I found that many in here are focusing on Interior Design of their homes, but not much talk about exterior design of your lovely house.

Reason of starting this thread is to gather some landscaping information for learning from Q&A on ideas, concept and design for Malaysian. There are many information that I could found by googling but most of the readings and design are Western, very less of Asian or Malaysian in specific which I found not really applicable sometimes.

I think Landscaping needs more attention for homeowners especially If you are Landed property owner. I believe One of the many reason of having a landed house is the yard space for family activity. Those who have owned house with side yards or gardens should make use of the space as useful as possible.

To me, space outside the house, i.e side-yard, back-yard, front-yard, garden should be a place for family to enjoy and relax. I feels wasted if those space are left unutilized, because we pay every single inch of the property.

I hope I can get more support in this thread... while more of you will post in comment, photos and ideas.

If you are looking for some readings check out some of these that I found on web recently.

Ideas and photos:

Sunset.com - landscape ideas - worldwide
Landscaping - Worldwide

Local Landscaping article:
Garden Landscape Malaysia

Hope these will help you understand more on Landscaping!

Why Hire Professional Landscaper

Share more of your landscaping project here!!
I believe many gardening and landscaping sifu here will able to share.

Thanks.

This post has been edited by junhaussen: Sep 25 2013, 12:19 PM

start posting own garden photos la.. then more will join... everyone paiseh

Mine not yet la... still in planning & researching.
Tats why in the middle of researching I am looking in LYN forum.. but sad to see no one discuss here.

Most of the people life in urban house don't like garden. They just tiles up everyspace.

Hi Ozak,

Like that only people got semi-d, bungalow lot or big corner house can shre share because they got big compound. those intermediate lot normally all tile up....

Majority stay in link house. Compare banglo and corner lot. Tha is why not much ppl respond in landscaping.

Most of the malaysian are lazy. Will tell you no time to takecare. And those stay in banglo will sub out to contractor. I have seen many when start up with new house, sure garden nice and want to have garden. After few yrs, will renovate and tiles up the whole front yard.

yaya.. ppl always say tile up for easy washing outside, then can park car somemore...haha

Rather put car than use the space for family and kids.

But dont you guys agree if landscaping is more urbanist than rural... Urban ppl is the one will need to do landscaping bcos they live in concrete city, they need to have a garden at least at home for them self. Wherelese rural ppl already have nature landscape around them.

This post has been edited by junhaussen: Aug 1 2013, 04:03 PM

If artificial grass then no issue. Can vacuum or wash and put car also

This post has been edited by crow190569: Aug 1 2013, 03:27 PM

artificial grass so xpensive. i did a rough calculation for my future project..
my garden if all go fake grass need at least rm10k..
so, only fake for small area like porch.. money is big issue for ke

How big is your garden? I know of a friend who is a horticulturist which helps a lot of people to design their landscape... According to him, one of the new trend is to use fake grass and it has many different type as well..

Walau rm10k ? Your garden football field huh.

try this math: for 40mm grass
One roll size is 6.5 feet x 82 feet = 533 square feet

DIY Price for Le Grassi (40mm) is RM17 per square feet

Price for one roll = 533 sq ft x RM17 = RM9,061

My jungle land is about 50ft x 20ft. （+-）。 If shrink smaller also rmKKK

Are you kidding, DIY landscape size of 50x20? That hell lot of work. I will rather ask those landscaper do it for us,since it is one time pay Maintenance off-course do yourself la unless you got gardener stay at your house

I got a court yard of size 7'×10' inside my house under renovation as shownf in the picture. Anyone know how much it costs to turn it into a cool pond like the latter picture? [attachmentid=3565788]

swift4ever,
Only see one picture attached. That is your existing pond? Really nice. At least RM15K, i guess...

Nope. Sorry , have the first picture missing....here you go...

ic... hope you will show/share us here once it is done

Base on the respond here, you can see all will not do the landscaping. Not to said DIY.

i bought a cluster home and ll move in maybe early 2015, and yes Landscaping is definitely one of the major focus for my house. come and learn from this thread.

actually at the what type of grass thread few of us are actively posting when someone post a photo and we add in or give our photos.. but no one start so all malas la

let me ask my friend for ya... He is doing landscape design which inclusive of all this water feature

Which plant is good or suitable to be planted along the fence? The idea is to use plant to camouflage the chain-link fence rather than putting a brick wall. I prefer something that easy to grow, without much delicate care but I dun mind to trim weekly to get the plant growing at the same height with the fence level. Any advise? I have seen some but do not know what does it call/species name. Atleast with a generic name, then it's easier for me to walk in to nursery ask for this plant.

Thanks. This water feature is made of fiberglass I like it because it is movable and space saving. I will do another outside the house with colorfalls feature if I can get the kit. Can't find a local dealer though.

http://www.pondusa.com/atlantic%20colorfalls%20kits.htm

You plan to do it yourself DIY or ask professional help but if pro help must be ready to spend $$$$

yet to decide as still at least a year from VP. but i think i ll try DIY 1st...

Anyone know any good koi pond designer & contractor? Is there any warranty usually after the pond is done? how long warranty?

can someone recommend the admins to open a new forum segment called 'Gardening & Landscaping' under property talk? The word 'interior' doesn't suit well with gardening & landscaping. :-)

This post has been edited by normal_user: Aug 13 2013, 11:05 AM

It wont have good response, as most ppl here are investor/flippers/speculators. And since condo is what they targeting most, gardening is not a hot topic among them.

This post has been edited by cazorla81: Aug 15 2013, 05:04 PM

today I'm thinking of vertical garden. Can buy stuff/ kits from Taiwan or China.
I surveyed local... so deng expensive.
and also new home will do a plumeria garden. My ilham: Plumeria@frangipani

This was my diy pond when it was just completed and water test.


Added some deco with rocks and some young koi


So pleased and happy seeing the young koi begging for food


Colourful, free, peace and happiness koi enjoying their new home


This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 21 2013, 12:37 PM

the pond is nice - i like it. how long did this take you? i have a small spot which is too dark to grow carpet grass which i thought of converting into a pond (1,5 x 2,5 m). if its not too much work i might try to DIY. share some info yes?

Anyone know where to buy reasonable price fiber water features. Saw few in sg buloh is nice and price around 2k for a L shape 2'x4'

Not sure is this reasonable.

where to get supplies for vertical gardening.. interested....

Try the one at Jalan Gasing. It's called Jim's something.
Quite a few choices when I went there before I decided on concrete.

Can you give me some advise on what you did once your pond was completed.
I have filld up mine with water and will let it soak for 2 weeks before completely changing the water.
After that I need to put in some de chlorine liquid.
Anything else I need to put in before I buy the fishes ?
Some people say put some salt some people say no need.
Some people say must quarantine new fishes but as mine is a new pond with no fishes in there do I need to quarantine ?
Thanks in advance for any advise.

OK will go check it out. Thanks

You put in bio ball/rocks already? It need few weeks to growth good bacteria.

This post has been edited by weikee: Aug 21 2013, 11:26 PM

You quarantine to prevent passing on disease to your current batch of fishes. If, for instance, you decide you'd like to add one more fish to the fish you already have in your pond currently, you have to quarantine in a bucket. It's been a while since I last kept koi though so I can't recall exact details.

I built this all on my own. I only had Sat and Sun + public holidays, it took me 6 long months with one single man power. Not sure if it you consider that short or long time to completion.

I do not know where to start to share since this involves various stages from designing, filtration requirements, digging, concreting till completion.

To diy a pond you need to know about concreting requirements (like waterproofing, structure and concrete curing and surroundings structure (your house, wall footing if too near it) and pond filtration requirements.

Of course about time and money. As said i took all my 6 months holidays and weekends. And spent not more than RM2k for the materials. For DIY the price to pay is time and sweat, the gain is satisfaction, joy and savings.

You got it wrong, sorry to say.

1. No soaking is required!!! That is when your pond was wet cured or even dry cured for a month (28 days) that the concrete is already matured. you can throw in any healthy fresh water fish, they won't die for sure! Once the concrete is matured no much chemical is leaching out so it is safe but still make 10% water change a week to be on the safe side. Best is get yourself a PH test kits to test the water. Our tape water is around 7PH (neutral). Rain water is 3-5 PH, if your pond is exposed to rain. Chemical leaching out of concrete is 2 to 3 PH, very alkaline but will be neutralized and that is why make 10% water change a week will take care of PH changes. Maintain the ph around 6 to 8. Fish can take even higher than this range but kind of torture to them.

Of course you should first fill the pond full keeps it for few days (3 days will do) and drain it all and refill before you put in your first fish.

2. Anti chlorine is required when you just fill the pond before putting any fish. But if you leave the pond pump running with aeration for a day, all the chlorine would have been evaporated, no need for anti chlorine. It is also not necessary to anti-chlorine for 10% water change. Anything more than that you should treat it with anti chlorine.

3. Salt? Only when your fish is getting sick. Will you take drugs/medicine when you are not sick! Forget about salting your pond, waste money and torturing your fresh water fish.

4. Quarantine, if you have existing expensive fish in matured pond. New pond and little experience, my advice is get some cheap fish first because most likely they will die while you learn to care for them.

stevie8,

i do a lot of DIY at home but i never did any waterproofing etc. maybe it's easier if i ask my contractor to see if he can do it for me and i observe first. 6 mths is not bad considering 48 days only. and the result is very impressive

Thanks stevie8.

When you are a diyer, it is better you diy. Waterproofing concrete is very easy. Moreover it is a risk to get your contractor unless he is a pond builder. house reno contractors have not much experince in pond or swiming pool waterproofing.

What you need is a waterproofing cementitious (I used Sika Top), a bucket and a paint brush and a trovel. It goes like this:

1. Buy 2 bags of 25kg Sikatop 107 seal. Hint: Buy one bag at a time, finished buy another. Not more than RM100 per bag.


2. Get one bucket and trovel and a brush


3. empty the pond and filter chamber.

4. Add one part of A and one part of B of Sika according to instruction into the small bucket. Hint: Mix small portion at a time, borrow the weight scale from your wife so as to achieve correct mixed.


5. Wet the portion you are going to apply the Sika with another paint brush and another bucket fill with tap water. Use the brush to wet the concrete. Do not flood the areas, just wet to touch, do not work on dry surface. Hint: work from top to bottom on the wall first.

6. Apply the mixture like painting walls.


7. 2 coats is required. Apply 3 coats to be safe as you might have missed some part during 2nd coat.

Google Sika Indonesia, they have videos

This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 23 2013, 01:14 PM

The mixture (A and B) can get dried fast, so mix small amount at a time. Do not, must not add water to the mixture. This will weaken the waterproofing. When the mixture get dried add a little more liquid and quickly work on. The liquid and cement can be bought separately. But still try to follow the instruction on the amount of mixed part A and B by not using too much of one part.

Not to worry that the cement sticking to the brush. The Sika cementitious is very sticky so it will stick on the concrete from the brush. When the brush is full of cement and you want to clear it, on your next mix, pour the white liquid first into the bucket and dip the brush and loosen the cement from the brush, then add the cement for the new mix.

Do not let these advices complicate you, do not worry about all these little issues, as you work on you will find way and solution going about it.

One other thing, if your pond has algae, clean and brush it off before apply waterproofing.

stevie8, nice pond i respect for your DIY spirit



This post has been edited by junhaussen: Aug 23 2013, 02:30 PM

+1.
Also the way he writes the instructions to DIY waterproofing sounds so easy.

thanks - thats really not too complicated. i think i will give it a shot for some concrete areas that i wonted to redo anyway for trial.

now teach me how to start a concrete base?
never really understand google.

Thanks for your compliment.

Sekkee, it is easy as said, when the indon can do it, who dont read and write, you can. Little experience is what you need like what PJusa intended to do a small area before going for a bigger project.

This is also another easy part assuming you have dig the hole for the pond something like this:


The base has to be at least 6 inches thick. 8 inches is ok, anything thicker than that is a waste of concrete and effort. If you need to run bottom drains along the base from one end to another you either dig drains and lay the pipes on in it or you can just leave it on the ground but make the base thicker at about 8 inches.

You need some bricks, rebar (reinforced steel bars), rebar mesh, rebar ties (thin steel wire to tie the rebar together), pliers for tightening the rebar with wire.




1st, level the ground
2nd, optionally, compact the ground/soil using a brick by lifting the brick and throw flat on the ground one area at a time. Do not forget to wear gloves.
3. spread bricks all over the the bare base 2 to 3 feet apart. This is to make sure the rebar or rebar mesh not touching the soil and sit on the bricks.
4. Cut to size the rebar mesh cover the whole base to be concreted. Lay the mesh on the bricks. Tie the rebar meshes together with steel wire using the pliers making 2 turns is sufficient and try not moving them unnecessary. Make very sure the rebar or rebar mesh not touching the side soil walls and soil ground. (All rebars must be concealed in the concrete not exposed to air or soil. When rebars are exposed they get rusted and rod away into inside of the concrete and the concrete becomes weak).
5. Cut rebars to 4 to 5 feet longs and bend them into "L" shape. Tie the bottom side of the "L" to the rebar mesh and the other standing along all the edges (walls). Then using other rebars tie all the "L"s together so that is stand straight. These rebars are for the side walls connecting the base after the base have been concreted poking out along the sides of the base.

Now, you are ready to pour the concrete mixed.

As you can see, the brick is 3 inches thick on its flat side and when your concrete is 6 inches thick, the rebar mesh will be at the middle of the concrete.

sample pic rebar mesh sitting on bricks

Below explains (5) above where the standing vertical side of the "L" stands out above concrete after the base is concreted. The exposed vertical rebars are to reinforce the wall regardless the walls be a concrete walls or bricks walls.



See also, no rebar are exposed to ground or side of soil. This make sure it will not rot.

This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 25 2013, 12:34 AM

dont quite understand "L".
After setting the rebar ready, is to pour concrete ontop of the mesh and bricks?
How to do the sides?

About the "L".

First you got to understand why you need the "L"s. Than you will understand how the L should be tied to the mesh base.

The L is to add strength to the joint between the base and the wall. An analogy, how do you hold two pieces of wood together to make an L shape or a corner? You can use glue to hold two pieces of wood together. IS the holding is strong? Maybe, but you can strengthen the joint by putting a screw or a nail. The nail reinforced the joint. And so is the L rebar act as screws and nails in concrete preventing the joint from coming apart. That's why the steel rod in concrete is called rebar, not just named for nothing. Rebar stands for Reinforcement Bar. See pic below. As you also know more screws you use strong is the strength of the joint. More Ls as you wish.



A joint between a old concrete and a new concrete is called a Cold Joint. The joint is weak and reinforcement is required, therefore the Ls for this case.

Yes, after the rebar is ready it is time to pour concrete on top of the mesh/rebar and bricks.

If you want your base to be ready strong you should use "Bar Chair", not bricks. You can make your own bar chairs.


Pouring concrete is another part. You must plan the day, the time and consider the weather (you do not want pour when it rains, do you?) and if you are able to do the pouring in a day continuously and how you should compact the mix, besides, if you choose to order concrete or mix you own (if the area is small).

This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 25 2013, 11:11 AM

How to do the sides?

Bend the mesh upright as show in the pic below and tie the L to the mesh with few wire ties whichever way you want so long as it stands vertically. It does not matter if the Ls are not 90 degree or 100% straight upright vertically. When the concrete set you can bend it upright. The important thing to look at is make sure all the L stand in a straight line because that is your wall and wall cannot be bending here and there like snake. But it your wall is going to be curve like mine then curve smoothly. A bit not in line is ok but not more than 1 inch away from the line because you wall is about 3 inches thick. Anyway, these mistakes can be corrected, just extra work to rectify.



This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 25 2013, 11:44 AM

Formwork is required when you want a concrete wall. Plywood are used usually. Formwork = mould, it gives the concrete its shape. Most of the work done spent on building the formwork and supporting it than actual concreting it. The Formwork and support have to be strong. If not as you pour concrete the whole formwork can collapse!

Use rebar or any thin steel rod to compact the deep wall and pour a small amount at a time with a level(thick) not more than 1 foot at a time compacting with hand. Compacting will strengthen the concrete. compacting bring out the air in the concrete mix so that your concrete does not have empty space (air-pocket) when cured. it is better to over compacting than under compacting. Over compacting means disturbing the mix till bringing up too much of the water to the surface and leaving all the stone/rocks and sands and cement at the bottom. As a result you do not have sufficient water for the hydration process at the bottom and a weaker concrete. During compacting when you see no more bubble coming out, it is time to stop and move on to another section/area.

If you want a brick wall, unlike normal house wall, the brick wall have to be backfilled to provide extra support. As this is a pond, there is this the weight of the water. Do not underestimate the weight of water. water is heavy. 1 liter = 1 kg. A volume of 1 meter x 1 meter x 1 meter = 1 tanne or 1,000kg!!! Imagine the pressure on the bottom of the wall is very high. That's is why the back of the wall have to be back-filled with concrete especially the bottom part for about 3 inches thick for a height of 1 to 2 feet. The top portion (2 feet from above)need not be backfilled.

For brick wall, place the bricks between the rebars when laying bricks and make sure the rebar are completely embedded in concrete(wet cement) . Cut the bricks into smaller pieces where necessary to put them in between the rebars.

Compacting means pushing a steel rod deep into the wet concrete and pull out and repeating pushing in and pulling out till you see no air bubbles coming out. Do not push the rod till you hit the soil when compacting the base bringing up the soil into the mix.

haizz.. i read and reread..yet dont know how to do.
Maybe I should just put aside diy. Let go.
Getting pros to do is not my option.

Genie,

Get your bf involved...

Which part of it you need to know more?

This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 25 2013, 06:06 PM

i dont understand how to make the L stand.
And how to make sure the papan mould stay fix when i do the pouring.

Forget about making L stand. Just let the mesh continue up the wall like in the pictures will do:






When the length is short just cut another piece of mesh and tie them to it.

The papan workform has to be strong. The material is expensive, ie the supporting wood and plywood. If you are only use it for once it is better to do it with bricks. Bricks can form workform and it is cheaper and easier than making wooden workform (if use only once is a waste of money and effort).

Will post some pictures later.

thanks bro. When u said used mesh. Then i know.
Just sambung and bend.
Now will wait for your pictures bout brick workform.
I told my hb last night you spend 6 months to finishes urs.
He said I need 1 year. Coz dig with cangkul 1 hour, rest 3 days.

Look like you are seriously thinking to DIY. Let me help you all the way where possible. Also, we are hijacking this thread from Junhaussen. Hope she is ok.

Cangkul (or spade) is not the tool to use digging the kind of soil of our houses. Unlike paddy field that is cleared of rocks and stones, our compound is full of it including broken tiles, cement, etc.

Digging Fork is the tool to use, effortless compare to cangkul. The pointed edges like needles pierce through into the ground easily and lifting up all the stones and rock together with the soil. Try it you will experience what i mean. You need not use much strength or effect hitting the ground, just lifting it up high and let the weight of gravity do the job falling on the ground doing the digging. Your energy is spent only on lifting the fork. When soil is dry it is hard, therefore, sprinkle some water, do not flood it, too muddy is messy. See pic.



Next...will post brick formwork.

If you able to DIY, 1yrs or 2yrs doesn't matter. Your HB praise you like lady god.

ya. if ask pro do the job. We dont have budget.
If i do the job, then money is for the mesh etc. Labour no need pay.
Maybe Ozak is right, maybe i really need 2 years.

It is good that you are prepared to go for 2 yrs but I dont think you would take any longer time (actual working time) than i did if you were to allow me to guide you. The reason is I have gone thru it and overlooked some of the things and remedy works took up some of the time and you would not repeat the same.

What would make it successful depend on your determination and these are the ingredients:

1. You want it badly, but what hinder you is
2. the price is too high to engage a pro, and the most important of all
3. you enjoy doing it, and lastly
4. you have the support of the forumers here, not just me but all of us your spiritual supporters.

Ok, here is the bricks formwork. But am not going to explain in detail how to do it as this is not the part you should start with. Next post will explain how and where you should start, eg. the design and filtration system.

Do not be worry with the large number of bricks required. It should around 300 bricks. One brick costs 50 sen or less = RM150 only. Comparing ply wood. One thick piece (4'x8') costs RM90. You need many pieces.

See remark on this pic.

so it about the bricks hamburger-ing the mesh then.
cement-brick-cement brick?
Mayb i should start bengkel 4D3N with u guys at my place. would be interesting.
So u can save on the " spiritual supports".

Yes, burger it is. Like burger you can choose what to be sandwich.

You see at first it is mud on one side. It is bad to have mud/soil as you pour concrete because somehow no matter how careful you are the mud will get mixed with the concrete as you compacting the wet concrete. To overcome this problem you plaster the mud. Buy ready made plaster mix. It come with 25kg bag. Simply add water to the mix (plaster in dry form) and make it a paste and with a shovel apply a layer on the mud wall. One coat/layer will do. To make plastering easy first make the mud wall straight, smooth and flat.

now you have a thin layer of concrete (dry plaster) on one side. This form the "outer" formwork. Then you build the "inner" formwork with bricks like the picture shown earlier. For this brick formwork notice carefully the bricks are not standing on the normal face but on the thinner face. You see a brick have 6 faces like die except that brick has 3 pair of similar faces. See pic below:

die


Normal brick laying on flat face side


For formwork purposes and to save the no of bricks used and for lesser work, lay standing on the thin long faces like this


Ok this is part 1, next post part 2

Price price price... One bag of 25kg plaster around RM9 to RM11. There fine one costs more and rougher type costs less. For plastering mud go for cheap rough one, you are not going to see the player surface after it has been concreted, right?

Continue from part one...

Ok, ok, there is no part one or part 2, just to make thing easy to understand.

The burger thing. Now you can choose to have the brick to be a part of the wall or you can tear it down as concrete cured.

Having it be part of the concrete wall making the wall very thick but that does not make the wall any stronger and/or durable than the reinforced concrete. Thicker wall means losing space too. (Note: reinforced concrete means concrete with rebars/bone inside, stronger and harder to break.)

Like wooden formwork, you can choose to tear down the brick after the concrete is set. (Of course the used bricks will have no use or commercial value as it is stuck with cement/concrete. The purpose is not to save money for reuse but for nicer looking and space).

You have to decide before you build the brick formwork. because you have to add a layer of thin plywood behind the brick formwork so that concrte will not stick on to the bricks. Without a layer preventing concrete from joining the brick formwork you can never remove the brick without breaking the concrete. It stuck together like one whole piece.

Price, price, price, money money money.... thin ply wood is cheap, it does not cost you a bomb compared to the thicker plywood.

Do not use newspaper or cardboard or plastic sheet instead of the thin plywood. Paper will "dissolve" as you pour concrete. Plastic sheet will drop off or out of place if you are not careful and it will be hell to dig out the wet concrete and re-position the plastic sheet.

I do not know about oiling it. It is the practice to use oil for steel mould. But for bricks??? The bricks will suck up the oil and still the concrete gets stuck to the brick??? I am not sure, you may want to experiment is first before your actual work. It will be a better and cheaper solution than ply wood if this works. Anyone try that before?

You see this picture. If you have a concrete sprayer you need not plaster the mud/soil wall

so, i sandwich the mesh with bricks.
the bottom is always mud, so i apply a think plaster as base.
When it dries, i have a plaster base to pour my cement.
The more i pour, the higher my wall will be.

Is that?

Sorry I think I have confused you. because the discussion has not been in proper sequence. The correct order or sequence is you concrete the base first before the wall so that the wall sit on the base.

Likewise, before you concrete the base, it is advisable to have a layer of thin concrete covering the mud floor. No need to use plaster, the 25kg bag plaster. Use sand and cement mix will do for the covering of the floor.

Think better discuss from correct order starting with identify the site, the shape and design of the pond first....

This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 27 2013, 05:38 PM

let me list down what are the things you should consider its topics

1. The site. Choose where and how big the pond you want and you can have

2. Design. Rectangular or curvy. Straight flow is the latest water flow design where water flow from one end to another, not the conventional bottom drains at the middle. Water fall, fountain and your imagination.

3. Traditional up and down filter chambers or bead filter and sieve

4. Electrical and piping requirements. How to pull cable and type of cable and pipe. considering additional earth leakage (ELCB).

5. Digging. how to dig and where to dig. House footing care.

6. Concrete pond construction. Brick wall or concrete wall. Types of concrete mix, waterproofing.

7. Equipment: pump size, power consumption consideration and UV

8. Right tools and equipment needed.

Disposal of soil is another point to consider.

Yes, that is hell lot of work, worst than digging.

let's sort my mind:
1. lay out chunks of bricks to support mesh.
2. bend the mesh to form L.
3. pour cement through the mesh. So it can be on the mud floor then cover the mesh when overlapped.
4.Use brick to do work form, supported by cheap plank. The brick should be right on the concrete base.
5. Pour cement to form wall.
6. remove planks and bricks.
7. waterproofing.

I am thinking to do fish pond or tiny fountain.
Fish as in birchirs and such. Not koi

This post has been edited by stevie8: Aug 27 2013, 10:12 PM

Hi Stevie8,

for ur curve pond, do u use only plywood or the brick method?

It is easier to use brick method for curve pond, so is my curve pond using bricks backfilled with concrete.

This is a diagram of a brick wall with backfilled concrete. The backfilled acts as support for the brickwall and therefore compacting is not utmost important. Also, you can back fill as you lay the bricks than pouring the backfilled concrete after completion of building the brick wall.



As you know brick is rectangular, long and edges. Laying the bricks as it is give the surface has too rough edges, impossible to be smooth out during plastering. To have a smoother curve cut the brick into two using a circular concrete saw. You will now have shorter bricks which give you smoother curve and making plastering easy. You need only to cut a line on one face and use hammer to break them into two. I lined up the bricks on the ground some 10 to 20 pieces at a time and cut all of them at one go. That is cut a roll of bricks at once than cutting one by one which is time consuming.

ok

so did u remove the bricks as mentioned? or u leave it there n simen the brick work??

This post has been edited by H2D: Aug 28 2013, 11:36 PM

No removing the bricks, left the bricks there and plastered it then waterproof it with Sika top.

Hi Stevie8,

You cannot be serious doing all this all by yourself? You must have learn to do this else I doubt anyone who have never done this before can do it. Also I think those landscaping company can "chap lup" cause you all dIY. I will not do it myself unless I want to handle the after effect. Getting professional landscaping expert is a better choice and if you have such a big garden, why so stingy on spending?

Anyone have tips to diy gard3n?

fb there got local group..
u can see unty anker, even secondary school boy got huge nice garden with exotic plants..
there u can learn from them....

can we have the link for the facebook gp pls? TIA

Hahaha... there is no joke, seriously I DIY the whole thing all by myself the first time. the landscaping will not chap lup cause got people like you ma.

Also, there are people who can afford but will not spend or spend less, that is one of the ways how to accumulating money. It is not called stingy but more appropriate to be called spend wisely. A dollar spent is a dollar gone forever. A dollar saved is another dollar gain in 10 years, double your money in investment/savings.

Stingy means buy cheap things that dont last or got no class and then have to buy again using low quality things for life. Wise spending for example is buy good quality things that last and when broken get it repaired or DIY repairing yourself. Of course not all things are like that. Example cars cannot last whether cheap or expensive. Things like shoes yes, can last 3 to 4 times longer but need repair and care as time pass to last even longer each time you get it repaired. Yes, take care of your shoes! Dont walk on muddy wet places, use the right shoes for the right activities, care and repair when see sign of wear, not wait till totally broke off.

But as far as I am concerned it is all because I like to DIY and happiness is when you see your "project" completed and enjoy. Money of course being considered. Why pay 10 times more when you can DIY and save the money for other priorities and investment. There are other priorities like holidays vacation, buying big tv, having new hod and hop, etc. Having a pond is no saving, there are cost attached to it like electric bill minimum RM80 a month, maintenance of the pond, fish food, feeding and caring for the pond, etc. If you don't have a pond you need not spend these monies but life has no much meaning when you cannot get what you dream to have in your life and you live only once and that is not more than 100 years.

I am a diyer and see I also diy my pergola for the first time, thing I never did before, click below link, yet another money saved!

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2641338

This post has been edited by stevie8: Sep 30 2013, 12:10 PM

Just call sampah king. They will bring you the metal container and remove when full.
They charge RM 150 per container.

Stevie8
what wood you use for the small deck next to the pond?

That deck rotten already after a year. It was some broken furniture wood picked from street something like a shelf Ikea type. Think it was for indoor use. And now the new deck seems to last even without paint. This new deck wood was also picked from the street. It was a beach chair someone throw and left in on the side of the road for months and I picked it up put in my car and drove home. It was a chair like the picture below and as expected it last can take sun and rain. Sometimes you just get something for free. Actually you can make money out of rubbish, already there are ppl became super rich from rubbish! The world richest self made woman Zhang Yin of China is a recycle tycoon, buy scrap paper from US and sell in China. A man's waste is another woman's wealth! Think before you throw...



ZhangYin


This post has been edited by stevie8: Oct 2 2013, 02:22 PM

it is called my nice garden chat....

Can anybody share information where to buy soil for grass by the lorry? Thank you in advance