Help with a pond filter cover please

[AJB Temple]

I am constructing a DIY patio area behind a barn. It contains a Koi pond which has water filtration water and air pumps etc. It is unsightly and I would like to cover it. Hence my search for inspiration.

It will get wet. There is water underneath and it will get rained on. I want to stop rainwater going through to the electrics around the filter system. I need to get into the filtration chamber at least twice a week so the lid needs to be light enough to lift or hinge with a prop stick.

The chamber is 4 feet square. I have some thoughts obviously but decided I would seek input from the creative minds here. Where it's not brick the pond surround is 2" thick green oak as is the terrace in front of it. I have lots of oak but it is way too heavy for a lid.

Any bright ideas?

 

[MikeG.]

Are you thinking a flat cover at the level of the top of the brickwork? Or have you thought about a raised roof structure (like a well, perhaps).

I mean, obviously the best answer is a 1:6 scale model of a windmill with authentic wooden gears etc, but you're after something of a stop-gap whilst you work on that...... :lol:

 

[AJB Temple]

Good question! It's part of a Japanese Garden area of our garden. It needs to be flat (with a slight fall to shed water away from the Koi) and will have a large Bonsai tree on it during the summer.

I can't use anything that is likely to put metal deposits into the Koi water. That is not a huge risk if I open away from the pond, but I do need good access, as during the summer the filter is pumped out regularly for cleaning and we use the water on the garden as it is full of fertiliser.

It has to look good and in keeping with that part of the garden. To give an idea of scale, the pond itself is 6 metres long.

 

[MikeG.]

A stylised Japanese temple roof, perhaps. Bit of fun timberwork there......

 

[AJB Temple]

Needs to be flat....

 

[Bm101]

That garden hints at amazing. =D>
Personally, if you are going to put an acer on it, it needs some heft. Might sound basic but why pretend? If you want a flat roof make it a flat roof (with a slight rainwater fall). I'd maybe get some scaffold planks, reinforce it with a layer of felt and suitable thickness osb and battens (underneath and unseen) if it was important. Probably just knock it together, stain/ finish and endseal it.
Construct it so you can drag your tree off and lift the lid with weight supported on a wall. Maybe a strut of some sort on some basic bolt hinge to keep it upright for when you clean the filter. Mitre cut the ends of the boards to flush match the brick work uprights?

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks. The Japanese part of the garden is a work in progress. It was developed from farm yard junk dump basically. This was the state of play 2 years in, as of last year some time, just to give a style idea of what I am dealing with,

Hopefully photos will appear here. One looks down towards the small Barn that I am remodelling inside currently. The side you can see will be ripped out and fully glazed when I get time. The "canal" is about 35 metres long (those boards are very long and were a nightmare to deal with as I had to be in the water to fix them) and links a couple of ponds (not this Koi pond), one of which is a wildlife pond with common and great crested newts that appeared from nowhere last year.

The Bonsai to go on the lid has yet to be purchased, but what I have in mind is a grove of pines in a shallow ceramic tray. It's not especially heavy.

My thought was use either Buffalo board, Ekoboard (anyone used this?) or maybe marine ply painted black, edge it with green oak, and lay strips of machined oak roofing lathes to create spaced oak decking to mimic the ultra heavy duty decking adjacent to this Koi pond. I don't want it to look twee, and it needs not to detract from the Japanese style of this bit of the garden. I have a lot of oak roof lathes in my yard and it wont take two ticks to run them through the PT. However, it does not feel all that creative.

The area gets wet constantly. All of my electrics are waterproof so that is no issue really, but I would prefer to keep the filter area dry or dryish.

 

[AJB Temple]

Putting photos on this site with a 2mb limit is not user friendly at all!

 

[Inspector]

Very nice garden.

For those of us not in the middle of civilization in this country at least downloading big pictures can be very slow so I appreciate the limits to picture sizes. Easy enough to resize them for posting.

Because of the wetness I would use marine plywood and fiberglass it with cloth and epoxy resin inside and out. Sorry about the three “and” sentence.

Pete

 

[Woody2Shoes]

If it were me, I'd maybe make a hinged lid out of OSB (a bit like an upside-down loft hatch), braced with some 4X2 (or 2X2 depending on how heavy your tree is after its been watered) and clad with EPDM (basically the same stuff as a pond-liner, I presume) - this would need careful detailing to make sure water is directed to where you want it. I'd then maybe make a bamboo duckboard panel to sit the tree on - which would sit on top of the EPDM. Cheers, W2S

PS +1 for awe/envy for what's there so far!
PPS - this type of thing, but in black perhaps - https://www.rubberroofingdirect.co.uk/c ... brane.html

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks Woody. I have wondered about EPDM. I've used it for pond liners, but my worry would be that apart from looks, on its own next to the BBQ seating area, it would be at significant risk of being penetrated by something sharp. I think in this application I need to find a board that is inherently waterproof and then make it look pretty if I can.

 

[OscarG]

I can't help but just wanted to say your garden is beautiful!

 

[Bm101]

You mentioned buffalo board AJB. I saw it used as a small area of hoarding around some lighting on a building site entrance next to one of my regular jobs on Regent Street. It piqued my interest after about 2 years because it had been exposed for all that time and showed no sign whatsoever of weathering or delaminating.
None. :shock:
Fairly rigorous environment where they jetwash every morning (it's a side alley off Oxford Circus. Hello Tourists! Hello Night life! Hello Uric and Gastric after effects of intoxication down an alley!!! Every SINGLE night 364 days a year) as well as all the general building works. I googled it then couldn't think of a single situation I could use it( at the price). For this it could be perfect. I really was impressed with its durability there at least.
Personally I'd want something to look nice covering it especially in that garden.
=D>
Maybe someone with better info and experience can inform on the product but from a general pov. it seemed Space Trooper resilient.
Cheers
Chris

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks Chris. My understanding is that Buffalo board is used for floors in horseboxes. It therefore has to cope with urine, droppings and steel shoes. I have never actually seen it for sale but it seems ideal. I can disguise it with oak strips on top.

Okoboard is made out of recycled plastic and is a ply substitute for hoardings. It is waterproof and grafitti proof. Snag is I cannot find a supplier. I only want one sheet and I don't have a vehicle that will cope with 8 by 4 sheets.

I am under serious pressure from my wife as she has a garden party coming up imminently.

 

[ColeyS1]

Get a sheet of tricoya- expensive but atleast it's only doing the job once.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[jimmy_s]

We had to sort out something similar recently for a below ground filter chamber for a large water feature that needed very clean water due to the type of fountains being used. The client didn't want to see the filter enclosure at all so it had to go below ground with access via a large steel hatch. We ended up with a design using concrete manhole rings and cap with the whole lot buried. The access was via a large galvanized steel hatch that was built level with the flagstones next to the water feature. The hatch had spring counterbalances which was reasonably easy to open given the hatch was about 4 foot square to enable the kit to be removed if required.

 

[woodbloke66]

In a smashing garden like that, I'd go for something maybe a bit 'quality'....perhaps a light weight Western Red Cedar top made from t&g boards with a slight run off for the wet? WRC is pretty light stuff so ought to be easy to lift and it will mature to a silver grey colour (Japanese gardens rarely have straight lines in them...too easy for the evil spirits to come and nab you - Rob