Buadhai Builds A Pond

[Thetyim]

Nothing but the best for my girl....

Here you go BH, a present for your wifey

[Gerbil]

^If you click on the link with the picture of the solar thingy, you'll see that it is available in Thailand and can be ordered from Pantip Market. I will do that if I don't find a better alternative.

But, this is the irony of living in a place like Thailand. I want to line my pond with EPDM. EPDM is manufactured in Thailand. I have contacted several manufacturers. But, none of them will sell in small amounts and none of them have been able to refer me to a reseller who will sell me the 24 square meters that I need.

Same with the geotextile underylayment. Manufactured in Thailand, but try to find someone that will sell you the small amount I need. No can do.

And, sure, I can order from the US. But, the amount of EPDM liner that I need weighs about 50 kilos and would cost a fortune to ship.

This whole problem of procuring ordinary hardware and garden items is driving me crazy.

I guess I should do what everyone else seems to do. Give up trying to do things right with the right tools and right materials and just accept what's readily available.

You'd think there'd be some sort of builder on this forum, who could advise - or better yet - supply these sort of things..... Could be a fair bit of money in it if they got their act together.....

[buad hai]

Here you go BH, a present for your wifey

She laughed and laughed. Nice start for the day! Thanks.

[buad hai]

I received the following e-mail from Solarever in China:

The sample charge of SBL752 is US$60 and shipping fee is US$20. The total fee is US$80.

We will be delighted to send you the sample as soon as we receive the sample charge and shipping fee.

Our bank account detail is as below:
Beneficiary: Bu Yaoming
Bank Account: 453171101880772053
Bank Name: Bank of China Hangzhou High & New Development Zone Surbranch
Swift Code : BKCHCNBJ910

Here's the SBL752:


(Click the pic for a link to the product page.)

Question is, how do I pay them? Can I do a bank transfer using a Bangkok Bank card at an ATM?

[Marmite the Dog]

Get them to email you a bill and go down the bank with those account details. Then scan the receipt that the bank gives you and send it to the Chinese company and all should be well.

[buad hai]

^Thanks. Any idea what the bank charge would be for this sort of thing?

[Marmite the Dog]

^ Very little.

[a. boozer]

Get them to email you a bill and go down the bank with those account details. Then scan the receipt that the bank gives you and send it to the Chinese company and all should be well.

Will that really work, what about the time delay? After all most Thai banks appear to want 45 days, between a cheque in a foreign currency being presented and it being cleared into the account. Somehow cannot imagine a transfer from a Thai bank to a RoC bank being a very speedy affair.

[Marmite the Dog]

^ It worked for me when I was importing stuff from the UK. Took a day or two for the money to arrive in the UK account.

[buad hai]

^Well, it's not that much money, so I think I'll give it a shot if I can't find one in Thailand. There is a Chinese site with the same products that accepts credit cards online, but their prices are almost exactly double what this company (the manufacturer) quoted me.

[Thetyim]

Any idea what the bank charge would be for this sort of thing?

BBL charge 400 baht

Well that's what they told me.

[buad hai]

BBL charge 400 baht

Well, that's only ten bucks, right?

Oh, excuse me. Twelve bucks now....

[NickA]

˹Öè§1999 - neung1999,¡Åéͧǧ¨Ã»Ô´,TV& MONITOR,DVD ,VCD, ˹Öè§1999,˹Öè§,à¤Ã×èͧÊè§ÊÑ[at][at]Ò[at]ÀÒ¾,à¤Ã×èͧàÅè¹DVD ,â·Ãâ¢è§,ä¿©ÒÂ,¡ÅéͧÍÔ¹¿Òàô,à¤Ã×èͧµÃǨầ¤ì,à¤Ã× èͧàÅè¹VCDµÔ´Ã¶Â¹µì,ZULEX,â¤Áä¿¿éÒ¾Åѧ§Ò¹áʧÍҷԵ ì,â«ÅèÒà«ÅÅì,à«ÅÅìÊØÃÔÂÐ,SOLAR,à¤Ã×èͧÇÑ´ÍØ

Wow, what a beautifully designed site.. Marmite and Frankie could take some tips from there

[buad hai]

Fie on you NickA. I actually clicked on that link. Looks like something to keep an infant stimulated. Yuck.

[friscofrankie]

Marmite and Frankie could take some tips from there

Been stumped for new ideas lately, thanks for teh link!

[buad hai]

I hope these photos show how the soil has been dug out within the perimeter defined by the poured concrete beams:


This is the main pond. Probably a bit too deep in the middle there. I'll fill with some sand.


This is a view up the stream. You can see where a small waterfall will dump the water into the main pond. The wide deep part of the stream is where the "natural" bio-filtration system will be.


Looking downstream....

[WhiteLotusLane]

The Three Gorges Dam Mega-Structure nears completion..

[ThisOldHouse]

What's the plumbing plan look like BH?
=TOH=

[buad hai]

There will be a half inch water supply pipe in the main pond with a float valve to keep the pond full. I plan to hide the float in amongst some papyrus plants.

There will be a short piece of 1 1/2" pipe with a one eighth bend leading from just below water level to the height of the edging. Through this pipe will run the power cord for the pump and the pump outlet tubing. The pump will be a small (500 liter per hour?) submersible. The flexible outlet tubing will run to a fountain at the head of the stream. The pump will only have about a 60 cm head.

[corvettelover]

received the following e-mail from Solarever in China:


Quote:
The sample charge of SBL752 is US$60 and shipping fee is US$20. The total fee is US$80.

We will be delighted to send you the sample as soon as we receive the sample charge and shipping fee.

Our bank account detail is as below:
Beneficiary: Bu Yaoming
Bank Account: 453171101880772053
Bank Name: Bank of China Hangzhou High & New Development Zone Surbranch
Swift Code : BKCHCNBJ910
Here's the SBL752:

Contact them by email again they will have a western union payment option all the china companies have them

[buad hai]

The fountain at the head of the stream will look something like this:

[buad hai]

I never could get the high quality liner that I wanted. Of course, Thailand manufactures excellent liners made of EPDM, PVC and HDPE. But, no one repackages and distributes it for the consumer market. You want good liner you have to buy it in 100 meter rolls. Same with underlayment. It's made here, you just can't buy small quantities.

So, I bought the same junk that everyone else uses: very thin HDPE (high density polyethylene). This stuff is strong enough, but difficult to repair because it can't be glued. You either patch it with sticky tape or a heated weld. I could have gotten PVC, but it comes in one meter widths and no one seems to carry the special glue you need to bond it together. (Ordinary PVC pipe cement will not work as it dries too stiff and brittle.)


The black stuff is the liner. The white material is a non-woven, needle punctured (breathable) synthetic (probably polyester) that we got at an upholstery shop. It is structurally similar to the geotextile that is normally used for pond liner underlayment. I also bought 30 meters of hose so I can fill the pond as we fit the liner.


Because I couldn't get the high quality liner and underlayment that I wanted I decided to coat the surface of the pond in sand. This worked well and will provide additional protection from rocks and other stuff that might puncture the liner.


We plan to start lining and filling the pond this evening.

[a. boozer]

We plan to start lining and filling the pond this evening.

BH, Some long years ago, I built a pond with a liner, on very stony ground, back in England. I used several layers of cardboard and newspaper laid on the ground, and damped down to act as a protection for the liner. It did work, the pond lasted at least six years, before the property was sold, so it might be worth a trip to your local scrap re-cycler and buying a few Kgs of cardboard and paper.

[buad hai]

^My last pond used newspaper as an underlayment and it worked fine. We might put some in spots that look troublesome. But, I think the fabric we bought will do the trick in this mostly clay soil.

Any photos of your pond to share?

[buad hai]

So, materials all purchased and we're ready to go:


Here's Ms. B placing the liner on top of the white underlayment.


Here's me, pleased with the work so far; just watching the pond slowly fill.


But then the skies opened up and within minutes the entire yard was a muddy mess. It was impossible to do anything. Walk three steps and you have an inch of mud on the bottom of your zories and you're slippin' and slidin' all over the place. No way to properly adjust the liner as the water goes in.


This is not the kind of job you can just postpone until another day. You need to fill and adjust all in one step.


To show you how much it rained in just the one hour that we tried to work, here's what our soi looked like after we gave up and came home.

Plus, this liner is really crap. I put two holes in it just moving it around. No way to repair them.

So, the current plan is to rip this liner out and buy some PVC instead. It might not be as good, but at least you can easily patch it.

Time to get blasted.