Installation of rock fountains begins by excavating for the preformed pond liner, but excavation begins by establishing a safe power source for your pump (unless you already have one). Have a certified electrician install a GFCI outlet on your outer house wall, near where the rock fountain will be.
Speaking of safety, another step precedes the installation proper: calling the Call Before You Dig phone number. Why take a chance on severing a utility cable?
As said on Page 1, the granite piece will rest over a pond, supported by a grate. To create the pond, insert a preformed pond liner into the ground. I already had my preformed pond liner in place, since I merely swapped out a prior fountain I had in this area for my new rock fountain (you can see that the landscaping is different in this old picture).
Here's how to install the preformed pond liner:
- Excavate the pit into which the preformed pond liner will be inserted. To begin, flip the preformed pond liner upside down and trace around it so that you'll know exactly how big a circle to dig out.
- How deep should you dig? Use the depth of the preformed pond liner as a guideline. I would not worry excessively, however, over being off slightly, since we'll be using sand later to make any alterations deemed necessary.
- Insert the preformed pond liner.
- The top rim of the preformed pond liner should stand about an inch above ground level (you can conceal it later with rocks).
- Check that the preformed pond liner is level, using a carpenter's level. How did you do? Is it even? If not, take out the preformed pond liner and make the necessary adjustments by moving the sand around (or adding or removing sand).
With the excavation for the rock fountain's pond out of the way, in Step 3 we'll move on to what goes on top of that pond....
