Ponds and Water Gardens - Re-Build Existing Pond -- How Hard is it (really)

We re-landscaped our yard last year -- and one thing I have always yearned for is a water feature. Our landscaper (who is not a pond guy) built it for us, and while it's not entirely awful, it's not what I wanted! Too shallow for fish (we wanted 18" deep and it's more like 12"; I wanted a natural-looking pond, and this one is concrete, with concrete edging, and the waterfall is just this big lumpen pile of rock that takes up at least 1/3 of the pond area (it's about 250 gallons, so pretty small).

I want to redo it, but since we already invested so much money in the yard, I don't want to pay an arm and a leg to have another contractor do it. I've been researching building your own pond, and it seems like it should be do-able, but how hard is it, really, for inexperienced do-it-yourselfers? We would have to demo the existing concrete, and excavate a little deeper, and I want to re-position and re-design the waterfall, and make the pond look more naturalistic...

Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

Carolyn

Good morning, Carolyn, and welcome to the DIY Forums!

If you are in decent physical condition, and do not mind physical labor...this is a great project for DIY.

The hardest part for you will be the removal of the existing concrete- much swinging of the sledgehammers. (Great stress reliever and you can sometimes picture the countenance of your adversaries...bad boss, nosy neighbor, etc. and have great pleasure in the destruction of concrete! :D )

Good luck with this project, and you are welcome to post pictures and ask more questions:)

Connie

If you do not make much progress with the sledgehammer rent an electric jackhammer. It is a beast of a tool if you fight it, but it is not bad if you keep it balanced and don't fight it. Just drag it into position. Balance it on the tip where you want to work and pull the trigger.

Wear eye protection! If you use the jackhammer, wear ear protection.

http://www.concretenetwork.com/photo-gallery/images/400x400Max/water-features_18/91303-ca-richard-smith-custom-concrete-waterfall-fountain_1469.jpg

http://www.concretenetwork.com/photo-gallery/images/400x400Max/water-features_18/92834-ca-aesthetic-artisans-waterfall_1445.jpg
Photo Credit: concretenetwork

In the meantime, begin your research and find the plan that meets your size expectation and will fit into your landscaping plan. Here's a good place to start: http://gardening.braveblog.com/entry/24674

Thanks for the suggestions. We're going back and forth over whether to demolish the existing pond and start over, or try to work with what we have: keep the pond more or less as-is, with some modifications, and re-design the waterfall. I'll try to upload a picture so y'all can see what we're dealing with...:)

Carolyn

Is there anyway to use your existing feature, and sort of expand upon it? Make it flow into another area, and make that one bigger?

I would personally just dig up the old, but if it's not feasible, try to incorporate it into a different feature.