This is a photo of a waterfall that my brother and I built in the front yard of my parents house. Landscapers wanted $20,000 to do it, and we figured that with a forest rock collection permit, a 9,000lb car wench, and about $1,500 in pumps and equipment rentals we could do everything ourselves. Neither of us had much experience in landscape design, but we drew out this double falls design and managed to end up with a decent end result. Our layout included two holding ponds (one large one on bottom and a small one on top) as well as a creek that ran along the top ridge before falling down the left-hand falls. It ended up needing a really high flow rate, so we had to buy a monster pump that could push 700 gallons of water an hour with an 8 foot lift.
We collected the rocks by dragging them onto a trailer with the car winch (my brothers idea), then positioned them using a bobcat. Luckily we found a top boulder with a blasting hole drilled in it, so we were able to rout the pipes without drilling.
One mistake we made, however, was not digging a deep enough lower pond as we had forgotten to take into account how quickly water would evaporate off of the stream in the summer time. Fantastic summer project though!
Portfolio Q: What was your role in this project?
My brother and I did everything together from designing to winching, to plumbing to gardening.
Waterfall Landscape Design
This is a photo of a waterfall that my brother and I built in the front yard of my parents house. Landscapers wanted $20,000 to do it, and we figured that with a forest rock collection permit, a 9,000lb car wench, and about $1,500 in pumps and equipment rentals we could do everything ourselves. Neither of us had much experience in landscape design, but we drew out this double falls design and managed to end up with a decent end result. Our layout included two holding ponds (one large one on bottom and a small one on top) as well as a creek that ran along the top ridge before falling down the left-hand falls. It ended up needing a really high flow rate, so we had to buy a monster pump that could push 700 gallons of water an hour with an 8 foot lift.
We collected the rocks by dragging them onto a trailer with the car winch (my brothers idea), then positioned them using a bobcat. Luckily we found a top boulder with a blasting hole drilled in it, so we were able to rout the pipes without drilling.
One mistake we made, however, was not digging a deep enough lower pond as we had forgotten to take into account how quickly water would evaporate off of the stream in the summer time. Fantastic summer project though!
Portfolio Q: What was your role in this project?
My brother and I did everything together from designing to winching, to plumbing to gardening.