Building your own waterfall and pond is fun and easy. First find a spot away from tree roots in an area that is most visible from where you like to sit for your morning coffee or lounging on the patio. Using a soft vinyl liner is easier than the hard formed plastic ones because: you are not limited to the exact shape of the hard liner and heaven forbid(!) if water should get UNDER the hard plastic liner especially if too much water has evaporated from inside the form, the pond can literally rise up out of the ground messing up all your hard work! Also, a soft plastic liner makes up for any shifting of the ground over time.

You can spray paint the outline of the area in the shape you want - then start digging. Place the dug out dirt on the end of the pond where you would like to form a waterfall. Be sure that some areas of the pond are 18" -even 24" deep while the rest can be 12 - 15". 

For the liner: measure the length and width of the pond plus add the inches to include the depth on each side. Add to that number a foot or so for each side: for example: the pond is about 3' X 5' and is 18" (1 and 1/2') deep. So that's 4 1/2 by 6 1/2'. plus the extra 1' for the border to come up over the edges. Now that's 5 1/2 by 7 1/2. So for good measure you need a piece of pond liner about 6' by 8' for your design. It would never hurt to have more than you need - buy extra!

Lay the liner in the pond and smooth the edges over the top of the ground surrounding the pond. At this point you could place a 2" by 4" over the top of the pond with a level on top of that to be sure the pond would angle away from your house so that overflow would go towards the drain area. You would make corrections by lowering any side area by an inch or so.

Take 3 - 5 concrete blocks for the base of the waterfall. Build them into a pyramid - not right to the edge of the pond but about 1 foot back.

Border the pond with pretty shapes of flagstone. Cover the concrete area with round river stone and flat flagstone. You can buy a circulating pump on ebay - the size determined by the size of your pond - the directions for the pump are on the box - but you lay the pump in the water at the deepest point and attach tubing that you thread up through the back of the water fall. I usually build a "trough" and line it with left over pond liner - and then thread the pump's tube to lay in the trough. The water runs from the pond to the tubing down the trough and can hit straight into the water or you can break the fall by placing a rock strategically so the water hits the rock before it hits the water. Each manipulation changes the sound of the water's splash! Use a nearby electrical outlet for the pump or have a master plummer install one nearby.

The excavated dirt would have been used to surround the back of the concrete blocks and topped with planter mix so you can landscape with any pretty plants. Surround your pond with native plants and potted plants. You can also buy water lillies for inside the pond. You can stock large ponds with Koi fish and small ponds with guppies.

Thank you in advance for your "YES" vote if this guide has helped you in any way!!