New House Project

The first project of my backyard experience is the Koi pond (see concept to the left). I'm going to excavate one of the corners of my backyard to create a mound. Using the newly developed elevation I will construct a two tier waterfall into a 100 gallon pool.

Designing and landscaping the pond was easy, the next part, using mathematics to come up with size, was more challenging. I used the simple calculus formula to calculate actual gallons of the two waterfall tiers and the pool: V = Pi * r^2 * h (where v=volume, r=radius and h=height or depth). It looked something like this:

V = (Pi * 4^2 * 3) + 2(Pi * 1^2 * 1.5)

This was very important to determine equipment, plumbing and electrical.

Now the only problem is ordering the rocks (both price and weight)... I should begin development in the next few weeks - I will keep posted on progress.

Other backyard projects include:

• Two tier cedar deck
• Above ground hot tub
• Stone bar
• Cedar pergola
• Built-In BBQ and/or fire pit
• Landscaping