Big Daddy, I just moved into a new home and want to save some money and put in the sprinkler system myself, can you give me some tips to save me time and trouble? -DG

   Sprinkler systems can be odd creatures. At first glance, it's just some cheap plastic pipe, some little valves and heads and digging the trenches to put them in, right? Not even close. This is an area that we are constantly amazed  by how poorly systems can work. The number one thing to remember about a sprinkler system is that it's going to be buried. Points of access to things like valves will be in very small boxes and everything else will require guess digging holes somewhere down the road, in your now established landscape, to fix problems.  The number one rule we cannot stress enough of when it comes to doing sprinklers is : CHEAP TO BUY IS NOT CHEAP TO OWN. You already follow rules like this in your life, right? I can buy a car for 200 bucks. Does that mean I want to send my family cross country to see the relatives in it? A sprinkler system is designed to take care of your valuable plant material water needs when you are away. If you don't have that need, you can pull a hose out each night and go move it every hour, right? So does that mean that you can't save some dough by doing the labor yourself? Of course not!

   Water pressure, nozzle throw, site grade, wind, radiant heat, pipe size, drip lines, backflow devices, pressure regulators and much, much more ALL come into play when making systems that function properly, unattended-your goal for watering, right? The pros use complicated software and time consuming measurements to do this sort of thing on a commercial site, where no one will be paying attention to it unless something is really wrong. So much time and effort goes into their systems, systems that must function as close to invisible as possible, how will you ever be able to replicate that at your house? You do have options.

   #1- Get a proper plan. Unless you want to spend every Saturday from here to forever looking at swampy spots or dead ones in your turf, get a plan from someone qualified to do it. This could be a landscape or irrigation designer or in some cases, the sprinkler supply shops can do this service as well. Piecemealing a sprinkler system will cost twice as much, take four times as long to accomplish with half the results. You have to get a plan, period.

   #2 - Buy quality parts. This means no class 200 pipe, no sprinkler clock that looks like it could double as your furnace thermostat, no five buck valves. Why? Once these little pigs are put in, they will fail in a much shorter time than you could ever hope for. Then, not only will you need to buy another one, you are going to have to dig out the old part, tear up your yard, spend hours and hours on your knees or belly in the mud trying to make a repair. The repair services LOVE people that use cheap parts! Average fix = $200 bucks-just in labor! Do that three or four times a season and see what a "bargain" you got on those parts! Go commercial grade any chance you get, they are designed to be put in,  slightly adjusted periodically and last.

#3 - If you get in over your head, ask a professional, not your bubba-in-law's-second-cousin. Advice is free at most sprinkler suppliers. Use it.

#4 and final word.   If your budget does not support doing the entire system properly, then only do the part that you can afford right now. Do it once, do it right, it's underground! Drag hose until you are ready to do it in the way that let's you just forget about it. -BD