Bottom Drains Keep Your Pond Looking Clean

 

Does your pond look dirty and is the water too murky to see plants or fish?  This is a common problem in outdoor ponds where the owner has not bothered to install a bottom drain.  A bottom drain helps keep your pond looking clean all year long because it is a great water clarifier.

 

It is generally accepted that bottom drains are a must and should be fitted to all ponds under construction but if you made your own pond with a plastic liner or basin you may have skipped this step.  The good news is that it is never too late to install a simple one.

 

A bottom drain can also greatly improve the efficiency of any mechanical filter and especially a gravity filter. This can save you a lot of time when it comes to skimming or vacuuming your pond and the filters will just work better.  The better the filters work the more oxygen there will be for any fish in the ponds.

 

If the main drain is above the height of the pond then it is possible to have a discharge chamber, and then you can pump the pond water to the drain, using a pump with a fitted float level.   The float levels can tell you a lot about the health of the pond and whether it is time to give it a cleaning.

 

In general, bottom drains have a deep large sump usually 10 to 12 inches diameter and about 6 inches deep. These usually have a 4-inch socket to take pressure pipe and this is then taken directly to the drain box where a 4-inch standpipe with `O’ ring is fitted. It is also possible to purchase bottom drains made of fiberglass.

 

Most pond drains have what is called a mushroom cover. It’s called this because it makes the drain look like a large black or steel mushroom.  The more bottom drains you have, the less maintenance your pond will require from you.

Usually, the number of bottom drains required will depend on the size and shape of the pond.  A rectangular pond that is between 12ft x 10ft would probably require two bottom drains if you want the water to be as oxygenated and as clean as possible.

 

Each drain should have its own straight pipe that connects directly to the mechanical filter to keep your pond from looking as muck free as possible. This can save you from doing a lot raking of debris all year round.

Replace Damage With Strip Hardwood Flooring

So you are thinking of installing some strip hardwood flooring in your home. Before you embarking on this important renovation there are a few things that you should know about both strip hardwood and laminate hardwood flooring.

 

First of all keep in mind that strip hardwood flooring is called several things including a prefinished hardwood floor, an engineered floor or an interlocking floor.  This strip hardwood flooring is usually sold in widths of less than four inches. If you see prefinished plank flooring strips that are wider than four inches than avoid it like the plague. These floors tend to shrink, collect dirt and show large seams that expose your subfloor. In fact here is a rule of thumb to remember – the wider the floor plank the more likely it is to shrink, swell, contract or warp according to the amount of dryness or moisture in the air.

 

When you are shopping for strip flooring try assembling a few of the pieces of strip flooring yourself before you take it home. The sales people will hate you but try assembling about ten to fifteen feet of the interlocking pieces yourself. This is the only way to tell if the pieces are well milled and if they interlock easily together. You should also check to see if the floorboards seem uneven or if the seams seem like something that can catch your toe.  Make sure the ends are well finished and have a bit of a bevel.

 

The reason that it is recommended that you go to all this trouble to check the quality of the floorboards is because the strip floorboards that most stores have on display often contain pieces that are superior or heavier in weight than what is usually contained in the box that you take home.  So to avoid future problems such as bumpy or rough looking floors, “try before you buy!”

 

Keep in mind that hardwood flooring only really looks any good on subfloors that are perfectly straight. So what do you do if you are stuck with a crooked floor?

 

One very popular solution for the crooked sub floor is the floating laminated floor. These types of floors don’t have to be glued down like the heavier hardwood floor strips. These come as separate boards that look like strip floor segments or as panels. In most cases, you simply install these buy gluing them to each other over a foam pad.  One word of advice when it comes to buying laminated floating stores is to buy the thinnest panels or strips possible. Although the larger laminated strips or panels are easier to install, after a few months you will notice that they collect quite a bit of dirt between their seams.

 

Finally try to avoid laminated wood planks that have softwood cores. Softwood backed laminated wood planks have a habit of absorbing moisture and warping your floor. This is because hardwoods and plywood have two very different ways of absorbing moisture from the air.