It’s not as hard as you might think to make a simple, yet workable, and beautiful yard water fountain. It takes a little time and only some minor hard work; the rest is easy and fun, because you get to be very creative, and your fountain is personally unique to you. So if you’re always wondering on how to build a water fountain, you’ve come to the right place.
First we’ll start out with a list of items that you will need for the project that can easily be found at local hardware stores and Walmart. Remember this is a basic list you can ad things, as you want to go on the fountain to suit you as well. Such as stickers or pictures, the sky really is the limit.
- A small plastic children’s-style swimming pool
- A preferable color or more of exterior spray paint.
- A 3′ length of ½ PVC pipe
- A large, but not very heavy decorated bowl that you like is at least 12″ – 14″ in Diameter (for me blue colored glass is what I used so it seems to emit a glow in the sun)
- A water hose long enough to reach to where your fountain will be located.
- A good quality, very large Gallon Per minute rating submersible water pump
- 4ft of tube that will fit the pump you buy
- Epoxy resin, which comes in the two tubes like a large syringe with two chemicals. Or any quick applicator speed is key with this stuff.
- An outdoor rated extension cord long enough to reach the pump from a electrical source.
- A shovel
- Drill
Once you are satisfied with all the items you have and have bought everything listed we are ready to begin the fun. First off you’ll need to paint the top rim of the pool. After it has had time to dry do another coat if possible. You can get creative a little more if you like after all it is your fountain. You could find nice colored glass, which comes by the bag at toy store, and glue them around the painted part. Or even pain a complex pattern, design, or anything you can imagine here you could do before we move onto the next step make sure everything is perfect with the large reservoir (pool).
Next we get into the less fun aspects of the job. For this part you will need to use your shovel to dig a hole only a little larger tan the bottom of the pool. It should be dug as until only the top lip of the pool is above ground, the part you painted and decorated earlier on. After this we will need a line opened up in the grass from the back of the reservoir to the house where the extension cord will plug. The easiest way to do this is simply by inserting the shovel into the ground then pushing it forward and pulling back a few times, next step beside that cut and do it again always overlapping. When you are done you can easily slide the extension cord in, be sure the right sides are at each end, then just step on the ground along the line, and there it is done, without tearing up any grass.
Now for an easier task, take the 3 ” PVC pipe and the epoxy resin. Hold the PVC pipe in the center of the pool and mark around it with a sharpie black marker. Now when you are ready have someone hold it in place and you quickly go around it applying thee epoxy resin compound, don’t use too much just enough to hold. Now hold it there for about 30 minutes then make it stationary by putting a couple of stacks of big books on each side, and give it 24 hours to harden, save any additional epoxy for a later step.
If you want to decorate the PVC pipe any way you desire match it up the the bottom colors or get creative. Next we should put on your small reservoir, which will flow gloriously. Make sure the PVC pipe has hardened and get the bowl. Place the large bowl on top and use your remaining epoxy to glue it on from the bottom then fill it with water and it will stay level with the levelness of the pipe.
After 24 hours all should be done and ready to finalize. Take a drill and the appropriate size drill for the water pump hose to fit into and drill a hole at the back and on the very bottom of the PVC pipe. Then go up and drill one in the middle of the bowl on top. Now take the water pump hose and insert it from the top into the bowl until it hits the bottom. Fish it out of the hole, if you need to cur it larder and once you have it you may hook up the hose to the submersible water pump. At the top if make sure the hose sticks up about ½ inch higher than the top of the bowl. If it is not watertight around the hole in the bowl use epoxy or some silicon to seal it well.
Now it’s time to have the real fun. We need to fill the pull up almost to the top and add the food coloring to make the water look nice. Then switch on the pup and watch it work in minutes you should see a stream of water shooting forth from the top and gathering in the bowl, and when it fills it glitters as it falls back into the pool. Experiment with the GPM rate (speed) on your pump to get the water spraying higher or lower to suit your personal fountain the best. Now it’s all done just sit back and enjoy the beauty you’ve just added to your home. You can also now add things as you see what the fountain need like sitting things in the large pool. I used gargoyles in mine and recently added red coloring and a skull in the bottom pool. Just have fun and remember you actually did it yourself and would have paid much more for something less personal had you bought one.
Continue Reading
