Leak Proof Pond Liner

Satoshi Segawa, who's a very talented mason, lives on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. He built a tiny pond on his patio and made a mistake.

"I like DIY to make a better looking by myself and it is a cost effective, but I am an amateur and am lack of the technical know-how to do it sometimes.

Now I was tiling at patio by myself, then made a block that the water goes into the drain as a photo, but I forgot to make a waterproofing, so the water leaking happens from the mortar between the block and the tile after the tap turn on.

Look at Satoshi's expert workmanship on this small brick pond. WOW! Many pros couldn't do this level of work! Photo credit: Satoshi Segawa

I used the normal mortar and don't use the flexible one, so now the edge beside of the tile and the block has a crack and if I press the top of the block by my hand, it will move a bit. How can I fix this problem? I would like to make a waterproofing and no cracking. I hope you can help me."

Satoshi, here's the only thing I can think of.

First, you bet water is going to leak between the mortar joints in your little box. It's the nature of masonry.

You may be able to find some sort of liquid miracle membrane you can paint onto the masonry, but I doubt it will work for long.

I'm inclined to install a folded pond liner membrane in this little water feature. To make it look fantastic, you'll have to install some sort of decorative metal strips - perhaps copper - that's just under the edge of the cap tile. The top of the pond liner would slide up under the metal.

The weight of the water would hold the line tight against the sides of the water feature. You'd do inside folds at the corners to hide the extra membrane that bunches up at each corner.