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Built This Waterfall (Video added)

Posted By: Lugnut

Built This Waterfall (Video added) - 06/29/22 04:47 PM

A customer asked me if I could build him a waterfall before the Fourth of July. I told him if he got it ordered and got it to his house soon enough I probably could.

I used a small Kubota with forks attached to the front bucket to move the cast concrete rocks from the shipping pallet to the backyard.

[Linked Image]

Me and a helper did a partial dry stack to make sure the plumbing and electrical conduit chases were going to line up on this convex radius.

[Linked Image]

We unstacked it then began setting the base rocks in mortar beds. I used the bubble wrap as a mortar bib to keep as much out of the pool as I could. These things are usually built before the pool is filled.

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A mortar bed for a second course rock. We set the rocks on the two by twos to avoid too much squeeze out and then carefully removed them.


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Leveling one of the rocks on its mortar bed.

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We finished it yesterday. The plumber is scheduled to be there today and hook up the water. I told the owner to send me some pictures.

[Linked Image]

I don’t know why the owner took such a short video but…




Posted By: Gulo

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 05:00 PM

Lugnut -

That, sir, is a piece of art. Over the past three years my wife and I have been using local rock to face all the foundations of several small cabins we have, as well as facing the cement foundation of our main house. It's given me a real appreciation for the artists that do stone masonry. What you've done there is fantastic. Be sure to let us see the flowing water when you receive pictures. Thanks Lug.

Jack
Posted By: Drifter

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 05:00 PM

Looks pretty neat.
Posted By: Nittany Lion

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 05:11 PM

Good job, will you build one for me?
Posted By: Sharon

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 05:15 PM

Beautiful art in stone and mortar. Birds absolutely love running water, so they probably will have a look too.

Thanks for sharing.
Posted By: Boco

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 05:32 PM

Nice work.
Posted By: cfowler

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 05:42 PM

Nice work!
Posted By: SGT. C

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 06:17 PM

Nice work. I believe i would have had to fall in on occasion, by accident of course. Sarge
Posted By: 330-Trapper

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 06:34 PM

Really Nice
Posted By: Strut10

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 06:55 PM

OUTSTANDING !!!!!!!!
Posted By: Turtledale

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 08:01 PM

Nice job.i built hundreds of waterfalls in the 18 years I worked for a pool company. Usually leave them a few loose diverter stones to change flow of the falls. Never used giant cast like that. Would love to see follow up pics of the flow. Did you use a sheer descent or or pipe it up to a pool with an overflow?
Posted By: BigBob

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 08:10 PM

Well done!
Posted By: Tray

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 08:24 PM

Nice bird bath you have going there grin
Posted By: amspoker

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 10:39 PM

Looks good!
Posted By: trapdog1

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/29/22 11:59 PM

You've got some mad skills, Lugnut!
Posted By: jbyrd63

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 12:05 AM

KOOL with a K
Posted By: Swamp Wolf

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 12:16 AM

You're skilled Lugnut!
Posted By: la4wd54

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 12:27 AM

Very nice
Posted By: Osky

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 01:19 AM

Looks great Lug…. Your talented for sure.

Osky
Posted By: Lugnut

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 01:20 AM

Thanks a bunch everyone!

Originally Posted by Nittany Lion
Good job, will you build one for me?


Of course!


Originally Posted by Turtledale
Nice job.i built hundreds of waterfalls in the 18 years I worked for a pool company. Usually leave them a few loose diverter stones to change flow of the falls. Never used giant cast like that. Would love to see follow up pics of the flow. Did you use a sheer descent or or pipe it up to a pool with an overflow?


There are about six or eight diverter rocks on site. The owner can place them as he sees fit or I will go back and do it. The water is piped up from the base to a pool at the top. I will post a short video in a little while.

The water pipe runs up through a chase left in the cast rocks. There was a second chase for electrical conduit, there will eventually be lighting. In the picture below you can see where I ran the conduit and water pipe up through the chases which were then grouted solid per the manufactures instructions.

[Linked Image]


The dual plumbing and electrical chases ran up through multiple layers of rocks so alignment was critical. The manufacturer provided a cover rock that I will probably have to go back and cut around whatever the plumber and electrician do. In the picture below I just have it set in place covering the capped outlets.

[Linked Image]

Posted By: Lugnut

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 01:29 AM

See if this works. I don’t know why he (the owner) took such a short video. I guess I’ll have to go out there and take a better one.

[video:youtube]https://youtube.com/shorts/yDL79muYBp8?feature=share[/video]
Posted By: Lugnut

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 01:30 AM

Can you’s see the video?
Posted By: AntiGov

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 01:33 AM

Looks good , nice poolside waterfall
Posted By: adam m

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 01:55 AM

Awesome. Good job.
It's a lot of work
Helped my dad build a few. We dug up loaded and transported the flagstone from our rez.
We had 1 waterfall by itself and 2 small waterfalls going into a pond. Friends and family saw them next thing he knows job offers coming in left and right.
Posted By: nate

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 02:16 AM

Thanks for sharing that, it's way cool.
Posted By: BuckMink

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 03:03 AM

Cool!, well done. Looks really good.
Posted By: Flipper 56

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 03:14 AM

Very cool, well done!!
Posted By: Mac

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 09:30 AM

Wow, what a nice job and a lot of work.

Mac
Posted By: Mad Scientist

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 09:37 AM

Very Cool-when they made the pool did they plan on putting a waterfall in.Did they make a foundation for the extra weight?
Posted By: Whopper Stopper

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 09:40 AM

Very nice.

WS
Posted By: Lugnut

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by Mad Scientist
Very Cool-when they made the pool did they plan on putting a waterfall in.Did they make a foundation for the extra weight?


The waterfall was not planned, it was an afterthought. The fact that the pool was already filled made building it and striking the joints on the front of it that much more difficult. Normally when these things are built the pool is empty.

The manufacturer recommends a 4 inch thick concrete pad a minimum of 30 inches wide by 12 feet long. We had to add to the existing pool apron to make that happen. This area was originally supposed to have a statue/water feature and landscaping. You can see the statue in some of the pictures. The guy is supposed to be holding a boot, a leaky boot that water comes out of. That will be hooked up at some point in the future.


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Here is a pic of the statue/water feature that was originally supposed to go in this location.

[Linked Image]
Posted By: w side rd 151

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 11:50 AM

Thanks for taking time to show what can be done using natural materials .Not to say it is easy today but our ancestors built large houses ,barns and other farm buildings by hand from the ground up .And they had to gather up the materials from the surrounding area. They did not have motorized equipment or power tools .It was all done with old fashioned horse power and manual labor A young man starting from the beginning could spend a lot of years just building his buildings to establish his homestead .Looking at the pictures it looks like lots of hand work to accomplish what you want it to look like
Posted By: run

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 12:03 PM

Beautiful work, lugnut.
Posted By: Lugnut

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 12:13 PM

I am a mason West Side so I can appreciate what it took to build the barns and farmhouses in this area. I have restored a good number of those old buildings but many more are being lost to neglect.

The guy I built this waterfall for owns dozens of old farmsteads converted to rental properties. He recently sold off a chunk of them. The new owners knocked them all down to make room for commercial real estate.

IMO, it's a crying shame. They push all those beautifully faced rocks into the basement holes. Back in the 80's when I was doing a lot of stone masonry we would spend days doing nothing but dressing/facing rubble into usable ashlar. The amount of labor that went into just the facing of all that ashlar on those old houses and barns is astounding. What a waste.
Posted By: coyotesoldier229

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 12:34 PM

Nice work, Lugnut. Looks great.
Posted By: w side rd 151

Re: Built This Waterfall - 06/30/22 01:15 PM

Lugnut I have done a large amount of research on my family history . Levi; My great grandfather on my Dad's side was given a chunk of farmland by his father in law .No buildings just property He built a 2.5 story all stone house complete with attached spring house The barn walls are stone also.In the south facing eve of the house engraved in a large stone is his name and year it was built .It reads L. TH........ 1859 . I marvel at the effort it took just to get that one stone where it is . Stone work is a dying craft in todays hurry up society . Thanks again for posting .
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