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.