It looks like we're going to have to spend what we budgeted on a waterfall on excavation instead, d/t rock. All of the poolside waterfalls I've seen have been constructed of rebar and gunite, but is it possible to use actual rock instead? Would a landscaper (as opposed to a PB) be able to do this? I'm wondering if we can put all these beautiful granite boulders we'll be paying a fortune to get out of the ground to good use...
Stupid waterfall question
- Thread starter vapool
- Start date
Hi Vapool:
I am sure with some proper placed spa hose, you could easily get some natural waterfalls going. I hooked up mine to a built plastic planter..but I am sure I could do it easily here with natural stones.
I am sure with some proper placed spa hose, you could easily get some natural waterfalls going. I hooked up mine to a built plastic planter..but I am sure I could do it easily here with natural stones.
Vapool,
Our waterfall consists of a Gunite base/well with 3-4 feet of natural rock (big boulders) from the bond beam up to the well and all around the well.
Our waterfall consists of a Gunite base/well with 3-4 feet of natural rock (big boulders) from the bond beam up to the well and all around the well.
We have people here in California that do natural stone waterfalls.
I plan to do a notched bond beam with natural stone waterfall.
I plan to do a notched bond beam with natural stone waterfall.
We have a weeping water fall that is built with real rocks. Our community pool also has 2 really nice waterfalls with real rocks.
The trick with a waterfall into the pool is making sure it has a suitable base so that the water goes back into the pool instead of into the yard. Natural rock is perfect for pools as long as it won't break up due to the amount of water pouring over it.
Might want to ask your builder about just doing the base for the waterfall. Usually you would need to have a gunite pad to support it. I'm going to try to put a picture of what our waterfall pad looked like after gunite. Have to remember just putting rocks up and mortaring them in place won't really do it as the water will seep through the mortar. The pad I have has multiple levels so you don't have to stack rocks on top of each other.
The other consideration is for plumbing. I have a small pump just dedicated for the waterfall. It has a water source plumbed in from the pool and will pump it to the waterfall. In order to vary the amount of water to the waterfall there is another plumbing line back into the pool to return the water you don't want to send to the waterfall. This is because you can't vary the speed of the pool pump. So with this you can have it running with just a trickle of water or a huge flow.
One suggestion I would have is ask the cost to put the pipes in place into the pool but just don't plumb it in yet. The last picture I'm putting in shows where the water in and outlets for the waterfall. They look like main drains but at the shallow end of the pool against the wall.
Good luck!
Eric
This is what the waterfall looks like after:
Might want to ask your builder about just doing the base for the waterfall. Usually you would need to have a gunite pad to support it. I'm going to try to put a picture of what our waterfall pad looked like after gunite. Have to remember just putting rocks up and mortaring them in place won't really do it as the water will seep through the mortar. The pad I have has multiple levels so you don't have to stack rocks on top of each other.
The other consideration is for plumbing. I have a small pump just dedicated for the waterfall. It has a water source plumbed in from the pool and will pump it to the waterfall. In order to vary the amount of water to the waterfall there is another plumbing line back into the pool to return the water you don't want to send to the waterfall. This is because you can't vary the speed of the pool pump. So with this you can have it running with just a trickle of water or a huge flow.
One suggestion I would have is ask the cost to put the pipes in place into the pool but just don't plumb it in yet. The last picture I'm putting in shows where the water in and outlets for the waterfall. They look like main drains but at the shallow end of the pool against the wall.
Good luck!
Eric
This is what the waterfall looks like after:
Thanks for the responses, and Eric, your pool is beautiful! Turns out our rock is bluestone, so I'm thinking any waterfall made out of it would reek havoc with our water chemistry. Maybe I'll do what you suggest and just have the plumbing put in now, and we can decide on a water feature down the road, when we've recovered from the excavation shell-shock!