After elevating the garden, we add another layer of brick to the top of the pond wall. The bricks are layed about 3 inches offset from the inner part of the wall. Mortar is then plaster on covering the bricks to create a round it up. This creates a nice roundish top with an illusion that the wall is thicker than it actual.
An overflow pipe is installed at the deep end too. A 2″ diameter pvc pipe with an L joint is used. This serves to channel the extra water from rainfall straight to the drain.
Horng did the first 30% while I finished the rest in another day. Took us 2 sessions. Galvin helped out in mixing the mortar. Thanks dude!
Horng did the first part
I continued the work
Galvin mixing the mortar, but first we had to filter the sand to remove pebbles and cat poo
Overflow pipe is installed
Job well done!
Next Up – Fixing the Drainage System and Water Meter
If you bite your nails like there’s no tomorrow or you know someone who does, please pay attention and read on. While you might have already heard about the other disadvantages of the habit of peeling of nails with your teeth, there is another very pragmatic downside to it that might have eluded you.
Forget about the unhygienic factor, the bacteria, or the reverse aestheticity of nail biting.
You see, the other day, being a prankster that I am, I adjusted my coworker’s watch to half an hour ahead of the actual time. But instead of scolding me and readjust it back herself, she was nicely asking me to do it. And then I found out, with no nails and a small watch, she couldn’t pull the dial out!
Without nails -> no ability to keep the correct time -> time mismanagement / late -> piss off friends -> no more friends -> depression -> not eat / eat too much -> unhealthy -> die
This is bad.
This is how short her nails are.
No way she coulda pull out the dial by herself.
After plastering the wall, we elevate the garden by laying red bricks seperating the garden and the drive way. This has two advantages, elvation of the garden to deepen the pond by an extra 6 inches, and also saves us the hassle of removing all the earth dug up to make the pond. Even then, we had removed about 15 wheelbarrow of red earth.
I had to use an aquarium tube filled with water to mark the difference in the elevation from the gate to the front of the house to ensure the side wall is not slanted. The difference is about 5 inches in height, hence 2layers of bricks by the front of the wall is used, while 3 layers near the gate.
This took us two days, originally only a layer of bricks were to be layed, but we eventually decided to top it up with another.
Look at Galvin’s blog for his version of my pond, supped up and modified!
Mixing the mortar a bit
Laying the 2nd layer of brick at the front of the house
Cutting red bricks proved to be a pretty tough job
Done! You can see 2 layers of bricks from the left, to 3 layers to the right side.
Next Up – Rounding the top of the pond
Now that the brick wall is up, it’s time to plaster it with a thin layer of cement. 1 part cement 3 part sand. This step is a little more delicate, my pal horng did most of the plastering after I did the initial 20%. In the mean time, I was building up the red-brick wall to elevate the garden. That’ll be on another post
This process took us about 3 days
My friendly housemate and buddy for more than 20 years, horng salutes you
Jack was helping to shuffle the mortar too. Sex him up please, gals.
True to the JKR (Jangan Kerja Rajin) spirit, 2 of us were holding the torch light while horng works
Slope at the bottom of the wall to have a smooth connection to the concrete floor.
Next Up – Garden Elevation
Now that the foundation is done, the next step is to build up the wall for the pond. We use bricks and mortar for this purpose. 1 part cement with 3 parts sand. Wire mesh to be layed in between the bricks for every 3 layers too, to strengthen the wall.
The process took about 3 days
I started out at the deepest end, the corners are particulary tough
Working the way up..
The lines are for leveling purposes
You can see the lines more clearly here
All nice and leveled up, the hole at the far end is left for the overflow pipe
Next up – Plastering the wall
