Friday, March 16, 2012

What in the World is a WEIR? (Building Our Waterfall Part 4)


The waterfall and stream actually begins 
at the waterfall WEIR


There's a WEIR under there

A weir is just a box which diffuses the water 
to create a natural appearing waterfall.

Weirs can be expensive 
and since we're always on the lookout to save money, 
we discovered a much less expensive alternative 
that has worked very well.

Our local hardware store sells a plastic storage bin 
that looks very much like a weir, 
needing only a round hole cut in the side 
to which a PVC plumbing fitting can be attached.




This video provides a complete description of  
how to construct the do-it-yourself weir 
for under $20. 
I deviated slightly from his instructions by purchasing a bulkhead fitting 
that connected through the hole—much simpler. 
Purchase the size that accommodates the size of your tubing.



A view from the inside


A view from the outside

With the bulkhead fitting in place, 
I inserted the tubing fitting—
first wrapping the threads with Teflon tape.



Here is the completed weir.
The plastic shown here was only for testing, 
to give us a general idea of how this was all going to workout.

In our next post we'll discuss the underlay and liner and attach the liner to the weir. 

Many thanks to my Honeyman who wrote most of this post 
and who always figures out all the hard stuff in my life. ♥

11 comments:

  1. Honeyman and you did a great job. This is such helpful information and will save us lots of money, I am sure. Your series here is bookmarked for when my honeyman and I build our own. Thanks for sharing all of your tips.

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  2. And so fun for me to read your comment, darling daughter! Missin' you.♥

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  3. Donna@Gardens Eye ViewJanuary 9, 2013 at 7:58 PM

    amazing all that goes into it...our landscape helper found us a great kit ...but I love clever people and their ideas....this is great Carolyn.

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  4. oh my smart daddy :0  Fun to see this project step by step since I wasn't there for it.
     

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  5. Karin, you're a woman after my own heart. The more we save... the more we can spend!

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  6. Karin/Southern MeadowsJanuary 9, 2013 at 7:58 PM

    Ingenious! I am always up for saving money. I figure if I save money on those things I can spend money on more plants! :) 

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  7. Invisible weirs, hide the ugly stuff and look what you get, clever guy.

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  8. I love it!  We are not handy enough to do something like that.  Plus, we don't have the space.   I had not heard of weirs, so I learned something new.

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  9. How beautiful!  I enjoyed your posts on construction, and love how you were so creative in finding economical alternatives for the components of  your waterfall. 

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