Cracks from cold, heaving, groundwater. Maintenance,painting, sealing, initial cost, ongoing costs, permanence. It is very difficult to change if you don't like it the way it is. EPDM is usually rated for 20 years and is more versatile.

I don't know what your geologic situation might be in Georgia. Find someone who has an inground pool in your area and ask about their problems. One person I spoke to said it was a money pit but that was further north.

Hi
I think you may be promoting cement ponds because you sell them?? lol gary

I have had both concrete and liner ponds over the last 25 years. I'm just a pond nut and not involved in either the sale or construction of ponds so have no bias in any direction.

Concrete is much more expensive than liner, however, if built correctly it is more permanent. If you plan to live where you are for 25 or 30 years that may be important to you. I'm not sure where you can get a concrete pond built for 25 to 30% more than a liner, especially given the specs that you must use. As for concrete adding value to a home, that's depends on where you live. Here in the midwest part of the US pools and ponds,whether concrete or liner, will not add to or detract from your homes value. Most real estate agents will tell you it's better without them. If you live in the deep south or southwest it may be different.

Also in the more temperate climate where the ground freezes and thaws concrete is susceptible to heaving and cracking. Liners on the other hand are susceptible to high ground water and being pushed up as well.

In my 25 years with ponds I have never had a problem with any kind of animal or rodent causing damage to my liners. It is true that some burrowing animals may build a nest close to your liner and could cause damage, I've just not had that problem. I have had animals get into the pond and scratch at the sides trying to get out but none have caused a leak. Most pond builders provide a stepped or layered design (plant shelf) and that has made it easy for animals to get out of the pond without damage. My dogs love to play in the pond and have never caused a problem with the liner.

Pumps and skimmers and the like don't make any difference at all whether you have concrete or liner. Cheap pumps are cheap pumps and will fail no matter what installation you use them on. Good stuff will do the job on either type installation. I don't recommend using a "sump pump" on a pond. They are not designed for continuous operation and that's why they fail. Get a good pump designed for the purpose for which you are buying it. Today's market has very good pumps designed for in water or out of water situations. Both have pro's and con's. Do your homework and decide accordingly.

My advise is to listen to those who own ponds and their experiences and not to those in the business. Those in the business, no matter which business it is, will always have a bias. Those who have to live with the the results of their decisions will provide the most meaningful advise, and as with anything, there will always be those who have had a bad experience with a good thing and those who have a good experience with a bad thing.

No matter which way you decide to go I wish you the best of luck. Let us know what you decide.

I'd love to do a cement pond - they look a lot better to me and more natural than all those annoying folds the liner has. But I thought the issue was water quality and all that lime or whatever it is that would leach out of the concrete and mess up the water???

Hi
My largest pond 5x10 is above ground made of stacked 4x4 lined with fiberglass tarp. Has been running continuously since 82 with no leaks. Built as a rainwater collection system though became a growout for tropical fish and aquarium plants . Cost under 250
Most serious problem in all those years was waterbirds, raccoons small boys. lol
have never had a cement or fiberglass
One BIG mistake was putting a 2x6 foot window into the west side . Did not increase the viewing but tripled the maintenence lol
I'm redoing it now but smaller and less depth geared toward a water garden and more aesthetic looking .
Following the original construction method but exterior will be lined with mosaic tile rather than plants
A friend put in an elevated hexagon shaped plexiglass
design which sure looks good right now though I can't imagine spending THAT much money lol My back hurst thinking of the maintenence lol gary

I'm an architect and I've seen lots of water gardens and ponds but I don't quite have the experience of some of the designers here with the construction. I've only built my own two.

One great advantage of the EPDM lined water feature is that it is somewhat adaptable and flexible. You may want your next water garden masterpiece to last a life time so to be your legacy but you also may not.

If you don't like the edge on the one side over there, or you want to make the weir of the water fall a little less wide but increase the depth by a rock or two... EPDM can sometimes accommodate that.

BTW I've written before on this site, much of the design advice given to would-be water gardeners (by practitioners and books on the subject) is to have many tiers for planting ledges within the pond -- since different plants like different planting depths. I took that advice but like many folks I quickly realized that I've had a change of heart, like I want a lower pool within the water garden to be an ALL lily pond pool. Many gardeners have lamented the over-use of planting shelfs / ledges in their ponds.

I think my own expectations have changed as to what I want that THING out there in the yard to be... and sometimes it's better to allow for that recreation.

I'm about to upgrade a small garden pond that I dug by hand and lined with the bottom of one of those Walmart 15' swimming pools that a previous owner had discarded.

It leaked in a few spots last year, and I patched it, but this year the plastic is brittle and cracking everywhere. So I ordered a trickerlite liner 15' X 16', which costs about $200, should arrive here shortly. Planning to leave the old liner as an underlayment, and if the rubber one fails (they claim it's good for 30 years), I'll just pour concrete over that.

Speaking of the durability of concrete ponds, I was much impressed as a child by the "kitchen pond" behind Jefferson's Monticello. It's a shallow round pond (maybe 25' across?) that they used for keeping fish they caught alive until needed. That pond has been around for ~250 years, and I'm sure there are other examples.

my pond is going between palmtrees. I have one thats plastic, but want a bigger one. I know the palmtree roots are tough, so should i do concrete and a liner on top to hold off the roots?Thank you