.
Page 2
The brick shell is now complete, now I need to finish the project.
Bricks do not hold water very well so I will need to seal the
bricks and paint. I was a bit concerned with types of
materials to use for sealing the pond because of toxic chemicals
leaching into the water. It is really hard to seperate the
hype from facts here because everyone want to seperate me from my money
or protect themselves from lawsuits. I wound up going to the
local paint store and spent a day reading labels. I chose
Dry-Lock sealer (water base) and a plain old outdoor paint for a top
coat.
Step by step
After the shell is built you need to clean everything up before you
seal. I cleaned and washed the interior before I painted.
I waited about 10 days for the mortar to cure before I sealed
the interior. Dry-Lock does not go far on bricks and mortar.
I used about 6 gallons on two 10X3 foot walls, two 3X3 foot
walls and the 10X3 foot base. When I bought my sealer, I had
them add a tint to make the sealer a pretty auqa color. I did
not realize that murky pond water would not look very nice with the
bright background and that algae growth would make it look even worse.
I put on about 3 to 4 coats of sealer, washed, allowed to dry
then top coated. I top coated with a brown tint to match the
color of the pond water, you can choose any color you like.
I choose to use a pipe in the side of the pond with a skimmer to keep
the pond clean. My 1 1/2" pipe did not have enough head
pressure to keep the filter pumps primed, so I had to add another layer
of bricks. While I was adding the bricks, I decided I wanted
to have a wider boarder around the pond for leaning on and holding
plants and fish food. To hold the boards on, I drilled holes
in the bricks and put bolts through them before I mortared them in.
I then drilled holes in the boards to go over the bolts and
held them down with fender washers and nuts I then painted
the outside of the pond to cover up most of my brick laying errors..
]
Page 1
How to build a filter
a">[
Back
to top ]