2~ After staking out the perimeter of the
pen it is excavated with a machine.
3~ Then it's cleaned up and refined by hand.
4~ Drains have been installed in each of the four ponds for easy cleaning of bird waste.
5~
Power is ran to the tea house location which will sit atop a cliff to the right side of the pen.
6~ The entire water feature is hand sculpted into a huge steel structure.
7~ The posts and walls of the pen were set to define the boundaries of the
water feature.
8~ Welded
wire mesh is applied to all of the pools to further prevent cracking.
9~ 1" wire mesh is placed on all rocks & steep places. 1-3 layers thick depending
on the situation.
10~
The pools are poured & trowled smooth, the first of many procedures that will prevent leaks.
11~ More steel is used to form additional rocks &
beaches over the concrete pools. When the job is complete there will be no visible cement anywhere.
12~ The entire project is covered in
a extra strong concrete made so by additives and application procedure. This rough coat makes the rocks very durable.
13) The whole project is then covered with a texture coat to give the rock detail & definition.
The concrete is stamped and carved into any rock finish you like. This is a labor intensive job & takes the longest
of all the steps.
14) Then the concrete is sealed 1 to three times depending on the situation
and finally stained with many different colors. I use concrete stains, integrated pigments & concrete paint for various
looks. The time line for the stain application varies greatly depending on what kind of finished results you want.
15) Last the plants are installed
to complete the project. They realy soften things up and bring the scene to life.
