A pond is an investment that should last a lifetime, and with the proper planning, design, and installation, it can be made to do so. This includes considering any future changes or improvements you might want to make to the pond. Why limit yourself when you don’t have to? You never know when you’ll want to update or expand your original vision. Your choice of liner now should not put a limit on what you can do with your pond in the future. Instead of installing a pond that considers only your current desired use, why not include material selections and design considerations that will allow and even ease future changes or additions?
Limitations of Preformed Ponds
Not only is the material of a preformed pond rigid and set, so is your ability to make changes to it. Once installed, you’re stuck with it as it is. If it isn’t deep enough or doesn’t have the features you want, you have no recourse other than to tear it out and install a liner that better meets your new and changing needs.
With a flexible liner, however, not only do you have more design flexibility when the pond is initially installed but when you’re ready to make changes, a flexible liner will allow you to easily make whatever changes you want. Do you want to change the banks? No problem. Want to increase its size? No problem. Whatever upgrades and alterations you decide to make to the pond, a flexible liner will allow you to make them without having to tear out the existing pond and do a new installation.
Dealing with Erosion
Due to its unchanging rigid nature, you may think that a preformed pond does not have to deal with erosion issues. Unfortunately, this is not the case. And to make matters worse, you can’t generally see the issue until it's too late. A preformed liner requires full coverage support from below. When the soil shifts or washes away and parts of the preformed pond liner become unsupported, the liner becomes destabilized. This stresses the liner, leading to cracks and leaks.
Flexible liners, on the other hand, move with the shifting soil. Reinforced flexible liners shift easily with the soil and are not affected by erosion. Plus, unlike the vertical sides of a preformed pond liner, flexible liners allow you to create gentle sloping banks that are natural-looking and avoid erosion caused by incoming rainwater and/or lapping of the pond’s waves. If erosion does occur and you decide you want to alter the shape or slope of the banks, a flexible liner can be lifted, allowing the soil below to be reshaped before once again laying the liner back in place.
Installing New Features
Perhaps you have changed your mind or maybe the original budget didn’t allow the installation of a certain feature that you would have liked, but the time has come to add a new feature to your pond to better serve your wants, needs, or desires. Whatever the reason, it’s much easier to add new features to an existing pond when the pond has been constructed with a flexible liner rather than a preformed pond liner.
Essentially, a preformed pond liner must be manufactured to accommodate features such as fountains; otherwise, modifications (i.e. drilled holes) made to accommodate the necessary waterlines for installation of additional features typically begin to leak, leading to failure. On the flip side, flexible liners are easy to cut and patched when penetrations are required to add features at any time including the initial installation and the addition of subsequent modifications. And, the patch materials used with flexible liners are fish safe, unlike the sealants used to patch the preformed pond liner which can leach contaminants that kill fish.
Conclusion
The installation of a preformed pond liner greatly limits your ability to make any changes or additions to your pond at any time and for any reason. By using a flexible, reinforced liner like BTL Liner’s AquaArmor and adding a little extra depth when the pond is initially installed, you’ll provide your pond with much more versatility, allowing you to make changes to encompass your changing wants and needs.
Additionally, a pond that has been built with this type of versatility will increase your property value. The characteristics of a preformed pond cause it to lack versatility – it cannot be made deeper nor can its size be altered. And, modifications often lead to leaks and failure.
When you design and install a pond, you have a particular use in mind. If you decide to sell the property, a potential owner may see the pond and envision a different use. A preformed pond limits both you and the potential owner from making any alterations or upgrades to the pond. With a preformed pond liner, changes often mean removing the existing pond and installing a new one – generally with a flexible liner. A flexible liner, on the other hand, will allow modifications to be made to the pond whenever the need arises. Why not begin with a flexible liner and save yourself a whole lot of headache?
Change is inevitable; therefore, it makes sense to plan for it. A preformed pond liner is not easily modified, whereas a flexible liner is easily modified and subsequently patched to readily allow alterations and/or additions.
A pond that is easy to modify and upgrade will meet your needs and please you now and for many years to come, and should you decide to sell, it will increase the value of your property and give the new owner the same flexibility and pleasure. Either way, using a reinforced flexible liner such as BTL Liner’s AquaArmor ensures you have a pond that doesn’t leave you wishing you had done things differently.
