A garden is a lovely feature of a modern home, and it has a positive effect on the overall curb appeal. Greenery, even if it’s on a smaller scale, can inject the area with liveliness, enhancing the look and feel of the home altogether. And there’s a way to add more of this effect – all with the help of a water element.
Going the extra mile by adding a pond can pay off in the long run, as the spot can easily turn into your pride and joy. Not to mention, its aesthetic appeal as well as its positive impact on your relaxation and tranquility with the water sound and wildlife attractions help create a treat for your senses. A true oasis!
To ensure the integrity of this element, however, it’s essential to provide the proper foundation in the form of protective pond liners as the impermeable shield is added to the bottom and sides of the pond. While it may not seem like that big of a deal, making this part of the installation can come in handy with water containment as much as maintenance.
What Are the Benefits of Pond Liners?
As mentioned, these are protective barriers that have more than one role in the durability and cleanliness of your pond. These are quite versatile tools you can rely on regardless of the size of the water feature, the terrain, or the climate where you live, and you’ve got an array of options to pick from. The usage of liners is necessary for:
Prevention of Soil Erosion
As the impermeable shield it is, a liner can provide a boundary between your water element and the surrounding soil. This is crucial not only for preventing any chemicals from making their way into the soil and polluting it but also for the overall structure of your pond.
Pond Longevity
While soil making its way into the pond through cracks can be a detail that puts its shape and durability at risk, there’s also the threat of weather elements. When you boost the base with pond liners, you won’t have to fret every time there’s some storm with strong winds coming. And, let’s face it, there’s often a chance this could happen in the UK.
Another threat you might not be aware of that could potentially damage your pond is that of nearby trees. It’s easy for their roots to spread and take over your water feature’s structure, which is where the addition of a puncture-resistant and flexible rubber pond liner proves to be of the essence. This is the cheaper and safer alternative to having to relocate an older tree.
Water Retention
You don’t have to be using the pond for irrigation or livestock watering purposes to place importance on water retention. A few leaks here and there can result in water loss, and that’s something you don’t want happening. To retain the water of your pond, this too calls for the use of pond liners for sale. This benefit they provide is especially helpful in regions with frequent droughts.
Protection of the Environment
Ponds, much like pools, require maintenance and regular cleaning to ensure water quality, proper oxygen levels, and the pH balance required for beneficial bacteria to keep harmful organisms and organic waste away. This becomes even more important if you have certain plants and fish in the water.
It’s true, nowadays there are eco-friendly cleaning solutions you can rely on to take care of this chore, as the use of chemicals is a big no, but the addition of a pond liner not only preserves the water quality – it’s the key to keeping pollutants away from the soil too. All in all, this makes for a solution that protects the environment.
Reduction in Costs
First of all, the availability of liners in different materials, sizes, and thicknesses gives you the flexibility you need to protect the pond without having to splurge on other costlier alternatives. And yet, there’s more to cost-savings than these offers.
Just think of the aforementioned benefits such as prevention of soil erosion, boosting the pond’s longevity, and water retention. Investing in liners now can save you from costly repairs and solutions later, more so if we consider how long-lasting they are. Two to three decades is a long time of reliability you can swear by.
Basic Considerations When Choosing Liners
With the range of liners available for sale, you’ve got plenty of impermeable layers to select from, which is why it’s useful to go over aspects like:
Material
As these are elements that are exposed to water, along with weather, choosing the right material is significant for the overall longevity of the pond. If you’re up for a natural choice for eco-friendliness, bentonite clay is one to consider for the watertight seal. Suitable for small ponds, it’s not so great when there’s the threat of punctures and tears. Moreover, it’s also not as durable as its synthetic counterparts.
Now, if you don’t mind synthetics, you’re in for convenience and reliability. Here, you have various options, from the flexible and affordable PVC pond liner to synthetic rubber and polyethylene formulations. As these are all durable, and nowadays safe for plants and animals since they don’t leach material into the water, your choice comes down to things like price, installation, and resistance to tear.
The EPDM pond liner may have a higher upfront cost, but it’s puncture-resistant and highly adaptable which is particularly useful if your pond has a unique shape and contours. The HDPE liners have high resistance to UV rays and punctures, but they require professional installation as they are more challenging, quite like the RPE liners.
Butyl pond liner, Firestone pond liner, and SealEco Greenseal liner are some of the names you’re going to hear and come across in terms of premium EPDM materials. For something bespoke, you can also turn to box welded liners for a custom size.
Eco-Friendliness
Do you have plants and fish in the pond? If not, do you plan on introducing them? Then you should look for a barrier that’s safe to use with plant and aquatic life. Besides the ecological footprint, eco-friendliness can also be in the form of recyclability. So, when choosing from the synthetics, be sure to think through how recyclable they are once they’ve served their purpose.
Cost
Upfront cost is one thing, long-term costs are a completely different one that shouldn’t be overlooked either. The choice of material has to be done based on installation (professional or DIY), maintenance, repair and size, as much as durability and flexibility as these are all aspects that can be decisive factors in the costs.