Tried building a pond from old pallets. Big mistake.

Got this idea from a Pinterest board. Thought I'd make a cheap backyard pond using free pallets. $40 later with liner and nails, I filled it up. Water poured out faster than my hose could keep up. Learned pallet wood warps and splits when wet. Should have just bought a preformed tub. Anyone else try a cheap pond build that failed?

2 comments

2 Comments

max_ross12d ago

Start with the lumber you already had on hand. That tarp was probably the bigger problem than the wood. Tarps aren't made to hold water under pressure. Even a cheap pond liner from a hardware store would've worked better. The wood swelling and nails popping is just what happens when you use construction lumber near water. You basically built a sponge cage and filled it with water.

annas8712d ago

Tried the same thing last summer with scrap lumber from a shed demo. Lined it with some cheap tarp I had laying around. Water was gone in 20 minutes, just a muddy mess with a few stranded minnows. The wood swelled up so bad the nails popped out and the whole thing collapsed sideways. Ended up with a pile of wet, twisted boards and a muddy hole in the backyard.