# Another above ground setup



## tnbrews (Jun 2, 2018)

I have 2k sqft in my front yard. The back yard is a completely different situation and will eventually be hardscaped. So the only irrigation for now will be in the front. I am looking at using mp rotators and hooking up to a timer. I would love to incorporate a rachio. I saw a couple great thread of temp setups going above ground. But this may be overkill for my layout.

The property is somewhat odd-shaped. So we are one of two homes built on what was previously a single, larger property. I only have 6-10 feet to either side before crossing my neighbors' property lines. On one side, the property line ends next to my neighbor's driveway. Technically he has about 4" of the grass on his side where an old fence used to be, but for now we can consider it mine. This side is relatively sloped towards his drive, so run-off is a concern. The opposite side of the house is adjacent my neighbor's yard.

I am looking for suggestions on how to configure the sprinkler head layout. I have been looking at the center/side strip to handle the long narrow runs of grass, but are there others way to handle this? I don't mind having the main sprinklers on the driveway, sidewalk or in the grass. But basically the four corners are the main question. How would one handle head-to-head coverage in this type of layout?

Again, thank you to all of those that provide feedback. I truly appreciate it.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

There is a missing dimension, from parking to house(length of sidewalk).

Any mulch areas around the house? The strip would work to 5ft wide.


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## b0nk3rs (Aug 21, 2017)

What is your PSI at hose bibb?

Any beds, trees, etc that are not mapped?

This looks like a pain in the *** for above ground coverage. If you have some areas with a lot of shade it would help a lot.


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## tnbrews (Jun 2, 2018)

Hey @g-man, thanks for catching that. I have re-uploaded the image.

@b0nk3rs, I will work on getting the psi. I want to say it was around 40 when we first moved in the house, but I need to verify. So this portion of the yard faces west. It starts getting sun in the summer by 10am and then is in full sun around noon. The 31' strip is in more sun than the rest of the yard as the sun comes between the two houses. The 51' strip is in the shade a little longer, maybe an extra hour or two of shade depending on the day. I have notated the mulch beds in the front.

I know this will probably be a manual set-up/tear down process. I don't necessary need two "sets" of sprinkler heads, but if there is a way to do this, then I am all about it.

Edit: The 51' strip gets an hour of early sun and then goes back into the shade. And if I need to hand-water these strips, then I will do so. I may not nuke this side either and just overseed it. It's the only decent portion of the yard.


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## craigdt (Apr 21, 2018)

Im far from "experienced" in this subject, and I don't have a fancy in-ground setup so just ignore if its all worthless ramblings. 
Since you already have a specific sprinkler in mind, it sounds like you've already done your homework.

But:
I'll give you my above ground sprinkler setup/findings/opinions, and hopefully some of it will be helpful to you or someone else.

My timer setup:










Lord knows it looks like a creature from the Underworld.
But it works really well for my 7.7K Sq ft backyard.

2 Melnor 4-zone timers hooked to a 3/4" ball valve.
The valve flows 10.9GPM @ 55PSI.

Once the timers get connected, one valve flows a maximum of 6.1GPM at 50PSI.
If all of the valves are on at the same time, they flow a total of 10.9GPM, but only 18PSI each.

My Sprinklers:

















Rainbird P5R impact sprinklers. I bought all that my local Home Depot had, at like $5.88 apiece. 
Screwed into cheapo sprinkler stakes. 
With my volume/pressure, I can run 1 sprinkler on each hose, and 4 valves at once.
I get about 1.5" in 3 hours, and I divide my yard into 3rds, with all 8 sprinklers covering in that day's 1/3rd.

This next picture, my lovely wife unveiled this setup for me just this weekend.
Having never spent time looking at the under-ground sprinkler options, I was completely clueless as to how to make this work.

Just a sprinkler stake, 1/2" threaded male adapter, and your choice sprinkler head.
This one here is a Rainbird Surepop 600 360 degree model. 
Mind blown. 
I feel like I have finally arrived in this world, no longer limited to the usual garbage sprinklers at the bog box store :lol: 
Stake- $3.25
Adapter-$.39
Sprinkler- $4.19

With 2 of them on 1 hose, they reach a width of 33 feet, and 15 feet deep. Nice and even coverage.
1.25" in 1 hour, with my volume/pressure.
Something like this would be great for your narrow areas. This is what I'm using it for.










Apparently, you can swap out the nozzles to all manner of options. 
These are like $2 each.
You pull out the plunger that shoots out when the water turns on and unscrew the little nozzle.


















You could also go the real ******* option, which I considered, and just screw one of the little nozzles into a 1/2" threaded male adapter and into a sprinkler stake.
Insta-sprinkler for like $6.
For above ground purposes, they seem to function just like the "real deal" at half the cost.
Not for below ground installation, obviously. :lol: 









Just based on my measurements and findings this weekend, 2 of the 600/1800 180 degree sprinklers would cover each of your 3 roughly 30 foot long areas. 3 of them on the longer run. 
Would be tempted to use rotary/impacts in the 2 square areas. 
1 in the corner of each area would possibly be sufficient.

Dang- thats a lot of hoses. Will be interesting to see what other folks say.


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## tnbrews (Jun 2, 2018)

b0nk3rs said:


> What is your PSI at hose bibb?
> 
> Any beds, trees, etc that are not mapped?
> 
> This looks like a pain in the *** for above ground coverage. If you have some areas with a lot of shade it would help a lot.


Can confirm its 50 psi. More than I originally thought we had.

And yeah, you are absolutely right. This will be a pain in the ***.


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## tnbrews (Jun 2, 2018)

@craigdt, thanks for the info, Can't judge that creature from the Underworld as long as it gets the job done 

So I have messed with some of the rainbirds and Hunter PGPs connected to the stakes. With the shape of the yard, the PGPs did pretty well for the two larger areas but were a challenge even when dialed to the minimum rotation. Basically I stood in the yard with a beer in hand and moved them from corner to corner hoping for somewhat even coverage. #fail

I had been reading on the mp rotators as they had the strip patterns and came across the 600s which had a square and a strip. So I recently bought (and returned) one square and a couple strips. Here is where I failed. I set up the square and simply could not get it adjusted to lay the water evenly. I only had one on hand as a test run, so I returned them. Hearing you have had success with the 600s, then I will probably give them another chance.

So this inevitably will be a mess of hoses, but thankfully I can run most of it from the side of the house with a spigot on either side and then around to the front yard and keep everything out of sight tucked behind the flowers and then up the sidewalk if needed. Once I figure this out, I'll post a pic. :thumbup:


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## b0nk3rs (Aug 21, 2017)

Any progress on this?


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## tnbrews (Jun 2, 2018)

I nuked the yard this past weekend with @social port's Soul Stealer CCO. I decided not to nuke the 51'x6' strip as the fescue was in decent shape with minimal weed pressure. So I will overseed there for this year.

But now I am working on the sprinkler layout. Haven't ordered parts yet, but hope to do so within the next week or so. Once I make a final decision, I'll report back.


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