installing a box welded liner

hi all,
       today we will discuss the installation of a box welded liner,
box welded liners are more suited to regular shapes but that is not to
say that you have to be square with them,oval or curved ponds can be
constructed by making a template of the top shape,we do this by using
a cheap tarpaulin sheet from a hardware store and cut it to the exact
shape of the pond,this is then used by the manufacturer to produce the
liner,remember to request an overlap,not all suppliers supply a standard
overlap,so always ask,
right we have taken receipt of the liner,we first must open it out and make
sure it is not inside out,you can usually tell because any writing on the
liner is on the underside of the pond so you will not see it when the liner
is installed,
   we then place the liner in the pond taking care to make sure the edge and
corners are properly aligned it is at this point you put some wait on the top
edge of the pond and you can start to fill the liner,as the water enters the pond
start to push out any creases in the bottom of the liner taking care not to pull
the weights holding down the liner into the pond as there is a risk of damage
to the liner,once again the more effort you put into this the better it will look
the advantage with this type of liner you will not have any folds but you may
have small creases in the finished pond but they will be almost invisible in
the finished pond when full of water,as the pond fills keep pulling the edges of
the liner so as to keep the liner slightly stretched so to avoid creases in the
finished article,when full you can install your preferred topping and the pond is
complete just ready to install the filter system which we will cover shortly
regards Paul
teesside koi

fitting the liner

hello all,
            we have now purchased our liner,in this instance we will assume it
is a pvc flat sheet liner,
   we find the liner becomes much more user friendly if we unroll it and lay
it flat on the ground in sunlight, this helps to soften it and make it much easier
to fold when installing in shaped ponds with shelves,
  the thing to note at this point is that all guarantee's state that the liner must be
installed on a suitable underlay,this can be something like a carpet or underlay
that is now surplus to requirements and can make an excellent protector for the
liner[make sure there are no tacks or staples in it] we can also use sand as this
offers a good protector or in some cases the original liner,this assumes the liner
has suffered an accidental damage and offers no risk to the new liner,
  firstly remember the liner is now supple and in its weakest state so when moving
into place make sure it does not snag on any sharp object as it may act as a razor
blade and damage the liner,
  it is better to have two or more people to move it at this time but can be done as
well by one person as long as you are fully aware of where the liner comes into
contact with the ground,
start by moving the liner into a position where the centre of the  liner is in the centre
of the pond,roughly fold the excess liner into the shape of the pond,when you are
happy with this it is time to add water to the pond,remember if you decide to wear
wellies ensure there is nothing sharp in the soles of the boot,
aim to have about six inches of water in the pond as you will need to use this weight
to hold the liner in place,as you are topping up the pond ensure you keep stretching
the liner and start to create the folds we find it is better to create large folds to get
rid of any excess with smaller folds to fine tune,be aware if you slip away for a
quick cup of tea [or pint] turn the water off,it is surprising how much water you can put
in the pond to an extent you may have to pump some water out because the weight
of the water will stop you folding the liner,remember the longer you spend doing this
the better the finish,so as they say patience is a virtue,so don't rush things,tomorrow
we will explain the box welded liner,
  don't worry if you are going gravity fed we will address this when we have finished the
advice on installing the different pond finishes
regards paul

how to measure a flat sheet liner

hello all,
  as usual i am late with the next post,but here i am so lets move on
i have pointed out the different materials that are common in pond
construction,there are other types but for the time being we will stick
to the better known types,
pvc and butyl liners are by far the most widely
used  because of cost and reliability,when building a pond which has a
uniform style IE square or rectangular and in some cases round, it  is
possible to have a box welded liner made to fit the pond,although more
expensive it has the advantage of being virtually crease free,and can be
installed in a fraction of the time it takes to install a flat sheet liner of
the same size,when measuring for a flat sheet liner it is important to allow
for an overlap as you need to be able to anchor the top of the liner to the
finished top edge of the pond,so if we had a pond 10ftx10ftx4ft deep we
would add 2ft to the length and width this would give us a 1ft overlap on
all 4 sides of the pond,but we also must remember that what goes up must
come down,so we must remember that although the pond is 4ft deep it has
2 sides so we must double the depth so we have a liner 18ftx18ft but what
about our overlap,lets not forget the 2 ft overlap, so we now need a flat sheet
liner of 20ftx20ft this gives us a pond of 10ftx10ftx4ft but it now has a 1ft
overlap on each side,so we can now see where most people can make a
simple error that can leave them with a liner that is to small for the pond,and
as liners purchased off the roll cannot be returned,as the supplier will end up
with a liner he will struggle to sell as it could be a considerable time before
somebody needs a liner of that size,tomorrow we will go through the fitting
process,
regards Paul
teesside koi

choosing a liner for your pond

hi all,
         for some time now we have been asked by customers [how do i choose a pond liner]so i
have decided to turn the next issues of the blog into a help page for the installation of pond liners
in a pond,what i hope to do is separate fact from fiction and give you the logic behind your
choice of pond liner,
  pond liners can be as simple as a pvc  liner, butyl rubber liner,render and g4 or fibreglass,and
it is a personal choice as to which you choose,
the myth with pvc liners is that they will crack after a couple of yrs but the reality is the modern
pvc liner is uv stabilised and come with 15/20 yr or in the case of ours a lifetime written guarantee
so installing one is not the risk you are led to believe,and can give years of use providing it is
installed correctly,rubber liners actually have a shorter life span than pvc despite being much more
expensive to purchase,
G4 is a brand of plastic paint that we have used for years and is an alternative to fibreglass but much
cheaper to use,
fibreglass is classed as the ultimate finish,but the reality  is it  depends on the installation and is also the most expensive of all the options,but can be unreliable if installed badly,
tomorrow i will explain the  pros and cons of each one,
regards paul
teesside koi

is it here yet

well what can i say,is summer here at long last,or is this another
lull before the storm,lets not be negative and enjoy the sun while
we can so now is the time to rush out and get that pond cleaned
up and pull the weeds out,because i seem to be able to grow weeds
better than flowers,
  at least we can get a bit of quality time around our ponds,if you
are like us,the fish seem to be thriving and have not been put off
by the cooler weather,they have certainly put on body wait and all
look fit and healthy [if i dare tempt providence],maybe now is the
time to purchase that new addition to the pond while we still have
time to get it beefed up ready for winter,
regards paul
teesside koi

hello all,
  thought i might add a few words,as i have not posted for a couple of
weeks,well what can i say we are starting to gear up for the end of the koi
season and it has not started yet,in the 20+years we have been keeping koi
we have never known a season as dismal as this one,it seems like all we have
had is rain rain and more rain,
  as you all know we have been having major problems with our car parking
sadly because our unit is across the road from the stockton royal mail sorting
office we have become there unofficial car park and this is causing us to have
serious considerations to our future in its current location,we are actively looking
at other units in the stockton area so a move is on the cards,dont worry as you
know we cannot do it over night and we will post notices and email customers
with future updates,lets keep our fingers crossed and hope we can have a bit of
sun in the remainder of our british summer
regards paul

no summer this year

hi all,
     we are deciding as to wether or not to start selling wellies and brollies
instead of koi,it would seem to me that we have had our summer,so where
do we go from here,all sugestions by email please,
 we do not have the option to control the weather so all we can do is grin and
bare it,and hope things are going to get better with all this water and no sun
we dont seem to be able to spend any time in the garden i spent the last week
wondering as to when i would be able to cut the grass,and spent 20 mins on
cleaning the nexus and bubble bead out in the pouring rain who says you dont
get wet cleaning the nexus out,lol
regards paul