Foundation for mortared, water-carrying garden wall (aqueduct) 1

[FlowMotionArt]

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I stumbled across this site while looking for foundation information for a project I'm working on. I'm a mixed-media installation artist; I do water features and such. Very much a learn-as-you-go process, my degrees are in computer science and philosophy

* I wasn't sure if I should post in concrete job site techniques instead of here, let me know if so *

Anyway, hopefully this is a topic you guys are interested in. This post is going to be unabashedly rambling and disorganized. Sorry.
This project is my 2-year-old business's biggest job by four times over. A woman approached me about a retaining wall and possibly eventually refinishing a cracked concrete pond.
The plan now: build a wall which carries water.
Problem: Entire wall is approx 110ft long. (can you say control joint?) In terms of the wall, it will be around 1' wide, 18" tall, and constructed of 4-12" stones mortared together. Oh and to make things more complicated, the wall is also going to lean approx 30 degrees in alternating directions as it snakes down the hill.

We are planning to use a rubber liner encased in the water trough area to ensure water tightness.
Rebar and/or chicken wire will protrude from the foundation to be covered over with mortar and rocks.

I am basically trying to figure out how to do this. I could do 3-4 separate foundations, and use caulk in the rocks in between them (instead of mortar as elsewhere) to absorb movement. Alternatively, I could rely on the overlapped strips of liner to maintain watertightness, and simply touch up cracks with more mortar as they appear. Thoughts?

I also posted in the mix designs section.

Any and all help appreciated!

Tom Mattausch

http://www.FlowMotionArt.com

 

[FlowMotionArt]

Sketch of part of wall

http://www.gaslights.org/tom/picforfoundationpost.jpg

End of wall: water exiting through blown glass fountainhead and light source holders

http://www.gaslights.org/tom/picforfoundationpost2.jpg

 

[oldestguy]

More information needed.

What area of the country is this in? What soil types are there? It would appear that the support of the pond base is a lot more critical than the wall system. Do you have specifications for preparing the site?

Have you thought about maintining this through the years?

Swiming pool builders may have some good info for you, since that is the catefory this appears to be in.

Can this be a concrete pool construction with the exposed faces simply decorative stones? In that case, the separate foundation for the wall is not needed, since the short height wall is tied into the slab base.

With properly spaced and built expansion/contraction joints, you won't need a liner.

I'd get an experienced structual engineer involved also.

 

[cvg]

you could try waterstops at your joints which will provide a flexible, watertight seal. Try the following website for information:

http://www.greenstreak.com/

 

[bridgebuster]

I'm confused: Do you need advice with the foundation or sealing the trough?

Sealing the trough should be easy; just overlap and glue the rubber.

"1' wide, 18" tall, and constructed of 4-12" stones mortared together. " When you say stones, I assume you mean stones and not man-made blocks. If so, it sounds like a laid-up rubble wall. I've inspected numerous retaining walls of this type and they're built w/o control joints and foundations.

Is your wall actually retaining any soil? If it's sloping 30-degress into the fill shouldn't be a problem. If you're sloping 30-degrees out, you'll need a heavy foundation.

Oldestguy is right: get an engineer or a landscape architect. You can trying searching the National Park Service website for wall details. I have a book of landscape architectural details and there are some wall drawings from NPS.

 

[fattdad]

There is a reason I don't ordinarily reply to these threads. The question is not being posted by an engineer and in the world of cyberland, us engineers really cannot be sure what you are talking about.

I recommend that you find an engineer to assist you in this project and if that engineer finds him/herself flumoxed they can post their direct inquiry to this thread. If you go for design based on what you learn on this thread, you run the risk of failure, as we don't understand (fully) what the nature of the problem may be.

Good luck, I'm really not trying to be dismissive. . . .

f-d

¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!

 

[TMalloy]

Hey Tom,
I sent an email w/ some suggestions for your project from your web ste. Hope it helps, I've done this kind of thing many times. I enjoy sharing some of what others shared with me as well as what I've learned from trial and error.
Good luck,
Ted Malloy

 

[TMalloy]

Hey Tom,
I would be thrilled to walk you through this step by step, including footing dimentions and ground depth, mortar (actually grout, do not use mortar with real stone) sand & cement ratio, proper concrete sack mix and slump, stone placement and water proofing, etc. I've been doing stone, stone art, and natural stone ponds professionally for 13 years. FindTed.M@gmail.com