Build a stream with a waterfall yourself

Build a waterfall for a stream yourself - that's how it works

manual

There are many ideas how such a waterfall can be built and designed. You can form it out of concrete, use soil and pond liner, or use a wooden frame. It can be built steeply falling or splashing down in gentle steps - that is entirely up to your personal taste and the local conditions. In these instructions you will find an easy-to-implement variant that can also be implemented by less experienced do-it-yourselfers.

Materials needed

You will need the following materials to build this waterfall:

Pond liner and fleece
Earth / topsoil / excavation from pond construction
sand
Stones, such as broken stones or field stones
Mortar / cement

The required amounts depend on how big the waterfall is to be and are therefore not listed here.

Creating the hill

Since a waterfall always falls from an elevated point, you have to create one first. To do this, fill up a mound of earth, for which you can use the excavation from a possible pond construction, for example. The earth should be solidified well so that the hill does not slide later. Also remember that the hill must not be higher than the flowing stream - water does not flow uphill, at least not without technical support. Therefore, the stream should flow from the top of the hill, with a gradient of two to three percent is completely sufficient. The garden pond into which the water flows is again at the lowest point.

Model a waterfall

Once this preliminary work has been done, you can now start building the waterfall:

Create a recess at the top of the hill.
Lower this in the direction of the stream.
Build a connection to the stream.
Lower the indentation towards the front.
Dig a stream down the hill.
Build it steeply or in terraces.
Create a connection to the pond.
Build the subsoil: a layer of sand, then fleece
Now lay the pond liner on the subsurface.
Finally, you can design the waterfall hill, for example with broken or field stones and plants.