The landscape design of the summer cottage involves the use of key elements, one of which can be a fountain. The article will consider their main types, differences and construction features.

Pros and cons of landscaping with a fountain

The fountain in landscape design performs mainly a decorative function, and in most cases is a good option for decorating the site. It attracts the attention of guests and pleases the eye of the owners. As you know, water calms the nervous system, so daily walks near the home fountain positively affect the emotional state of the owners.

A similar design in the landscape can also perform a practical function - to moisten the air, which will not only allow spending more time outdoors on hot summer days, but will also have a beneficial effect on plants planted nearby.

If you place the moisture diffuser in a small artificial pond, then due to the movement of water, it will not “bloom”, which often leads to unpleasant odors or discoloration. Fish in an artificial pond with a fountain feel much better, since the water is regularly enriched with oxygen.

Did you know? The tallest in the world is the King Fahid Fountain, which is located in the city of Jija, Saudi Arabia. The stream of water that the structure throws reaches 312 m.

Not always a fountain in landscape design is appropriate in a particular place of the site, and the decision on its placement should be agreed with specialists who can tell where and in what form to place the structure in order to avoid possible problems. An improperly tuned stream of water, which should fall exclusively into the bowl, can add a lot of inconvenience and lead to unpleasant consequences.

The main disadvantages of an ill-conceived design are the risk of water entering the walls of buildings, garden furniture or plants, which negatively react to abundant moisture. In the room, due to excessive humidity of the walls, wallpaper can fall off, cracks appear, a dangerous fungus develops.

Garden furniture made of natural material will absorb moisture and may begin to rot. To avoid possible problems, it is recommended to place ponds with diffusers no closer than 50 m to buildings and structures, furniture and other decorative elements that negatively react to high humidity.

Types of fountains in landscape design

Not only the general picture of landscape design, but also the features of its design with the use of more suitable materials depends on the type of fountain, so we will consider what types are and how they differ.

Stationary

The most common type of fountains, found everywhere in parks and squares, is stationary. Such constructions necessarily have many decorative elements, which, even without the presence of water, are a decoration of the landscape. Similar design elements are also often placed in large summer cottages, decorating with exclusive sculptures or sculpting.

Stationary structures are most often made of polymer materials, which allow you to create an imitation of natural stone, giving a more expensive look. Artificial material is much more practical than natural, as it does not weigh much, and is easy to install.

Submersible

It is considered the simplest type, as it is easy to install and has a simplified technical device. The main feature of the submersible structure is that the stream appears directly from the water. This fountain can be placed in a small reservoir: an artificial pond, a large bowl, recessed into the soil.

The submersible option is the most budgetary, since for the removal of the jet you only need to purchase a special spray gun, which is placed on the pump rod and fixed in a vertical position. The purchase of other expensive items is not required, which can significantly save financial resources.

Did you know? Dubai has the largest and most expensive fountain in the world. Its length is 270 m, height - 150 m, and the cost at the time of construction - 218 million dollars.

Fountain with waterfall

Designs with a waterfall are elite and expensive, usually they occupy a large territory and involve the use of many decorative elements to create a complete picture.

In addition to the waterfall, which flows into an artificial reservoir, the fountain consists of jets that spatter from under the water or decorative elements on the structure. Water usually flows down artificial or natural large stones located in the form of steps that are the main element of the decor.

How to make a fountain in landscaping do it yourself

To avoid serious financial costs, you can make a fountain on the site with your own hands. However, for the high-quality implementation of such a task, it is necessary to have minimal skills in working with tools and be able to perform simple construction manipulations.

How to choose a place

The placement of the fountain on the site should be thought out taking into account the design features depending on the selected type. If it has high beating jets of water, the area around it should not have buildings, since in windy weather water will fall on the surface of the walls. The best place to place is considered free space, which is clearly visible from different corners of the summer cottage.

In a small area, the fountain should be small in order to keep proportions, and there should be enough space for free movement.

Do not install it near trees, which is fraught with pollution by leaves, seeds, small branches of a bowl of water and clogging of the hydraulic system. The place for placement should not be too windy, as jets of water will constantly bend, and distort the integrity of the landscape design picture.

What materials are needed

The main element of the home fountain is the diffuser, which is necessary to create a jet and shape it. The most common are the models that create the shape of an umbrella for a stream of water, but to start them you will need a special pump that pumps water.

The most budget option is to use a conventional shower head as a diffuser, which, although it does not look so spectacular, can be connected to an ordinary household pump, which saves a huge amount of money. If the choice fell on the shower head, it is better to purchase a self-cleaning option that avoids clogging of water holes with salt deposits.

Important! It should be borne in mind that a household pump delivers water with a strong pressure on an ongoing basis, therefore it requires periodic shutdown in order to avoid rapid wear and damage.

If you plan to build a mini-fountain, you can connect an old unnecessary aquarium pump to it, the height of the stream will not exceed 60 cm, but it can work constantly.

To avoid clogging of the pump and diffuser, it is recommended to install a filter in the fountain. For home construction, an ordinary aquarium cleaner is suitable. Expensive cartridges are usually replaced with sponges for washing dishes, and so that they do not float to the surface, they are fixed with stones at the bottom.

Important! For decoration, natural or artificial stones are used, but necessarily dense, since porous specimens are able to quickly collapse when water temperature changes.

It is recommended to buy a bowl for a fountain that will collect water, since improvised materials are not always reliable and it is difficult to achieve aesthetics, for example, using an old bathtub. In addition, the finished tank will cost much less, since it will not require expensive concrete insulation, as in the case of using the home-made option. The best options are: labradorite, granite, gneiss, gabbro.

Drawings and layout

The layout of the fountain depends on the chosen type of design and the style of its design. When organizing the classic version, bowls of the correct geometric shape can be used as a capacity for collecting water, and country style assumes the presence of tanks of various configurations.

Important! Each nozzle has its own characteristics of spraying water, so the size of the bowl must correspond to the selected type, otherwise there may be problems with installation and use.

When planning, it is important to consider the region of residence, which will save financial resources on the use of pumps. If the construction will be carried out in the southern regions, it is possible to purchase a solar-powered pump. The choice of a spray nozzle must also be agreed upon during the planning and drawing up of drawings.

The following types of sprinklers may be used:

• bell - water in the process of spraying forms a stream in the form of a bell, which is directed downward. The end of the pipe consists of two disks that have a small gap in the middle. By adjusting its thickness, you can control the width of the water jet;
• hemisphere - the use of several bell-shaped nozzles on one pipe, which are positioned so that during the spraying process a stream of water forms a hemisphere;
• solitary - the use of such a nozzle allows the formation of several individual jets that rise high above the surface of the bowl;
• longline - jets of water that rise above the bowl have different lengths, so they form a composition of small multi-tiered fountains;
• turntables - water jets twist and form spirals during passage through the diffuser; when installing such a nozzle, it is very important to correctly calculate the rotation speed and the degree of pressure in order to avoid spraying outside the bowl.

Examples of fountain drawings:

Fountain building

Designing a fountain at home will consist of the following steps:

1. The territory under construction must be cleaned of the fertile soil layer, and the cleaning radius should be from 3 to 5 heights of the intended stream so that water that is dispersed does not fall onto the soil surface. The entire cleared radius after the arrangement of the fountain will be laid off by the blind area.
2. Next, you need to dig a hole under the bowl so that the depth of the hole exceeds the size of the tank by 20 cm, and the width by 25 cm from all sides.
3. Crushed stone is poured at the bottom of a dug pit, tamping well. The material layer should be 10-15 cm. This is necessary to avoid washing the bowl and its displacement.
4. Next, the vessel is installed, filling the voids between the pit and the walls with small gravel, mixed with sand.
5. Inside the bowl, a low stand made of stone or brick is mounted on which the pump is mounted.
6. The pump should be powered with a corrugated tube that is buried in the soil.
7. Next, connect the filter and pipes with a diffuser.
8. A bowl around the perimeter is decorated with a stone of different sizes to hide not aesthetic details, other decorative elements are added, depending on the features of landscape design.
9. Pour water into the bowl and connect the fountain.

Thus, the construction of a fountain in a summer cottage is not a complicated process, which should be carried out in accordance with the main recommendations and the correspondence of landscape design in order to comply with the chosen style of decorating the territory.