Adding a water feature around the home or in the garden is an excellent design choice. This can be beneficial for those living in noisy neighborhoods and need a soothing escape from time to time, or anywhere else for that matter. Adding a water feature is a simple do-it-yourself project that can easily be done in a day, and will certainly add appeal around the home.

What are the supplies that will be needed?

Whether it’s a small fountain, or a large full-scale outdoor water feature the concept is the same relatively. For this particular article here, we’ll be discussing how to build an easy small-scale pot tower fountain to use as the feature. Underneath every fountain apparatus resides a pump that pushes water back through a tube to the highest peak of the fountain. Pump sizes depend on a number of different factors here. It will take into consideration the elevation, the distance the water will need to travel, and the amount of water that will be needed, where a water flow meter can be useful. For this scenario, it will be placed in the lowest pot pumping water into the higher one. This water will then overflow the top tier, and recycle the water down through the pots underneath it.

For this particular design the pump doesn’t need to be all that big, but should be capable of pumping water up to 36 inches high. These can typically be found in most local landscaping shops, or can even be picked up online for under $20. Other supplies are going to require a level, risers, at least three different pots of the same style but diminishing sizes, silicone caulk, and even some rock for a nice finishing touch.

When it comes to the size of the pots that will be used, it’s mostly just a commonsense judgment. Outdoor features can go as big as the landscape will allow, and also taken into consideration any plants that will be added around it. Obviously if it’s an indoor water feature, the size of these pots will need to be a little more closely examined.

Simple instructions to do it yourself

Now that it’s time to start building the project, this will need to be done in the final location. This won’t be the type of assembly that can be later moved without a huge fuss. Often times the bottom pot will already come with a hole drilled out of it for the pump plug to fit through, but in case it isn’t this will need to be drilled out. Pull the cord through the hole while leaving no more than 4 inches sticking out and resting inside the pot. The bottom of this drainage hole will then need to be taped, while the top of it will be filled with silicone caulk to ensure the water is not escaping through this cavity. It might even be a good idea to let the caulk dry around the cord before proceeding any further.

The next step will be to add the risers to boost the next highest pot in the tower. The height of the next pot is really just a matter of preference just as long as it rises above by at least a couple of inches to make sure the water is falling inside the lower pot. This can even be done by placing a brick or two underneath the pot at each level.

Take the flex tube that comes with the pump and push this through the next drainage hole, and repeat the process for sealing it around the hole with tape and silicone. The process will be the same through the remaining pots until the top one has been reached. At this point just snip off the remaining tube just under the outer rim of the top pot of the tower so the water is certain to fill the bowl instead of shooting out unnecessarily.

Before applying water to the feature make certain that all the holes have been completely sealed and dried. Then it’s just a matter of adding water to the fountain. Start by filling the bottom one halfway up and then repeating each one. Add some decorative rock or plants. Plug the pump in and enjoy the new water feature.