I have always had a small to medium-sized, homemade waterfall with a pond in the backyard. It was just a pile of cement blocks, stones and rocks, set up on a plastic tarp, with the water from the pond pumped to the top of the rock formation and back into the pond.
Now my dream of a huge boulder waterfall is becoming a reality. Nine days ago I went to Home Depot to purchase rebar, wire mesh, metal cutters, rolls of burlap, rubber gloves, texture spray paint and a few bags of grout.
Working on the project in the mornings, from 7 to 10:30, I hammered appropriate lengths of rebar through the openings in stacked-up cement blocks. I placed and shaped the wire mesh over the blocks to look like the huge waterfall boulder I wanted. Then I soaked pieces of burlap in a grout-water mixture, attaching the burlap to the wire mesh. Again, I shaped my edifice. When that dried a bit, I smoothed out the grout to simulate the surface of a real rock.
I crushed large and medium-sized boxes, added bubble wrap, and covered them with mesh and burlap-soaked grout, too. They have become the large rocks that sit on my main boulder. I added more grout to smooth out some areas, added textured paint, and finally added a sealant to protect the waterfall from water damage. I bought several strands of plastic flowers on sale from Michael’s. I used my staple gun to attach the flowers horizontally to the juncture of the pond and the waterfall. That would camouflage the black rubber splashguard I created so as to prevent water from splashing out of the pond.
Today, I finally set up the waterfall’s pump and filter. What a great feeling it was to sit and watch my creation come alive as water came streaming from the top of the waterfall, down three smaller falls, to the pond below. Soon I will add goldfish, both for their mosquito-larvae-eating abilities – and for my grandson to feed when he visits us.
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There is something so serene and at the same time exciting about a waterfall. This new bolder, boulder waterfall is seven feet wide, by five feet high so that I easily can see it from the house. It is near one end of my aboveground pool. Therefore, I can gaze upon it, close up, each time I reach the end of the pool. My wife had a great thought: To set up a table and chairs near the waterfall. That loving thought of hers was ample reinforcement for my labor.
Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com
