# Finally, getting irrigation...questions...



## BigRedGun (Oct 1, 2021)

So after 9 years in my house, I am finally getting my sprinkler system!! After being with the wife for 20 years, I learned her cousin owns an irrigation company. Needless to say, I was a little perturbed when I found out. So, I am getting the ball rolling for getting that done asap.

I was quoted a complete Rainbird system with WiFi, and probably 8 zones.

I'm looking for any suggestions on what add-ons to get, if any, and issues you had with landscaping, grass, etc. What should I make sure to get done before the install? I am planning on marking some stuff out and getting a sod cutter to cut out garden beds prior to the install. Anything else I should do?


----------



## TheThirstyTurtle (May 3, 2019)

Congrats on biting the bullet and having an irrigation system installed. I recommend checking out this video from Ryan Knorr on what to expect with an irrigation install. From my personal experience, I would highly recommend that you have the company 100% confirm there is complete head to head coverage and that the water is evenly distributed out across the lawn with no unreachable dry spots.

https://youtu.be/GRsANm6BrvQ


----------



## penright (Apr 6, 2020)

One other thought I will throw out there.
Get a Plan drawn out. 
It should have where the lines are going to run, where the valves will be, and what kind of sprinkler heads.
For rotors, what nozzles and what coverage is expected from each sprinkler?
I will give you some lessons learned. Someone I knew did mine and had all the confidence in what they were doing.
Now I am 5 years down the road. From what I have learned since the installation, they made a few mistakes. 
You should now have lawn and flower beds in the same zone. There are both popup spray, so they pass the same time sprinkler per zone rule, but you can not control the time run and if you just want to do your flower beds in spring you will also do some of the lawn at the same time. Also, I wish I would have used drip in some of the flower beds because of plant interference from changes over time. That is just a personal opinion. The front yard has 9 sprinklers in a square pattern. There are 4 corners, 4 middle, and 1 center. Since corners run at 90 degrees, the middle is 180, and the center at 360, means the corners cover the same area 4 times for one loop of the center. The middle is twice the for every loop of the center. So that means you want the 90 1/4 and the 180 1/2 the size of the 360. All 9 of mine were 2.5. The sprinklers come with 2.5, so that means they just installed them without thinking or the workers did not follow the plans. I don't know since I don't have any plans.  
The good news is I did take some pictures but not enough. I know I have 4 valves and I did not know where they are. This spring I started looking for them. First I tried following the wire, but after about 20 feet I gave up on that method. Then I bought a wire toner and it was following the part that I know from watching physically. As I kept going, I notice it was following my shop's power wires which are close. Then I gave up on that method. After some time, I did find one cover in the pictures I took. The bad news is it only has 2 valves and it looks like it is the end of the cable, so somewhere between the last physical spot and the valves must split off somehow. 
Bottom line you see where plans and lots of pictures will help.
I had 5000 installed and now I am replacing them with RPI75. The ability to control flow at the head is great. 
Also, my popup sprayers, I am replacing with popup rotors. For example R-VAN. I like the R-VAN adjustability without tools. 
Keep in mind any changes like adding trees or a privacy fence, anything that might block the water. 
My last one, I'm not too sure about, but don't max out your zones. I have added a couple of sprinkler heads after the fact because of fences or bad coverage.


----------



## BigRedGun (Oct 1, 2021)

System got installed on Tuesday and working great. I'm working on the plan drawings myself. My buddy is going to bring his drone and we are going to take an aerial view and I'll draw on it where the lines go. I'm hoping to have a good overlay to use. Since the installer is a family member, he said just to call him and he can change anything. I'd like to get that worked out over the next couple years so I don't screw up the yard anymore. I was out of town at the time, but was able to make it home before they left. I may need to move only two heads down the road, but that's a maybe. All the heads are shoot 30 feet and shoot to the next head, so I got great coverage and overlap. There is one line of sprayers along the driveway side, so when I reno that area, I may look at switching those out to the ones you suggested. 
I only have 6 zones and 1 valve box, and it's in a good spot.

The nice thing is that I was able to FaceTime him and direct where I planned to add flower beds and my outdoor kitchen and he worked around that. Time to work on the grass now!


----------

