Lessons Learned

OK...so I didn't get everything right,...things could have been better. This is where you can learn from my mistakes, and where you can benefit from my experiences. I hope that you do and if so, your water feature will turn out better than mine which will make it a real 'Balltearer' of a water feature!'.

First off, because I used bricks with a 'Split-Face', I should have had some reversed to make the construction better. For example the bricks which were below water level at the rear of the 'Bath' could have been either smooth face forward or backward. After I had finished the main construction I realised that I should have placed the bricks that were below water level with the smooth face forward.

This would have meant that when I rendered the interior of the water bath, it would have been easier to do and the finished product would have looked better to the observer looking in to the bath from the top/front.

Also, if I had placed these bricks smooth side out, it would have given me the option of adding a vertical centre column of bricks, extending one brick above the finished water level which, when topped with capping, would have given an attractive horizontal platform onto which the falling water from the waterfall would have run off of. This would have removed the neccessity to have had a 'Fountain' feature in the bath to give a 'Falling Water' sound. ( Without the Platform or Fountain, I doubt wether there would have been sufficient water velocity to create a noise).

Secondly, although the finished product looks great, a quick check with a spirit level reveals that the main wall leans to the rear by about one half of an inch over the entire height of the wall.

I was obssessed, during construction, with checking that the bricks were perfectly horizontal, left to right. If they were slightly out fore and aft, I could live with it, it was only by a small amount anyway and I thought that that shouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I was more concerned that the water would flow out of the slot in a perfectly even manner, so the horizontal aspect was more important to me.

When I had finished I did a check with the level and was dissappointed that I had allowed the wall to slope backwards slightly. I told myself that this would improve the flow of the waterfall down the front face of the wall and allow the water to 'adhere' to the wall better, I was of course kidding myself, and actually I was quite annoyed that I had not forseen the error.

I like to think that future generations might look at something I have built and think that I was a perfectionist. On this occassion, however, they would not. The point that I am trying to make is that each brick must be checked left to right & fore and aft with the spirit level as it is laid and any errors are to be removed as you go with a light tap of the mallet.

Thirdly, I chose an uplight that was far too bright! I said to my wife that with the light given out by the 50 watt globe which I had installed, I could have backed our car into the garden at night and worked on it! - Take my advice and go for a light which is say 20 watts or less. Subtle lighting is the key.

Last but not least, don't be in too much of a hurry to see the finished product. I could not wait the reccommended times for the various treatments to dry and as such, again, felt that I had not done as good a job as I could have done!

This was proven by the damp stain which appeared in the mortar as a result of not letting the waterproof coating dry adequately. This resulted in me draining the damn thing and waiting a day for it to dry out before recoating the walls with a third and forth coat.