WaterFalls Naturally

Douglas Hoover has compiled over 30 years experience as a master waterfall & pond builder in the form of instruction, training, photos, video and detail about design, layout,excavation, plumbing, rebar installation, concrete, rock work, equipment, plants and maintenance. All of this valuable information for the cost of a lunch!

Many people are still searching the internet for information on how to build a waterfall or koi pond. Unfortunately, there is very little information regarding professional construction. There are thousands of websites involved in marketing pond products to uninformed and unsuspecting customers.The majority of these sites promote and advocate the use of rubber pond liners. Why? Because they sell them. Rubber liners are profitable, primarily because of the add-on products related to the pond liner industry. For example, when you construct your pond using a pond liner, you have no choice but to buy all of the related accessories such as a biofilter, special skimmers and drains, and the large variety of energy-sucking, inefficient, short-lived sump pumps.Rarely do pond liner dealers or installers tell you the whole truth about the unpredictability of liners and sump pumps. Rarely do they acknowledge the truth about the vulnerability of liners after they are installed - whether it be attacks by rats, mice, ground squirrels, gophers, chipmunks or the sharp claws of animals...

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 Avoid Expensive Lawsuits -- Start Turning Negatives Into Positives -- Don't Bail Out, Simply Patch the Holes?
 
A Case In Point Mr. and Mrs. McDowell of San Diego, CA contracted with a local pond liner construction company and paid them $255.000.00 to construct a pond and waterfall in the front yard of their $14,000,000.00 home. In less than 6 months from the completion date of the project, the pond started losing well over 150 gallons of water per day.The contractor was informed of the situation and responded immediately by arriving at their home to inspect the water feature. The contractor walked up the hill, inspecting the waterfall very carefully and then back down the opposite side and without hesitation, exclaimed that they had an infestation of rats and gophers living under the waterfall portion and had chewed holes in the liner. The owners instantaneous response was,...and?, to which he retorted, "...didn't you read the small print in your contract?...that the liner was only covered for factory defects in the liner, not for holes chewed by rodents.Now, for the rest of the story...
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 Usually a house is a man's greatest asset; "his home is his castle." A house or home can easily become the most important possession for a family, which would include its surroundings or landscape.Recently, several of the landscape architects and design associations have predicted trends towards homeowners spending more money to dress up their landscapes and add outdoor living spaces, including water gardens or water features. Increasingly more homeowners are spending non-discretionary income on their homes, inside and out, rather than on second homes or exotic vacations. It is not surprising that the landscape design business is flourishing.With the exception of a few large landscape architectural design firms, most have not taken advantage of the high tech design software tools available to the industry. This is due to the high cost and a steep learning curve related to the graphics and design technology.When plotting out a water garden, most landscaping contractors are currently providing their clients with a hand-drawn sketch or sketches or floor plan. Many landscape designers and architects currently use CADCAM or 3D-type software programs. At best, these programs produce stilted, unnatural results. Only a couple of the programs offer water garden related images, and they fall far short of offering enough objects to create more than a handful of unrealistic looking water features.The "Water Garden Digital Image Library" - first of its kind - has just been released by Aquamedia Corp.

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 1.) Have you thought about A Water Feature?-- Is it true that a water feature will add equity to my home? What about a swimming pool? Doesn't a pond require a lot of upkeep? What is the average cost? Do I need a building permit? Do I have to have fish?...we travel a lot!American Society of Landscape ArchitectsLandscape Architects Identify Trends for 2007WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --"Sustainable design is bigger than ever and homeowners and commercial building owners alike are looking to utilize outdoor spaces even more. The New Year will bring a number of exciting and creative design solutions from landscape architects.Homeowners are requesting that landscape architects design complete outdoor rooms, such as kitchens and bars, for entertaining. Water features such as koi ponds, waterfalls, and fountains continue to be popular (with no signs of slowing), according to a new survey of leading members of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)."The American Nurseryman Association reports that "water features are the fastest growing trend in landscaping since 1990 (2007 should break all records.)"Regionally, in-ground pools will add about 5 percent to the value of a home in the Northeast, about 6 percent in the Midwest, and 7.5 percent in the Southeast and West. In the Southwest, a swimming pool will add nearly 11 percent to the home's value.If you add a $35,000 pool to a $300,000 house, you will just barely recover your initial expense. However, you still have the high maintenance cost and you have just limited the future buyers of your home to people who want a pool. Therefore, you have actually reduced the equity in your home. On the other hand, everyone loves a beautiful water feature, young and old! Therefore, increased equity!

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