Author Topic: Pictures of pool to pond conversion (Read 3045 times)

casey · « **on:** February 16, 2009, 09:05:38 PM »

Thanks to the poster, though I've forgotten who it was, who posted her pond pictures as a link to an album I finally saw the way to share the multiple pictures of our swimming pool conversion into a pond. Holler if it doesn't work but we tested it by sending it to my DH's email and it worked for him.

Hope you all enjoy it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/caseyintucson/PoolToPondConversion?authkey=Y5w6e6u7_pw#5303622058652587586

Casey

(I'm the one in the waders)

PondJoy · « **Reply #1 on:** February 17, 2009, 05:18:21 AM »

Holy cow!!!

I'm speechless!

spanishleprachaun · « **Reply #2 on:** February 17, 2009, 06:40:54 AM »

wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.... lots of work and what a beautiful result !!! I love it ! I like the barrel planters. The decking over part of the pool adds a nice touch as well.

Nice job casey !!!

U changed the pool coping from that stamped concrete look to the FLAGSTONE ! niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

frogman3 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 17, 2009, 02:08:37 PM »

Hi Casey, does the area under the decking serve as part of your filtration system? Sure did turn out beautiful BTW.

casey · « **Reply #4 on:** February 17, 2009, 04:15:46 PM »

No. First we wanted it to be netted off and full of lettuce, watercress, etc. but we couldn't figure out how to get enough light in. We had plans for the glass blocks by Corning to be inserted like skylights in the deck but we were afraid they would act like magnifiying glasses and just burn the plants as the AZ sun moved across the sky. We do have shade cloth panels we made that slide over the deck along wires and hook to pipe obove the alley side of the property and the house on the ohther side but we move those frequently depending on the weather and take them down completely for weeks if we are out of town. We were also afraid the glass blocks could get real slippery when wet and cause falls. We have a lot of casual dinner parties out there and can seat about 42 on the deck and the porch that runs along the long side of the "pond."

We also thought about trying to make it dry under the deck but were concerned about damaging the structure of the pool when installing such a substantial barrier (the whole thing is designed so it can be reconverted should we sell to someone who wants a pool instead of a pond). We knew if it wasn't really dry we would be partying over a mosquito bog so we left it with 15" of water and an eyeball inlet that shoots enough water out to have good circulation. The rest of the pond is 3' deep. It surprised us that the fish don't go under the deck much but I guess it's because here is no algae or anything else interesting for them there.

Thanks for asking and I'm glad everyone is enjoying the pictures. We consider it one of our best home improvement schemes yet even though my DH thought I was crazy at first, as did the pond company & workers who helped implement my ideas.

One funny story was the decking guy procrastinating on doing the deck. He had seen the whole project because my original idea was just to cover the whole pool with a deck. I was desperate to get rid of the ugly no-longer-used pool! Anyway, I decided to stop bugging him and finally just said he could do the deck whenever he wanted but that after a certain date (I forget what date it was) he would be putting in the whole thing with water below it. At that point he arrived put in the joists in 2 days! I was quietly chuckling while he was feverishly working to beat the pond workers.

casey · « **Reply #5 on:** February 17, 2009, 04:27:55 PM »

Yes, Carlos, the old Kool Decking for the pool was really ugly and in poor condition. Getting the flagstone installed was another adventure. First we almost did the waterfall before we remembered that there would be the old decking under it. I had to dash off to the flagstone place to buy enough for the whole project so it would match & then bring back enough in the car to do the falls & under them. Then we had to wait to save enough money to do the rest. When the guy did it his crew did a crummy job and when I called him he blew me off; said he was busy but would come look in a week to 10 days. I had to rush to the bank and stop payment on the check he had luckily (for me) not cashed! Then he came pretty quickly and had it redone the way it was supposed to be. Later, although not admitting he was a jerk, he did admit that my complaints were justified. Oh the joy of the current work ethic in this country. However, I do have to say that our pond installers were fabulous and only did the "grunt" work while letting us do the designing. We would have done it all ourselves but hauling 20 tons of pea gravel, all the river rock that went over it (subsequently removed by us) and the boulders around the bio filter & the bog/falls would have probably done our backs in for our retirement years.

Ky Kim · « **Reply #6 on:** February 17, 2009, 05:06:01 PM »

OMG, that looks great. I would love to be sitting on that deck area and dangling my feet in and letting the fish nibble on my toes. I can't find the words here, but it looks so welcome. I'm surprised the fish don't hide under the deck area when the full sun is out in AZ. At least it give them a place to hide if there is a predator about.

Great job, keep those pics coming.

Kim

landey1230 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 17, 2009, 05:57:29 PM »

You weren't joking. That thing is huge. Very nice. I always wondered what a pool conversion would look like. Thanks for sharing. WOW

casey · « **Reply #8 on:** February 17, 2009, 06:19:08 PM »

Kim, I don't know if you did the link in my first post with the 43 pictures of the conversion from beginning to end or just saw the three that got transferred into the body of this thread. Anyway, the 43 pictures are interesting and about all I have for now so enjoy the link if you haven't already.

http://picasaweb.google.com/caseyintucson/PoolToPondConversion?authkey=Y5w6e6u7_pw#5303622058652587586

Casey

Ky Kim · « **Reply #9 on:** February 17, 2009, 07:06:06 PM »

Oh, I enjoyed them very much. Looks great!

casey · « **Reply #10 on:** February 17, 2009, 09:57:58 PM »

Glad you enjoyed them. We certainly enjoy our pool a lot more now. BTW I just noticed you are in Louisville where my son & DIL are right now to have their first baby

& first grandchild on both sides

baptized on Sunday. Her family is all there and she grew up there so it's nice for her to have Molly

baptized in her hometown church. Make the weather nice for them, please.

Julles · « **Reply #11 on:** February 18, 2009, 06:24:50 AM »

Looks great, Casey.

Question: You have gravel, and then rocks over the bottom of the pond?? What's that for? Wouldn't it collect gunk and sludge? Is there some way you filter it, or remove it?

Also, I saw some large koi - do they mess with your plants?

Ky Kim · « **Reply #12 on:** February 18, 2009, 07:47:40 AM »

I'll do my best on the weather

, its a little bit wet out today. Heard thunder at 4 am, but other than that its great. Sure beats snow and ice. I'll take a little damp day over that mess anytime.

That's cool that they here in Louisville. I've been here all my life.

Kim

casey · « **Reply #13 on:** February 18, 2009, 08:00:54 AM »

Julles,

If you look at all the photos in the link I provided you will see that we put in 20 tons of pea gravel (to lessen the volume of water to be filtered), then we layed a liner over the pea gravel (just on the bottom, not up the sides) to keep the mulm from settling all the way down to the original pool bottom), then we put river rock (for looks) on top of the liner. After 2 years we took out the river rock because, yes, the mulm was increasing & it was a pain to try to vacuum it out from between the rocks. Now the liner shows but it is mostly covered with the short beneficial algae, looks quite natural and is a breeze to vacuum. The liner is right next to the sides with a line of bricks holding it down so very little mulm gets past it to settle there. I think it is all working well but aske me again in 10 years.

Casey

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #14 on:** February 18, 2009, 10:18:56 AM »

What a great conversion! You are definitely in hog heaven with all the space for your plants and fish! The deck and pond design is fabulous! Wish I had a pool to convert! Thanks for sharing.

casey · « **Reply #15 on:** February 18, 2009, 12:18:58 PM »

Interestingly, what we bought with the house was a bad design for a pool installation because the pool area was sunken about a foot below the level of the house and remaining yard. There was only a couple feet of Kool Decking around the pool in the sunken area. But that worked fabulously for installing the pond with a deck, now level with the house & remaining yard, over half the pond. Sometimes you just have to look at a situation differently to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Hey, I guess that goes for a lot of things in life, huh?

Indiana Karen · « **Reply #16 on:** February 18, 2009, 01:39:31 PM »

It turned out great.
I can tell that a lot of planning went into that

marla · « **Reply #17 on:** February 18, 2009, 05:50:07 PM »

Wow, fantastic job......I always thought if I had a pool it would be neat to turn in to a pond, wondered how to do it, now I know. I love the way the deck goes over the top......Again Fantastic Job

casey · « **Reply #18 on:** February 18, 2009, 07:17:54 PM »

Thank you Karen, Marla & everyone. We are so proud of it and get heaps of pleasure from it. You can just guess how much the inside of our home suffers now because we never want to be there if we can be outside sitting or puttering, and in AZ that''s nearly all day every day!

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 24, 2009, 09:01:14 AM »

Though I can't imagine getting rid of a swimming pool when you live in Arizona (it is one of the things I miss most) your pond is totally gorgeous. Tranquil oasis. Love it.

dsep · « **Reply #20 on:** February 25, 2009, 12:01:33 PM »

Looks beautiful! Great job
What did you make those planters out of just pots with liners?
Thanks for sharing

casey · « **Reply #21 on:** February 25, 2009, 12:35:01 PM »

LeeAnne, It's easy to imagine getting rid of a pool if you're allergic to chlorine/bromine, etc :'(. It would have cost way more than the conversion to a pond to convert it to another cleaning system. And then too, my DH really doesn't swim. Now at least I can get in the pool/pond to cool off since there are no chemicals

.

dsep, If you are talking about the pots in the middle of the pond, they are 55 gallon plastic barrels, top cut off & filled with 475 lbs of pea gravel to keep them down. Then there is a pipe with holes down the middle for drainage and an 18 gallon blue rubbermaid tub with its bottom resting on the pea gravel & the pipe coming up through a hole we made in the tub. This create "planters" for land plants in the middle of the pond. There is drip irrigation into the planters. The biggest problem is when too much water goes into the planters from watering the plants or heavy rain and the barrels fill with water

. That's where the pipe down the middle comes in as we stick a vacuum hose (our PondVac 3) down the barrel and pump out the water

. If we don't do this the water saturates the soil in the rubbermade tubs and the plants die :'(. However, despite this extra hassle, we really like the year round color the planters provide. I tend them using chest waders when the water is cold and just in shorts during the summer... well actually sometimes the neighbors could get an eyefull if they looked over the fence

while I was tending the pond in the summer

!

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 26, 2009, 12:52:46 PM »

Yes, I can imagine an allergy to chlorine/bromine would be a real downer as far as a swimming pool goes.

Sorry!

casey · « **Reply #23 on:** February 26, 2009, 10:54:21 PM »

Interestingly I was a competitive swimmer

until about age 18 and pretty good too. I think part of my problem was just overdosing in highly chlorinated pools for so many years. It got so bad that I couldn't get my eyes open for hours after swim practice. I would drive there, my mom would have to pick me up (because I couldn't see to drive home) and then we would have to return later for the car. Seems like mom should just have driven me both ways but she was a terrible morning person and practice started about 6:00 am. I actually feel pretty lucky that I didn't do permanent damage to my eyes, but in those days we didn't know much about all that. I can say now that if I am around any smog or chlorine, my eyes simply close and I am unable physically to open them. I also cry

over everything; sad movies, books, emotional arrivals & departures, the Partridge Family reruns, My Friend Flicka, you name it... all to be blamed on chlorine, so I tell my family

Kat · « **Reply #24 on:** February 27, 2009, 04:04:38 AM »

Wow, beautiful pond & love all of the landscaping/planters, too.

Lawrence of PA · « **Reply #25 on:** February 27, 2009, 07:28:33 AM »

As a former Floridian who had the requisite backyard pool, I can think of no better use for a pool than converting it to a beautiful pond as you have done. The only reason I wish I had a pool now is so it would be easier to convert to a pond than digging up the unfiltered, unskimmed, unlevel one I have now.

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #26 on:** February 27, 2009, 07:20:21 PM »

I've cried at many a movie but I don't recall a teary scene in My Friend Flicka. I am referring to the original. I think the recent remake is horrible other than looking at Tim McGraw.

casey · « **Reply #27 on:** February 27, 2009, 07:50:06 PM »

Kat, Thank you. Right now in AZ is the prettiest time, at least outside the pond. All the flowers are blooming and veggies are producing

. I grow regular shelling peas for my 94 yr young mom and we have had a wonderful crop this year. Usually mom gets every single pea because I know she could leave this world any day and then I'll get them all and wish I didn't

. Pretty soon it will get too hot for the flowers & veggies but the pond will get pretty. My pots all came from my day trips to Nogales, Mexico, which have sadly stopped due to all the drug violence that started late summer making the trip a bit risky

.

Lawrence, Yes, it was very handy to already have a wonderful, non leaky, lined hole to start the pond. It's a bit unusual to have to put gravel IN instead of take dirt OUT when you are doing a pond

. We have people come to look and ask questions every couple months. Since I am a member of the Tucson Watergardeners the people are referred through the club. I should have kept track of the people who came to see if they actually followed through with their own conversion

.

LeeAnne, I was talking about the book, My Friend Flicka. It really takes practically nothing to make me teary. I guess the worst is the TV show The Partridge Family, which was kind of a lame show to start

. I never analyzed why I got rid of our TV some 30 years ago but maybe it was because I spent too much time in tears

. Actually it was because the kids were always harrassing me to watch on school nights

and I decided to put a final stop to the debate. It worked so well we never got another one and now we don't have to worry about switching to HDTV either!

Now we read tons of books and I took up beading and do wonderful pieces of beadwork (I think) and at night we go to bed feeling happy & productive instead of like the zombies many of our friends have become. I think I'll start a thread about that.

LeeAnne151 · « **Reply #28 on:** March 01, 2009, 12:33:55 PM »

I don't recall anything sad in the book either. If you cry at My Friend, Flicka what happens when you read Where the Red Fern Grows???

we cried buckets when the teacher read it to us in fifth grade.

I have had a copy for many, many years. I have Thunderhead and the Green Grass of Wyoming too. My father was an extra on the set during the race scene in Thunderhead. You can see him for about five seconds. LOL

I bawl at the Budweiser commercials with the clydesdales.

tlc · « **Reply #29 on:** March 10, 2009, 03:13:01 PM »

Casey, I just had to remark on the alligator and frog that you have sitting by your pond. They are so cool. I've never seen anything like that before. Ties right in with everything else that you have done there.