Water features very well enliven landscape design. The fountain, located in your summer cottage, can become a place for solitude, relaxation and contemplation. You can buy it in the store or make a fountain in the country with your own hands, and this will be its main highlight. One cannot disagree with the statement that what is done by oneself is always especially expensive. This article is dedicated to how to make a fountain yourself.
Cottage decoration
Even a small and modest fountain, if you come up with an unusual shape, will become a decoration of landscape design, and will give the site a unique look. A do-it-yourself fountain is a great opportunity to realize your fantasies. On hot summer days, it creates coolness, it is quite capable to some extent create a microclimate in a place of rest. The fountain acts as a natural moisturizer, next to which on a hot day there is a feeling of freshness and coolness. In addition, it will give peace and relieve fatigue.
There is a huge selection of forms of street fountains, their types, design, sizes. And before starting work on creating a fountain in the country with your own hands, you should consider its design so that it harmoniously fits into the environment and is proportional to the size of the garden. It can be made in a "country" country in the decor of stones, or, for example, in a natural style, decorating the site with an original design.
You can also provide effects of water transfusion using the backlight. And most importantly, what is needed to create a fountain is a storage tank for water, a pump and power supply.
Recommendations for the location of the fountain
To maximize the efficiency and decorativeness of the fountain, you need to choose the right place for its placement. To make a fountain in the country with your own hands, it is worth listening to the recommendations of landscape designers:
- equip the fountain in open space, it should be near the resting place;
- such a decoration should harmoniously fit into the landscape design of the cottage (in a small area - a small fountain);
- use a local stone for decoration to decorate a small fountain (geyser), thereby creating a natural look;
- when designing a creation, calculate the necessary power of an electric pump, since design dreams are not always consistent with electricity bills.
It is not recommended to install the fountain in an area under direct sunlight. This can cause water to bloom. Do not install it near the location of wooden country furniture, so that the spray does not spoil its appearance. Also, do not place fountains in an area close to trees, as their roots can damage the bowl, thereby violating its waterproofing.
Fountain type
So, in order to build a fountain in the country with your own hands, you need to think about which water supply system is suitable for its functioning. Depending on what kind of fountain will be created at the cottage, its type is selected. Technical versions are of two types: submersible and stationary. Diagrams of installing the pump with your own hands in the country for the fountain in the photo below.
The first type is installed directly in a natural or artificial body of water, it resembles a geyser stream spurting from under water. A stationary fountain may look different in appearance. It is a separate landscape element made of various materials of various shapes and sizes.
Selection of equipment for the fountain
It should be noted that even creating a small fountain in the country with your own hands, it requires: a water supply system and a tank for outflow of water, nozzles, water level sensors, filters and pumps. By the way, you need to choose a pump for a decorative fountain competently, taking into account the characteristics that should be obtained at the outlet: the height of the jet and the pressure of the water flow. A correctly selected pump will ensure the durability and uninterrupted operation of the fountain. It is important to consider that the equipment is not designed for continuous operation, it needs a break. Here are just the pumps that work in summer cottages, you can turn on in early spring, and turn off in late autumn.
Types of spraying water
Decorative fountains, which are installed in summer cottages, are divided by type of spray. The most common used by summer residents are the following:
- jet spraying in the form of a single jet, striking upwards;
- in the form of a tulip, when the shape of the jet leaves the nozzle at an angle of 30 ° (like a flame coming out of a gas burner);
- longline spraying, when the pressure of water on the holes raises the water to different heights;
- rotating spray with spiral twisting of jets;
- shower water diffuser (as an option for a fountain nozzle).
Any of the above sprayers are sold in the distribution network. There are more complicated sprayers, but a summer house is not a park, not a park, so you need to choose the sprayer that will appeal to all households.
Mini fountain in the country
With your own hands you can make a miniature fountain made of stone in just a couple of days off. The main thing is to have construction skills. But for those who made the cottage and country furniture on their own, making a fountain will not be difficult. So, at the selected location, you can begin construction work.
As a remark: the correct forms in nature are practically absent, so the appearance of the reservoir made of stone should be natural.
The photo above shows almost all the components that should be involved in the creation of this miniature fountain. Below we will describe how to make a fountain in the country with your own hands step by step.
Master Class
The main part of the fountain needs flat decorative stones, in which holes will be drilled along the diameter of the tube. Water will flow through it. Usually a copper tube with a diameter of 15 mm.
To install this design, it is necessary to dig a hole in which to install a tank, which is a waterproof bowl. Fix it in a pit with sand and soil so that it does not stagger. The bowl should be deep enough. From the top of the pump to the edge of the bowl, a distance of 150 mm or more. Remember to dig a small groove in which you will need to lay the insulated cable to connect the pump to the power supply. As an insulating material, a plastic pipe is suitable. At the same time, a copper pipe must be attached to the pump to supply water.
A pump is installed in the prepared tank, the structure is covered with a galvanized metal mesh. This measure is necessary to prevent debris from entering the tank.
The base for the fountain, on which the drilled stones will be installed, can be made from various improvised materials that are in the country. It can be those remaining after construction or repair work: metal pipes, wooden bars, beams or channels. Their length should be longer than the pit with the tank by 10-20 cm from each edge.
It's time to do the stringing of stones on a copper tube attached to the pump. This procedure will help children perform, they have the skill of collecting pyramids. Glue the stones to each other with silicone glue. After it dries, you can turn on the water and try out the fountain created at the cottage with your own hands.
Fountain decoration
You can decorate the base of the small fountain with stones that serve as a continuation of the strung, and grease the gaps between them with silicone glue and fill it with a small stone. You can make a small pond in the form of a bowl, around which lay an artificial carpet of grass. Pebbles and sand are also suitable for the decor of this small fountain.
You can decorate such a fountain with decorative lighting. It will magically look when using various nozzles for beautiful spraying of water. Designers recommend buying spray guns made of bronze.
Fountain care
Caring for homemade fountains made at home in the country is not so difficult. During the spring-autumn period of the functioning of the fountain, one should not forget to replenish the water in the tank, as it will evaporate on hot days. In the summer it needs to be done a couple of times a month.
For the winter period, it is recommended to dismantle the removable parts, clean the filters in the pump, and cover the tank, protecting it from snow and dirt.
How to make an unusual fountain for a summer residence
Fountains for summer cottages can be made from any improvised material. A very good idea is to create an unusual fountain from a recycled teapot. The video shows the creation of a fountain in the country with your own hands with a step-by-step photo and an explanation of the work.
Fountains working without a pump
The fountain can work without a pump. His work is based on the principle of communicating vessels (school curriculum in physics). Vessels connected by a tube are located at different heights, which allows water to flow from the upper vessel to the lower one. This device was invented 200-300 BC. engineer Heron, who was clearly from the future, since even then he had invented automatic doors, an automatic puppet theater and much more. But his inventions were rejected as unnecessary.
You can make fountains in the country with your own hands without a pump by looking at the figure below.
Everything is simple and clear on it. But this fountain does not have a closed system, as we could see at fountains with a pump. This is not a perpetual motion machine, so the action stops, after a certain period of time you need to pour water from the lower vessel to the upper one.
And yet, some craftsmen make such fountains at their dachas. The work is performed in the following sequence:
- For example, pick up large bottles of drinking water.
- In each container in the lid, make 2 holes. Their diameter should be less than the tubes (for tightness) that will be inserted into them.
- Insert tubes into each container so that one touches the bottom of the container and the second is under the lid itself.
- Place a container of water over an empty container.
- An open bowl with an opening at the bottom is installed above the full capacity.
- The hole in the bowl connects to the lower tank.
- All joints of tubes and holes are sealed with silicone.
- After the silicone has dried, pour 0.5 liters of water into the upper bowl to create excess pressure.
- The fountain starts to work.
- After a stop, it is restarted, but by interchanging the capacities (middle - empty and lower - full)
Solar powered fountain
You can build a fountain with your own hands in the country, either with a pump that takes power from a stationary source of electricity, or from a solar battery. Solar fountains are classified as portable, which can be placed almost anywhere in the open air, as there is no reference to the source of electricity.
They are usually equipped with a long cord that can be placed in the sun, and the garden decoration itself works in the shade. This feature in itself makes it the most versatile fountain on the market. Most of this new technology is that almost any outdoor fountain can be adapted to work with solar energy by switching to a solar pump.
Ideas and tips
If, after reviewing all the options for fountains for a summer residence, you still cannot make a choice, it is recommended to listen to the advice of those who have already installed such decorations in their dachas. These are the recommendations they give:
- There are always available tools for installing an immersion fountain in the country, for example, an old bathtub, a cut automobile tire, an old basin. All this can be dug into the ground, thereby creating an artificial reservoir.
- For a stationary fountain, boulder stones, a large jug (jug), as well as part of the wall or landscape composition in the middle of which you can hide a water hose, are suitable.
- A cascade fountain on an alpine hill or made of watering cans, teapots, buckets, mugs in which water pours from a tank into a tank will look beautiful.
- The fountains will be original, the elements of which are decorated with special paints that prevent the appearance of moss and mold on the details of the fountain.
- In order for any fountain to please its inhabitants with their murmurs for a long time, their guests and guests, we should not forget about caring for it.
The fountain that appeared at your cottage will undoubtedly become the central building and will attract the attention of your guests.