Return to the Garden Accoutrements Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
retaining wall fountain
| | |
Posted by paigeroo 7a (My Page) on Wed, Jul 15, 09 at 15:18
| This fall, I will be building (DIY) a fountain into our dry-laid backyard rear retaining wall (very ugly yellowish large bricks). I am doing research before hiring the electricians who will need to run the current out to the fountain, and thought I would ask your opinions on a retaining wall fountain. The retaining wall is five feet tall. The soil behind it is builder-fill, extra heavy clay. There is a wooden fence separating our yard from the neighbors on TOP of the retaining wall, set about a foot back. This makes working behind the wall a little more difficult. The fountain would be very simple, a large copper pipe jutting out of the retaining wall about 6-10 inches, with water falling into a bluestone basin I will have constructed (maybe 50-75 gallons)(to match the bluestone patio back there now). One of the main purposes of the fountain will be to generate lots of water noise to drown out nearby traffic, so the goal is to pump a high volume of water into a large water-filled reservoir.
Building this fountain will probably require taking apart the dried laid wall and excavating the earth out, installing the pump line and then rebuilding the wall around the water supply to the copper output pipe(pump will be in bluestone basin, running pump line up to copper pipe. ) Obviously, I have alot more research to do, as I haven't figured out how to get the pump electricity wire out of the basin in a watertight and unobtrusive fashion, or to have the pump tubing mate with the large (2" diameter) copper pipe. I know how to solder, so I was thinking of soldering a connection made out of copper pipe from the back of the 2"output pipe down the rear of the retaining wall and into the bottom side of the bluestone basin to meet the pump tubing there. What I am concerned about is having to backfill the dirt in over either copper piping or tubing (methinks copper is the way to go) and then having to maintain it. How do you maintain a retaining wall fountain? Does the pipeworks behind the retaining wall need to be always accessible? Is there anything I am not thinking about? Thanks in advance for your thoughts. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: retaining wall fountain
| | |
The fountain
How do you maintain a retaining wall fountain? Make sure the pump has a filter on it. If you go "natural" the water should keep relatively clean on its own with minimal maintenance. Clean out leaves and shut down and drain in the winter. Does the pipeworks behind the retaining wall need to be always accessible?
No, but it should be able to drain back to the pool when the pump shuts off so that it does not freeze in the winter.
Is there anything I am not thinking about?
Freezing will damage fountains if not drained, use a GFI plug for the electric (Ground Fault Interrupt).
For possible large fountain designs see
http://www.strombergarchitectural.com/ |
Here is a link that might be useful: Stromberg Fountains
RE: retaining wall fountain
| | |
| I created a detailed description of how to install and maintain wall fountains - http://www.squidoo.com/wall-fountain - it covers the topic of wall fountain maintenance in depth with a video demonstration. If you have already installed the wall fountain, it would be great if you can create a brief summary on how to do so for other DIY fans...Or you may just leave comments on my blog: http://www.tabletopfountainblog.com |
Here is a link that might be useful: Wall Fountain Design, Installation, & Maintenance
RE: retaining wall fountain
| | |
| I'm just curious about how your neighbors will react when you are working all over in their backyard if their wall is on top of the 5 ft retaining wall!! And then will it have to be maintained from their side??? Guess they better not get a big mean dog!! I would not take kindly to that kind of setup, Make it inside your property use a corner & get behind it that way. My friends have a large fake rock 1 (parts are real rock but it looks like huge boulders around it but there is 2 ft space hidden to get to the pump & other stuff to repair it. Don't use it anymore as too expensive to run. |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Garden Accoutrements Forum
|
|
|
