Mike and Laura Farley / FarleyGirlsMedia
What the Judges Thought
The French manor styling — with the baroque balustrade, slate roof, and wooden waterwheel — bring a refined look to the property. But even more impressive is the amalgamation of man-made waterfeature and clever runoff control system into one aquatic network.
DESIGN TEAM:
Mike Farley
Senior Design Consultant
Bill Berry
General Sales Manager
Claffey Pools
Southlake, Texas
It didn’t seem like too much to ask: The homeowner wanted his pond back. Two drainage ditches for the entire subdivision terminated on the property. Years of being overtaken by neighborhood runoff had turned the pond into a swamp.
After multiple contractors blanched at the task, Claffey Pools took a look, but said engineers would have to help. To further complicate matters, the property sat on Army Corps of Engineers territory, so all plans needed that agency’s approval.
The team turned challenge into opportunity. The home’s French classic architecture allowed Mike Farley to try something he’d waited more than 15 years for — introduce a water wheel into the landscape. “If you go back and look at the architecture [in historical France], you’ll see quite a few water wheels,” Farley says. “But they also wanted something that would blend with the outdoor setting. It was a natural fit.”
Water wheels come in steel or wood. The latter seemed the best fit stylistically, but is somewhat higher-maintenance, since the bottom of the wheel can’t sit in a few inches of water. This would cause part of the wheel to swell, warp and eventually stop turning. Instead, the team set the wheel about an inch above the water. When heavy
s flood the stream, the wheel runs continuously to remain consistently wet.
The basin near the waterwheel captures silt and dirt before it can flow down a 25-foot cliff toward the pond. The pavilion attached to the water wheel also serves as a shelter for the equipment that powers the waterfeature and adjacent pool/spa combination.
The substantial bridge helps conceal the plumbing and equipment necessary to feed the stream. Behind it, a dry stream runs through the property to catch runoff and direct it to the fashioned body of water. A vertical fountain aerates the pond. A sluice system moves extra water away from the pond. Some of the pond water is fed back into the stream.
