Aquatic Gardens Ponds, Streams, Waterfalls & Fountains: Volume 1. Design & Construction Volume 2. Maintenance, Stocking, Examples V. 1 Print and eBook on Amazon V. 2 Print and eBook on Amazon   by Robert (Bob) Fenner

water feature... repair of pre-cast ftn.  -- 12/15/09
hi, I
<... English?>
have a concrete water feature that my wife knocked over last night,
<!? With a car?>
the water reservoir part of the feature was broken into 4 parts 3parts make up a third of it the other part is whole the total size is 3ft across, my question is, is there an adhesive strong enough to bond it back together,
remembering it is also 5inches deep and can hold a decent amount of water, thanks
<Oh! There are a few types of epoxies, even (if the base is stable) thin-set mortars w/ adhesives added (see your local specialty masonry, stucco... supplier... Bring a piece of the ftn. for color matching) that will put "Humpty Dumpty" (and his fountain), back together again here.
Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Locating, fixing concrete fountain leaks Gentlemen - <Roger> My housing addition (located in Nashville, TN) has a 40,000 gallon decorative fountain with leaks and we desire to locate these leaks. <... that's a fountain!> The fountains consist of 3 pools connected by two channels and they vary in depth from 23 inches to 27 inches. The water is filtered by a large swimming pool sand filter and is pumped into these pools by two 1.5 horsepower electric pumps connected in series. There is one nozzle in the center of each pool with the water projecting straight upward to 40 feet in the large pool and 8 feet in the two smaller pools. The center pool is 50 feet in diameter and the two side pools are 25 feet in diameter. The pools were built in 1987 with concrete blocks which are filled with concrete and are set on top of poured concrete pads. Approx. 1/2 inch of concrete paste was placed on the sides and bottom of each pool and the two channels. The two channels are 3 feet wide and approx. 25 feet long. We operate the fountains all year and have maintenance performed weekly by a pool company which performs backwashing and adds chemicals as required to keep the fountain water clear & clean all year. The fountains are drained and cleaned 2 times/year. A "concrete patch" was applied to areas that looked suspect about 5 years ago, but is flaking off the sides and bottom at the moment. <All sounds fine except the method of construction... even in a region of stable geology, there are going to be cracks, leaks in such a structure> The fountains are a great asset to our neighborhood and have given our addition a beautiful feature. At the moment we are loosing approx.1,500 gallons/day and the city water bill is making them prohibitive to operate. <And dangerous possibly... depending on where the water is going, what it may be doing> We need advice as to what type of leak maintenance should be performed and by whom. Roger Mishler, pool maintenance coordinator <There are a few general steps you might take here to render the basins leak-free... from various coatings that can be applied by hand or machine, to applying a liner/membrane over the existing structures and in essence, building a new shell inside the current one... with wire and mortar of a few possible mixes, added color... Without seeing this construct, I would opt for the most conservative means here (the latter) as this will give you the most secure, longest-lasting repair. Please see here re: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PondSubWebIndex/concrepart.htm and the Related Article and FAQs (linked, in blue, above). And feel free to write me back if you have further questions, are looking for more input. Our businesses effected several such repairs on basins of your size... not fun, but necessary. Bob Fenner>

Aquatic Gardens Ponds, Streams, Waterfalls & Fountains: Volume 1. Design & Construction Volume 2. Maintenance, Stocking, Examples V. 1 Print and eBook on Amazon V. 2 Print and eBook on Amazon   by Robert (Bob) Fenner