for front and back plus 6 x 0.80 cm pieces for the sides.  Don’t forget the 4 corner bits!

 

Front, sides and internal corner pieces

I purchased the decking timber at Covers Timber and Builders Merchants in Chichester who cut this exactly to our measurements.  I’ve found Covers to be far more accommodating than B&Q at cutting timber.  B&Q may have fancy wood cutting machines but the staff appear to be reluctant to cut anything and always end up citing ‘health & safety’ for not cutting anything smaller than a whole sheet of MDF.  Covers, on the other hand, will cut pretty much anything wooden to any size which is far easier than struggling to do it yourself at home. 

Now you have all the timber cut to size, it’s time to begin assembly.  To make each side, begin by attaching the shorter side decking planks to the corner battens, securing these in place with wood screws.  Layer up tightly to avoid unsightly gaps and make sure the screws do not come through the corners or you may pierce your pond liner.

 

Join short planks to the internal corner battens to create side walls

When both of the short sides have been put together, join the longer sections at the corner.  This is a 2-person job as one will need to hold the plank keeping everything aligned whilst the other person screws it into place.  

 

Join the longer planks to each of the short sides at the corner

We found it easiest to screw both bottom planks in place first to give our box stability and make it easier to add the other layers.  Work your way up from bottom layer to top.

Create your box by adding both bottom planks first then layer up

You may notice that we have not added a bottom or feet to our box.  As we are using the concrete pad as our bottom then we didn’t think it necessary but there’s no reason why you can’t add these to your design.

 

Continue adding planks until you have a bottomless box

With pond base assembled, its then time to order some pond liner and underlay as you’ll need these for the next phase of the project.