Do you often ask yourself how to invest $50000? Real estate and renovation are always a good idea for this. Literally, everybody wants to live in a super cozy and spacious house. But when we want to create a cool atmosphere at home we can pay attention even to small garden spaces. These details require innovative thinking but as soon as the project is done it can pretty up your property with interesting water features. Here’s one you can make in a day.
Shopping List
- spout (we modified a blowtorch attachment)
- copper elbow and connector sections
- length of 16mm copper pipe
- steel corner plates (we had three triangular sections cut, bent at the sides and 16mm holes pre-drilled that were 30mm in from the back corner to allow for the copper tubing)
- Hilti wall anchors
- plastic container
- submersible water pump
- hose clamps
- wire/plastic mesh
- 10mm steel rods
- plastic tubing
- landscaping matting (optional, but necessary if the pebbles you use are smaller than the holes in the wire mesh)
- river pebbles
Tools
- flux
- blowtorch
- soldering/brazing wire
- pipe cutter
- electric impact drill and masonry drill bits
- hammer
- screwdriver
Method
1. Clean the section of piping that you will be joining and then smear flux onto them to remove oxides, prevent more oxidation while you are brazing and to smooth the surface.
2. Connect the spout to the elbow joint and braze it in place. Measure and cut a length of copper pipe long enough to extend from the spout to below the bottom plate (see step 5) and braze the pipe to the spout.
3. Mark the positions for the steel plates to be and drill corresponding holes into the wall, as shown. Fix the plates to the wall using the Hilti wall anchors. Make sure that you place the plates at a slight angle so that the water will run off the front of each one to the surface below.
4. Place the copper pipe with the spout attachment in place, threading it through the pre-drilled holes in the steel plates.
5. Create two more elbows below the bottom plate using short sections of copper tubing. Place the plastic container in position.
6. Connect the submersible pump to the copper pipe using the plastic tubing and hose clamps. Test whether it’s working by filling the container with enough water to cover the pump, switching it on and checking for leaks.
7. Crisscross four 10mm steel rods over the container, then cover with sturdy steel or plastic mesh.
8. The entire water feature can then be finished off with river pebbles. Place these onto each steel plate to diffuse the water and spread a layer of pebbles over the mesh covering the container.
TIP: If you have selected pebbles that are smaller than the holes in the mesh, first cover the mesh with landscaper’s matting.