Pre-formed ponds are absolutely ideal for many pond installations. If you have limited space for your pond and are considering installing a pond with a volume of water that can be accommodated by a pre-formed liner then this route does offer many advantages.

Pre-formed liners are first and foremost, simple, they contain necessary features such as varying depths and planting shelves, they are also both durable and simple to repair in the event of minor leaks. For a more conservatively sized pond installation it is very unlikely that concrete would be the material of choice as the cost and style of end product is suited to larger, more substantial projects. Whilst a flexible liner is an extremely popular liner material, in a smaller pond landscaping, planting shelves and other features is often more complicated than on a larger scale and trying to neatly fit a liner to fit around your design can be nigh on impossible.

Pre-formed liners can be used for more traditional sunken or raised ponds to great effect. The important thing to ensure when installing any preformed pond liner is that the liner itself is both level and well supported. Large volumes of water will place a great force on the walls of any pond and it is important that the force is restrained by the surrounding landscape and not the liner itself.

Fitting a rigid pond liner is most likely the fastest possible method to not only install a pond, but to install a durable, long lasting and low maintenance pond, that is, assuming you fit it well.

An appeal of the rigid pond liner is the sheer simplicity behind the idea. Having identified the liner shape that best suits your plot and design aspirations, dig a hole and in goes the liner. Fill it with water, some plants and some fish and Bob’s your uncle. In truth the process is almost that simple, it just requires a little care to ensure that each of the steps is performed in a satisfactory manner.

The most durable materials used in constructing preformed liners is fibreglass. This material also has the advantage that it does come in a variety of colours. One consideration in choosing a pond liner should also be transportation. It is quite likely you will make your purchase from a catalogue due to the inability of any retailer to hold extensive stock of the hundreds of available shapes. Take advantage of this method of purchase to ensure the liner is delivered to the ponds eventual location.

There are two key elements in ensuring the way you fit the pond assists in prolonging the life of the installation. The pond excavation should be as level as possible. Having a level surface will ensure that your pond does not look off kilter but will also maximise the volume of water held. Importantly though, the level base, covered with a layer of sand will reduce stress on the liner. With a litre of water weighing exactly 1Kg, or a bag of sugar, a pond liner is supporting a substantial load. The more the liner is supported the better. It is for exactly this reason that the excavation should also follow the shape of the liner as closely as possible. When the liner is fitted, it is important to backfill the cavity between the liner and surrounding earth. As backfilled soil will pack less densely than undisturbed earth, the less backfilling required the better. All of this care is to ensure that the liner is simply performing the job of a waterproof membrane and not acting as a load bearing structure.

With these simple actions followed, you should find that a preformed liner not only gave you a very simple and speedy pond solution, but also one that lasts for many years with minimal maintenance requirements.

The most common approach to building a pond is to use a flexible pond liner. This approach gives the pond designer great scope to create a unique shape that could either be necessitated by a difficult plot or simply the aesthetic interpretation of a creative genius. Flexible pond liners are affordable, generally durable and also, simple to install.

There are a number of materials used as flexible pond liners and these range from the more affordable plastics such as polythene and PVC to the more expensive butyl (rubber) and the modern equivalent to butyl, EPDM.

The plastic materials provide the most affordable route to pond liners but they do vary greatly in quality. Good quality plastic liners are available with 15 to 20 year guarantees and these are perfect for a smaller pond. It is important to be wary of poor quality liners that offer little better performance than bin liners.
For many years, butyl has been considered the top quality flexible pond liner material. This rubber material is durable, highly flexible and easy to repair in the event of failure. It is the most expensive material used in flexible liners but the quality is assured.

EPDM is essentially a synthetic evolution of butyl. It possesses most of the same properties that have ensured butyl’s success for many years. Due to its widespread use as a construction material it is now achieving better economies of scale in manufacturing and a subsequently lower retail price. One popular make of EPDM material is Epalyn.

Whichever flexible liner is used, an essential part of the installation process is to line the excavation with a cushioning material. This is quite simply to reduce the risk of puncturing your liner.

A fundamental requirement of most ponds designs is that a significant quantity of earth will require moving in the initial stages of construction. Raised ponds are one method of creating a water garden without this step taking place.

Avoiding an excavation is probably not the best reason for choosing to install a raised pond but it is clearly one significant benefit of such a design.

Raised ponds are traditionally viewed by many as more formal in character than sunken ponds. Quite clearly, you will be unable to replicate a work of nature with a raised pond. This does not mean that you are unable to add a real personal touch through choice of materials, planting and features to create a unique design to reflect your own character.

Some of the real benefits of raised ponds, besides construction methods, are that there is more scope for creating a safer environment for children, and wheelchair access can easily be provided. This is in addition to the extra creativity that can be employed in the materials used for the pond walls themselves.

The pond walls are one very key feature of the design of a raised pond. Water is an extremely heavy substance, the weight of which is comfortably supported by the earth when sinking a traditional pond. When creating a raised pond, the walls need to be able to support significant weight without fear of failure. Common materials for this purpose are stone, brick and wood – a popular type being railway sleepers.

Making the pond watertight will most likely be done utilising either a flexible or rigid pond liner. The choice of liner will most likely be dictated by the design of the pond itself.

There can be many reasons to choose a raised pond but, whatever those reasons are, there is a whole new concept of design that becomes available to you. In some settings this concept may enable a pond installation where a significant excavation would be either very challenging or even impossible.

Pre-formed pond liners can be the easy solution for the almost instant pond. For most people planning a pond, the choice of installation will be between a pre-formed or a flexible liner. Whilst a flexible liner gives the pond designer considerably more scope for creative design, the preformed liner is a very cost effective and simple way to produce the almost instant installation.

Pre-formed liners do have the advantages that planting shelves will already be built into the design and you will also not be confronted with the occasionally impossible task of hiding folds in the liner.

Shopping for your pond liner will most likely involve browsing supplier catalogues as the readily available stock at your local retailer will probably not encompass the full spectrum of design. This need to shop ‘from the page’ does have the advantage that it may be possible to arrange delivery of the liner to your pond location. One significant, but not insurmountable short term challenge when choosing a rigid liner is transportation. Unless you happen to have access to a large vehicle, travelling around with a large, rigid sail attached to your car could be an entertaining experience. You will also be exposing your liner to possible damage.

Fibre glass is generally the material used for constructing larger liners and does have the advantage that it can be supplied in a broad range of colours and it will also weather well. For smaller ponds, liners are available in both ABS and HDPE plastics. These are less durable than their fibre glass equivalents but do come at a keener retail price.

If you wish to indulge some of your more creative fantasies when designing a pond, whilst still wishing to keep your construction project on both a reasonable budget and not resembling a major development, then using a flexible pond liner is most likely the perfect route for you.

The fundamental advantage that flexible liners offer is the ability to create free form shapes for your pond whilst having great flexibility over price.

The building process essentially involves excavating the pond site and then lining the hole with suitable cushioning materials to protect the flexible liner form sharp objects such as stones or roots. Having hopefully chosen a day where the air is still, you will now be ready to fit the liner. This should be carefully fitted to the excavation trying to minimise folds and to ensure that where there are folds that they are as inobtrusive as possible. Having fitted the liner it can be anchored in position with rocks or other suitably weighty material prior to the moment you’ve been longing for. At last you can fill it with water.

Flexible pond liners are hugely popular due to their inherent simplicity and manageable costs. There are however still varying degrees of quality available from the cheapest polythene up to the more costly butyl or EPDM liners. As with most purchases, you do get what you pay for, but, providing you choose a good quality supplier, polythene liners, which are the cheapest material choice, can still come supplied with a 15 or 20 year guarantee.

When designing a new pond, choosing to use a flexible pond liner will give you enormous flexibility in both the depth and shape of the pond that you are able to create.

There are a variety of fabrics used for flexible pond liners and unsurprisingly, these vary greatly in both quality and price. The common materials in use are polythene, PVC, Butyl and Epalyn ( a form of EPDM). PVC and polythene are the lower cost options for pond liners that themselves vary yet further in price and quality whilst Butyl and Epalyn are the higher cost, higher performance alternatives that are used for a highly durable, longer lasting liner.

Polythene is the cheapest option for use as a liner and for smaller scale water features a good quality polythene liner will be a cost effective solution. It should be noted that polythene is very difficult to repair effectively should it get damaged. PVC fills the middle ground between polythene and butyl or EPDM liners. A good quality PVC liner offers both good flexibility and durability at a competitive price. The high quality PVC liner will frequently come with a 25 year guarantee although this will reduce as the size of sheet increases. PVC can be used effectively for typical garden pond but for a particularly large installation may not be suitable.

Butyl and EPDM pond liners are the best liners to use. They both have excellent properties of both durability and flexibility. Either material is very stable in extremes of temperature and other environmental conditions. It is also possible to repair either material. Whilst they feel and perform very similarly they are manufactured in quite different ways. Butyl materials are actually a blend of butyl and an EPDM material. EPDM liners are solely EPDM and will generally be slightly thicker than an equivalent quality butyl liner. However, due to the extensive use of EPDM in many non-pond related industries it is cheaper than an equivalent quality of butyl.

Epalyn is a very high quality pond liner material that is very difficult to surpass in terms of longevity, low maintenance and overall cost effectiveness.

Epalyn is a particular type of EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) that basically offers very similar characteristics to those of the well established and time proven butyl membrane. Being a newer product on the market it is not yet the automatic standard for the highest quality pond liners but…There are a number of reasons why it is already favoured by many, or at least seen as an equal to butyl. Factor in a slight price advantage and the case becomes stronger still.

So what is Epalyn? Basically it is a synthetic rubber sheet. Highly flexible with elastic properties and excellent UV resistance it does not weather and deteriorate when subjected to normal environmental extremes. This fabric can be easily fabricated to any unique pond installation.

Epalyn is one of the highest quality EPDM materials available on the market and despite this it is available at lower cost than butyl. The reason for this is quite simply the economies of scale. Epalyn is now so widely used that it is now more cost effective to produce and in all likelihood the price differential is only set to increase.