Doug Hoover

Pond Liners: Buyer Beware

So, a pond liner is guaranteed for 20 to 30 years? I would have to agree with that, as long as you leave it in its box, in the garage, the whole time. Too bad a liner manufacturer’s warranty doesn’t include damage from gophers, ground squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice or tree, plant and weed roots. Or from stretching and punctures in the liner due to heavy rocks and other sharp objects. Now for the truth...

Do you waste your money on lottery tickets? Feed your hard earned money to the one-armed bandits in the casinos? Drive without a seat belt? Then a pond liner is for you. You obviously like taking chances and are not too concerned about the outcome.
Well, when someone spends thousands of dollars on a liner pond, they are playing the odds. Will their liner pond leak or not. From my 26 years experience in the pond business, I can assure you that the odds are not in your favor.

This is an article the liner pond dudes don't want you to read. If you weren't giving my industry such a bad name, there would be no need for this writing. The liner pond gurus such as the "Liner messiah" with his own magazine and catalogue, recruits unsuspecting followers with a "Build a Liner Pond Day", and shows how easy it is to get something for next to nothing. Here's what these liner pond guys do:

• Lay out the pond with a garden hose
• Remove the sod and dig the hole
• Drop in our guaranteed liner
• Fill with water
• Drop in our pump
• Run our pipe
• Throw a piece of our liner on the pile of discarded dirt
• Stick in our filter
• Cover pile of dirt with loose rock
• Turn on our pump
• Throw in your fish
• Collect your money and split.

Does this sound a bit harsh on the pond liner industry? Well, here's "the rest of the story. " I'm going to add a few more items that the liner pond guys omitted:

• Ground squirrels
• Gophers
• Mice
• Rats
• Chipmunks
• Moose (hey, it could happen)
• Sharp rocks
• Heavy rocks
• Falling rocks
• Sharp objects
• Tree roots
• Plant & weed roots
• Leaky drain seal
• Leaky skimmer seal
• Kids with sharp or pointed objects.

Did the liner pond guy offer you a discount if any of the above occurred in your pond? Here is what you would have had to do if any of them happened in your newly-built liner pond (and I know the Liner Guy didn't give you this list):

• Take out the fish
• Turn off the pump
• Take out the loose rock (hope you didn't use too many)
• Pump out the pond
• Take out the pump
• Take out the liner
• Spread out the liner on the lawn
• Clean off the dirt and algae
• Inspect every square inch of the liner for holes.

(Sure, there are short-cuts, but if you assume you've fixed the problem after patching a hole, put everything back and then discover there was more than one hole, you might be a tad irritated. Remember this rule of thumb: one pinhole and you can lose five gallons of water every 24 hours!)

• Patch the hole or holes
• Repeat the whole process over again, only in reverse.

Hey, sound familiar? It should, with the exception of laying out the garden hose and digging a hole, you have just built another water feature!If it had been done the professional way to begin with, all this time to tear it apart and put it back together could have been used to design and build another permanent project with steel and concrete.

Can you imagine if this scenario was referring to a project involving large boulders that were set in place with heavy equipment such as an end loader or crane? Not to mention lawn sprinklers, flower gardens, trees and shrubs that were growing there, and sidewalks and hardscapes installed!It can cost 30% more to tear out a liner pond and replace it with a professional one made with rebar and concrete. Where as if they had built a professional waterfall and pond in the first place it would have only cost about 20% more. Does the term pennywise and pound foolish mean anything to you? Ponder befor you leap, investigate well, before you weep! Happy koi, peace & joy.

Article Tags: Liner Pond

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