This is the story of my DIY concrete fountain — an 8-foot piece I designed and built entirely on my own. It was my first attempt at anything like it, and the learning curve was steep. Consider this an overview of the whole project; I’ll follow up with detailed posts on each stage, but here is the full picture.
The Unfinished Island That Started It All
When we finished the patio, I deliberately left a roughly 6.5-by-6.5-foot square in the very center unpoured. I knew that spot deserved something other than a slab of concrete. We already had planting beds full of tropicals around the patio, and I wanted a water feature to anchor the space — I just hadn’t settled on a design. So I framed the opening with a few 2x4s and left it as an island, waiting for the right idea.
That island sat untouched for nearly a year. The patio was otherwise complete, but I kept circling back to that empty square. I spent the time researching — videos, articles, anything on water features — chasing the image in my head: a cascading waterfall with tropical planting and a lush, layered feel.
Designing Something I Couldn’t Find Anywhere
Nothing I found matched what I was picturing, so I designed it myself. I settled on an L-shaped wall layout for the waterfall, with the goal of making it read like natural boulders and stone — complete with animals, plants, and enough detail to make it a genuine centerpiece.
To build it, I brought in two pallets of cinder block, along with cement, sand, and a range of additives — four or five different ones I had to dial in to get the mix right.
Practicing on a Boulder Before the DIY Concrete Fountain
I’d never worked with decorative concrete, and vertical work is a different discipline entirely from flat slab work. Rather than learn on the DIY concrete fountain itself, I built a practice piece first: a large boulder formed over rebar and mesh. It let me develop the technique — carving, shaping, finishing — before committing to the real thing.
The boulder wasn’t perfect, but it gave me the confidence to move forward.
Building the Structure — Cinder Blocks, Rebar, and Steel
I started at the foundation and worked up, laying cinder block from the bottom to form an L-shaped wall that tops out around eight feet. The structure is packed with rebar — I wanted real structural integrity, not just a facade.
To tie it all together, I carried semi-liquid cement up the ladder and poured it down through the cavities so it filled around the rebar from top to bottom. I was building through late August and September, and the heat was relentless — the cement flashed off so quickly that I could only manage small sections at a time. Mix a batch, climb up, apply, come down, mix again, repeat — all of it solo.
Within a couple of weeks the main structure was standing. It wasn’t flawless, but I was still learning how to carve and shape the cement so the stone read as natural.
Additives, Fibers, and Waterproofing
I loaded the mix with fiber for strength, added adhesion promoters, and worked in several other additives so the cement would hold up and stay genuinely waterproof. Waterproofing was a priority from the start.
I left the cement its natural color. I planned to paint later and hadn’t committed to a palette yet — likely several tones — so I waited until I could judge the whole piece in context.
Finishing and Painting
With the cement work complete, I went over the entire surface with a torch to burn off the fiber ends. I’d used so much fiber that thousands of strands were poking through; torching them left a clean surface ready for paint.
After a thorough power wash, I finished the fountain with the Smith Waterborne paint system, spraying some areas and brushing others. I started with black to establish veins and depth in the stone texture, then layered additional tones over it. I leaned into a darker scheme to match the rest of the patio. In hindsight I might go lighter next time, but I treated this as an experiment and refined the look as I went.
I also pressed in a few details for character — iguana and animal stamps, and a shark tooth.
The Pump House and Plumbing
The pump house was the part of the DIY concrete fountain design I worried about most. I located it in a corner and recessed it below the surrounding floor so it collects the water and returns it to the top.
The system runs on an Atlantic Tidal Wave pump, pushing water through 2-inch PVC up to the top of the fountain. There, I built a small water table where the flow emerges and splits in two directions, following a pair of channels before spilling over cascading walls — one cascade per side. The water falls from both sides, disperses, and drops to the basin, which gives the piece its distinctive feel.
LED Lights and Misting System
I integrated extensive LED lighting during construction, pre-wiring everything as I built so the fixtures were embedded from the start. At night, the effect is genuinely dramatic.
As a finishing touch, I ran water lines up both corners of the L-shaped walls to the very top and fitted brass misting nozzles (sourced from Amazon), controlled by a dedicated switch. When it’s running, the mist drifts from the high points, cooling everyone on the patio. Using those peaks for both the misting and the lighting made the most of the structure’s height.
In short, the integrated systems come down to three things: interior LED lighting, an overhead misting system, and the Atlantic pump cycling water from the basin to the top continuously.
Filtration and the Control Panel
Filtration was the next consideration. I chose a pond ionizer — an electronic clarifier that disperses minerals to keep the water clear, designed specifically for ponds and water features.
On the back of the fountain I built a control panel housing the electronics: the ionizer, the pump control (run through Atlantic’s remote), and a timer. I can operate the pump by remote or schedule it to run automatically.
I also added a float valve for automatic top-offs. In practice I rarely rely on it — I usually top off the water while watering the surrounding plants — but it’s useful when we’re away, keeping the level where it needs to be.
That control box manages everything, all tucked on the back side, and I painted the pipes and hardware to match the wall. No white PVC on display.
Dialing It In and the Epoxy Floor
With the build complete, I spent time tuning the fountain — flow, pressure, and the details that make it run right.
The following year I coated the basin floor with a 2K epoxy formulated for ponds. That floor absorbs constant water impact and chemical exposure; alongside the ionizer we still treat the water as you would any fountain, so the surface has to be durable.
How I Feel About My DIY Concrete Fountain
All told, I’m proud of this DIY concrete fountain. It was my first project of this kind, and there are things I’d approach differently a second time — but I went in with no experience, and this was the proving ground.
We love how the DIY concrete fountain turned out. It has become the heart of the patio: falling water, lighting after dark, the animals and details worked into the stone, and the planting at the top and bottom that gives it a layered, tropical character.
Tools & Materials I Used
The main gear behind the fountain, in case you’re planning your own build:
- Atlantic Tidal Wave waterfall pump
- Brass misting nozzles
- 2K pond epoxy coating
- Pond ionizer / water clarifier
- Water scale control
- Pond algaecide
- Artificial plants
- Artificial tropical plant
- Hanging raccoon figure with solar light
As an Amazon Associate, Homeject earns from qualifying purchases. See our affiliate disclosure.
More Detailed Posts Coming
This is just the introduction. I’ll be publishing deeper posts on each stage — laying the block, the concrete and rebar, applying and carving the cement, and the finishing work. It was a substantial build: more than a month of work, plus ongoing seasonal maintenance like any water feature — periodic painting, cleaning, recoating, and the occasional repair.
I’ll cover all of that in the posts ahead, walking through the build step by step and how we keep it running.
Thanks for following along — subscribe so you don’t miss the detailed breakdowns.
Related on Homeject: Explore more outdoor builds — see how I built a DIY lamppost village, our guide to growing a cold hardy banana tree in Zone 6, or browse the full Patio section.
Leave a Reply