Review by:
Paul Sarnstrom
Chapter 1 - Planning and Design takes the reader through site planning and design of your rock and water feature including the concept drawing, plan view and elevation view. The author emphasizes having a clear concept and drawing of what you intend to construct. This detailed planning is of primary importance for a satisfactory outcome.
Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the water part of the
rock and water feature. Beginning with the mechanical system and water flow
considerations, through plumbing and pumps and finishing with filtration and
purification, these chapters help the reader plan these systems.
In chapter 4 we begin the construction of our
project with the pond and the foundation for the structure. Chapter 5 covers
building the armature for the rock structure with rebar and wire mesh and
also illustrates alternatives such as using steel studs, plywood and EPS
construction instead of rebar.
Chapter 6 covers the scratch coat, and the texture
coat illustrating the making of and use of latex skins to impart a realistic
texture to the surface.
Chapter 7 gives painting techniques for finishing
the structure to closely resemble natural rocks - a most important part of
making artificial rock look like naturally occurring rock.
Chapter 8, the final chapter, takes the reader
through step by step construction of a rock feature.
This book is lavishly illustrated with color
photos and black and white drawings throughout so that the processes being
explained are visually illustrated.
The back of the book contains 3 pages of materials
suppliers as well as a 9 page glossary of terms, something that should be
most welcome, especially for beginners.
All in all this book is well written and
illustrated and obviously comes from many years experience in the field.