I have a couple of ponds in the garden and also a 9 month old baby so need to do something to prevent any accidents. Just wondering if anyone has ever made a pond safety grille.

I’ve got 2 vague ideas at the moment, one made from wood and heavy duty mesh, or i could use box section steel and weld one but would one of the cheapish welders that can run from a 13a 3pin supply be powerful enough to weld this? Grille will also be supported on brick pillars from underneath.

Just buy some of the stuff they use to rebar reinforced concrete that is welded into a chunky mesh.

ah yes good thinking! Thanks

id do as tomaso says but you can weld up to 4mm quite easily on a 13amp plug equiped welder – and even thicker with the right techniques and jointing

In our rented place there is a water feature in the garden – basically a 2ft sq hole, covered by a ‘mesh’ with stones on it, and a fountain in the middle.
We had our little’un when we lived there, and after testing it and figuring it wouldn’t take my weight (by testing, I mean fell off the decking into it..), I managed to source some ‘shelving’ type sheet metal, that had ‘lots and lots’ of small holes punched into it (it’s the sort of sheet metal industrial shelves are made of).
This fitted over perfectly, supported the rocks and me, and allows the water to fall back through.
Probably not what you’re after as I imagine you’d want to see the pond, but you might find something similar with larger holes in it?

DrP

We inherited a pond when we moved house. It had a small fence around it (mid-thigh height) and some frames with netting over them that sat over the pond.
The frames are made from copper plumbing pipes, and the mesh is just plastic netting with perhaps 5mm sq. holes.

We got rid of the fencing, but kept the mesh.
Last yr my nephew fell off his bike and landed on the netting. Luckily we were watching him & had been telling him repeatedly to stop riding so close to the pond, which he of course took as a challenge to ride as close as possible. He was clipping the brick edge with his inside pedal repeatedly, but on this occasion it stopped him dead & he tumbled off.
He ended up spread eagle on the mesh (like Tom Cruise dangling from that rope in Mission Impossible). It supported his weight fine (he’s an average size 5yr old).

I was quite impressed with how strong it was. Funnily enough, neither he nor his brother went anywhere near it for the rest of the weekend.

My mate owns a grating company and they do this sort of stuff…

http://www.midgrid.co.uk/Flooring.html

I know they have made stuff for decorative fountains in shopping centres so I am sure it would be suitable. I imagine it won’t come cheap mind you…

Rebar sheets cost about £16 each, but they look a bit rusty….

Steel reinforement mesh for the concrete float by brf, on Flickr

Wouldn’t need welding, just some bolt croppers to snip it and a bit of bending by hand, to make a cover for a small pond.