HenryC's Pond Construction

[KoiCop]

Too funny on the beer bottle!

It's looking fantastic and y'all are moving at a tremendous pace. Thanks for sharing -- I'm enjoying your thread very much.

[HenryC]

Quote: Originally Posted by James P Henry, why did you opt for blocks and not a gunite pour? JR ( its looking great by the way)

The short answer ... $$$$$$ and time. The cost to have gunite shot has gone up considerably since I built my first pond. It is also very difficult to get your job scheduled. The independant gunite contractors that would be willing to shoot a pond must keep their swimming pool building customers happy, so the lowly pond builder it just worked in whenever time allows. I helped out a club member last year during their gunite pond construction. From the time the hole was dug to the time the gunite was shot was over a month. Each day a call had to be placed to see if they could work it in that day.

[HenryC]

No rest for the weary. Started bright and early again today (my neighbors just love me right now). Below is the installation of one of the little extra features the pond will have. Bobby is coring a hole for the camera tube. The next is the camera temporarily hooked up to see the view it will have. Look at the size of those Koi. Very special Koi in the center. Just look at the beni on that Bobbigoi.

[HenryC]

Below are the recesses for the mid-level pick up and the bakki shower return. The bakki return has two 4" pipes. I did not want any chance that a Koi would push their head into the opening and scrape up their forehead. The solution was to recess the returns and create a custom grate that will cover the recess. For both the mid-level pick up and bakki return, a ledge is cut so that a 1/4" thick dark gray PVC sheet will fit in flush with the wall. The photo below shows the bakki return with the ledge already cut.

[HenryC]

While Bobby was cutting the camera tube hole and the mid-level pick up and bakki return ledges, the plastering has begun. This will provide a smooth surface for the polyurea to be sprayed onto.

[James P]

Very nice! JR

[GazKoi]

That will be a great looking pond when its all done and thanks for sharing the build with us

[James P]

Henry , I don't want to be getting into your personal business on a public board, but until you explained it, I would have thought that a gunite pour would be much less expense than block in Florida? So without getting into hard dollar talk, how much more in percentages is gunite than block work? Also I have not read all the posts yet, so I apologize if you already said, but are you using TPRs? JR

[kingkong]

There seems to be a little confusion as to the terms of concrete application methods. Gunite is spray applied concrete "dry gun" with air pressure via a hose and nozzle to the target area being wire or steel lath and backing.
Shotcrete is already mixed concrete that is pumped into a hose and nozzle and again pneumatically applied against backing or "wet gun".
A concrete pump will pump already mixed concrete thru a hose so it can be placed (pour) into constructed forms that act as molds.
In Palm Beach county, the minimum job for a pool formed and shotcreted is about 10 K. They avoid small jobs like the plague.

[HenryC]

Quote: Originally Posted by James P Henry , I don't want to be getting into your personal business on a public board, but until you explained it, I would have thought that a gunite pour would be much less expense than block in Florida? So without getting into hard dollar talk, how much more in percentages is gunite than block work? Also I have not read all the posts yet, so I apologize if you already said, but are you using TPRs? JR

I don't have the dollar break down on the block work so I can't talk to how much less expensive the block route is. I do know the price of a swimming pool has jump significantly here in Florida in the last few years. When I was looking at subcontracting the various parts of the pond construction myself, I tried to get several quotes from gunite companies. Only one would even return my call and that was probably because I used them when I built my original pond. I made a guess at what the larger pond would cost by using what they charged me back in 1999, scaling it up and throwing another 20% onto that. The quote they came back with was not even in the same ball park. I will post some shots of the final plaster work after I give the dog a bath. The final plaster finish is as smooth as a babies a$$.

And yes, there are 6 TPRs about 16" off the bottom. The pump returns tie into a 3" header that surrounds the pond and the TPRs are tee'd off that. See one of the drawings in the first few posts.