Our pond walls were finally poured today. A huge hurdle we have finally crossed.

Just getting the pond area cleared took us about a year. We were distracted with all interesting things we were digging up.

We found a concrete guy who agreed to take on our project.

The concrete bottom was poured, not entirely to our specs but close.

The concrete contractor tackled the Octaform panels next but he was having a difficult time. We think he watched the wrong videos and failed to call Octaform support.

Octaform sent out a consultant (Mel) to see if he could help out our concrete guy. At the end of the day we asked Mel what he thought we should do. “Start over.” While we weren’t happy, we put in an order for all new interior panels. Production would be in September, delivery in October.

During our break from pond work we traveled, built a treehouse, put in an azalea/Japanese maple garden, built new steps, bought chickens, made a chicken run, and kept cutting down more trees.

Once the panels came in, we took down round 1 of the pond walls.

Octaform let us hire their consultant, Mel, to help us with round 2. On Monday, he had us building the inner support structure.

Yesterday, we installed the panels. Pond builder’s son and I were Mel’s crew. It was a semi-tedious process, checking every two feet if the panels were plumb. We put in a little extra rebar and at 5:15 pm, Mel placed the last exterior piece and it fit PERFECTLY. He trained the pond builder how to do the last interior supports and he finished at 6:00 pm.

Today the concrete team showed up to pour the wall. A little messy but no blowouts. I can’t describe how relieved we are to get this step done. We have many more tasks before the koi can be moved but this was a big step forward for us. We’re celebrating a fine effort at a local Japanese BBQ restaurant tonight!

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