Create your very own free standing Water Feature
A free-standing water feature, often called a pond in a pot, can bring designer detail to just about any outdoor living space.
The beauty of creating one of these features yourself is that you are not constrained by the styles that are available off-the-shelf. Simply, you can use virtually any receptacle that can hold an appropriate volume of water and covert it to a water feature. It’s a pretty simple process, here’s a quick walk-through on making a seemingly magical vanishing water pond-in-a-pot.
You will need;
- Suitable pot or other receptacle for the reservoir
- Decorative water spout, we used a soap-stone carved frog
- Suitable sized pump such as a PondMAX PV650 Water Feature Pump
- Section of pipe to suit pump either flexible or with suitable elbows etc.
- PondMAX PaintMAX Pond Paint & Sealer (optional)
- Idealseal MS290 Underwater Sealant or waterproof putty (optional)
- Mesh screen with holes of a size that that won’t let your pebbles drop through
- Suitable support for your mesh screen
- Pebbles
First select your reservoir. This could be anything from a decorative pot to an old wash-tub or anything in-between. The only proviso is that it needs to be able to hold at least 20L of water and not have large holes, which may otherwise make it difficult to seal. Once you’ve settled on a container give it a thorough clean internally.
Depending on your container it may need to be sealed. First seal any holes, such as drainage holes in a pot or welded joints in a metal container, with Idealseal. For large holes in a pot place heavy tape over the hole on the outside then fill the hole with Idealseal from the inside. Allow time to cure.
Now you’ll need to thoroughly seal the inside of the container but this depends on the material it’s made from. A pot will need sealing, a metal container will not unless you are concerned about rust. PondMAX PaintMAX is an easy to apply brushable sealant. It is available in clear or black. If you wanted to preserve the natural colour of your reservoir use clear, black is often used to give the appearance that the water is deeper than it actually is.
While the paint is drying trim your mesh sheet to the correct size to fit neatly in the top of your feature.
Put your container in its final location. Place pump in base, place mesh support over top, we just used an inverted terracotta pot. Add any pipes needed to run the pump output to the point needed. Drop your mesh screen on top and position your spout connecting to pump output.
Fill your reservoir with water to just below the screen and turn on pump. Make any adjustments to flow or plumbing. Wash your pebbles. Place them on screen. Turn on your pump and enjoy your new custom made and totally unique water feature!
