A Simple Lawn Irrigation Project

Aug 14
08:02

2012

Barb Miller

Barb Miller

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A sprinkler system can increase material value to a residential building and can be installed by any homeowner with a little work and know how. Some primary landscape ideas and a bit of work on your garden plans is all that is needed.

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A sprinkler system can be a great project for a do-it-yourself type of individual. By taking your garden plans and following a simple layout,A Simple Lawn Irrigation Project Articles the project can easily be achieved in a weekend. You don't need a landscape architect for the design- you can do it yourself! A professionally installed system typically costs from $1,500 to $5,000 depending on the lawn proportions. With a drop by to a home or garden center and a pinch of planning and work, you can erect an equivalent system in the order of $500 - that's immense savings! The secret? I use the manner of installation detailed herein featuring flexible PVC, long-range rotors, in-line timers and filtered drains. And stores like Lowe's and Home Depot often have DIY classes on weekends to help with some of the finer points, should you need extra assistance. The approach involves a 4 step installation. 1. Planning While planning is the largest time consuming element of putting in a sprinkler system, doing it well can save you substantial work and ensure impressive watering. - Start planning you sprinkler system by drawing a plot of the lot on some graph paper - Mark the locations of your water spigots - Choose the heads you intend to use based on water flow, pressure and coverage geometry. The most common sprinkler system brands are Rain Bird and Orbit, both of which advise rotor-style heads to carry out this need. Styles with adjustable ranges are particularly convenient, as a home's individual water pressure and flow rate will cause head performance to fluctuate vastly - Once you have selected sprinkler heads, fiddle with several arrangements on your yard and plot your zones. You should try to minimize the number of heads per zone while maintain adequate coverage. Garden plans are key to ensuring you map out your layout and landscape designs. 2. Purchasing Materials After a nice and comprehensive planning stage, let the buying begin. Although the shopping list will vary, you will want PVC hosing, couplers, fittings, clamps, heads, splitters, drains and a timer. In order to test out one zone, you may consider installing a single zone first and get the installation process worked out before committing to a larger purchase for the rest of your inventory. 3. Tools and Other Materials You will also need to gather the following to perform the installation: - Shovel- A spade style shovel with a handle works best. - Glue - Standard PVC cement will be used for the connections. Primer is not necessary and a 4oz can will suffice for most yards. - Knife - You will need a box-cutter or utility knife to cut the flex PVC - Teflon tape - You will need a roll of Teflon tape to secure threaded connections 4. Installation Installing the PVC uses a digging technique called 'slotting' where you insert a spade-style shovel about six inches into the ground and pull back. One the PVC pipe is installed, the lawn is reset back over the pipe to completely cover it. You then can resume the installation by installing tees and making the right connections at all junctions and sprinkler head locations. Once the sprinkler heads are installed and drains and timers completed, the system can be tested. Each individual sprinkler head can be adjusted to ensure complete coverage and the system can be pressure tested for any leaking or seepage. Once you are satisfied with the patterns, set up your timers and you're done! Your irrigation system will fit in attractively with the rest of your landscape architecture. Now you can sit back and take time to enjoy watching your system in action.

Landscaping  Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words.

See thousands of ideas right here to help you with your irrigation project. You will see where the landscaping ideas come from and how to adjust your garden plans so that you can achieve your desired outcome- a beautiful, well designed and working sprinkler system.

Simply browsing through photographs will give you all the fresh ideas you can imagine. From gorgeous patios and warm and cozy gardens to outdoor lighting and all the best ideas to help choose just the right sprinkler solution.

If you can picture it you can do it.

Warm wishes

-- Barb

Barb Miller

Landscape Designer