FlowMotionArt
Geotechnical
- Jul 3, 2007
- 5
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 also posted in the foundation engineering section asking about foundation design *
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. In the other forum listed above I mentioned that I am considering doing 3-4 separate foundations, and using 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.
So the question here, is what mix designs would you guys go for. Here are my notes so far:
Aqueduct mortar body
Admix
Foundation (planning to have truck delivered)
Fibers
Rebar or mesh
Vapor barrier?
Canal mortar top
Fibers
Acryl
xypex
I'm considering a waterproofing agent in the top canal mix (a xypex product) where the water flows, just as double insurance so we aren't relying on the rubber liner.
Also, are there any affordable mix additives that could make the foundation and wall flexible enough to not need control joints over a 110' span?
Thanks very much for any and all help and ideas!
Tom Mattausch
Sketch of part of wall
End of wall: water exiting through blown glass fountainhead and light source holders
* I also posted in the foundation engineering section asking about foundation design *
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. In the other forum listed above I mentioned that I am considering doing 3-4 separate foundations, and using 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.
So the question here, is what mix designs would you guys go for. Here are my notes so far:
Aqueduct mortar body
Admix
Foundation (planning to have truck delivered)
Fibers
Rebar or mesh
Vapor barrier?
Canal mortar top
Fibers
Acryl
xypex
I'm considering a waterproofing agent in the top canal mix (a xypex product) where the water flows, just as double insurance so we aren't relying on the rubber liner.
Also, are there any affordable mix additives that could make the foundation and wall flexible enough to not need control joints over a 110' span?
Thanks very much for any and all help and ideas!
Tom Mattausch
Sketch of part of wall
End of wall: water exiting through blown glass fountainhead and light source holders
