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Sprinkler Smarts: What You Need To Know To Start

(SHNS) -- At first glance, instructions for installing a home sprinkler system sounds more like an advanced course in engineering than a do-it-yourself project. You have to know how to measure the water pressure, sweat the copper, build a distribution manifold, bury the pipe ... . It's enough to scare off the average homeowner before he ever starts, and it often does.

But look a little closer and you find that water pressure is easily measured with a $13 tool, and sweating the copper means soldering the sprinkler connection to the water main, intimidating tasks, but not insurmountable. Even building the distribution manifold requires only the connection of a few ready-made parts.

Ed Heckman, president of Lawn Irrigation Design Centers in Denver, has been installing sprinkler systems and teaching others how for 20 years.

"Where people get afraid is when they look at the overall picture, it's scary," he says. "But if you break it down into pieces, it's not so confusing."

Why would anyone want to install his own sprinkler system?

Because the savings can be substantial. Anne Kipfinger, manager of Smitty's Lawn Sprinkler Center, says a recent design for a do-it-yourself plan for a small yard came to $900. Installed by professionals, the cost would jump to $1,600.

So, where to begin?

First and most important is the system design, what's going to be watered and where. Do you need to water trees, shrubs, flower beds or lawn? Is your yard sloped or flat? Small or large? Square or irregular?

Experts strongly recommend having the design drawn by a professional. Heckman charges $150 for the service, which includes step-by-step instructions, and credits the fee toward parts. Other stores offer the service for a small fee, and classes in sprinkler-system design are sometimes offered at local community colleges.

Once the design is complete, it's time to buy the parts.

And while one roll of polyethylene pipe may look like any other and stainless steel clamps all appear similar, it isn't necessarily so.

For example, Heckman says, some clamps might be listed as 100 percent stainless steel, but the screw is steel and the clamp will eventually become one corroded mess. And, he says, buying cheap polyethylene pipe is self-defeating because you are going to be going back in constantly and fixing it.

Kipfinger and Heckman agree that the best parts are commercial-grade.

Says Kipfinger: "You get what you pay for. It's not going to be cheap no matter what. Some people think a spray head should be a $2 item. Our price for the (commercial-grade) gear-drive head is $19.95, and I'm assuming the consumer make is $10 or $12, but I wouldn't trust putting them in."

If you absolutely must skimp on parts, Heckman suggests buying a lower-quality controller, also known as the timer, since it is usually mounted in the garage and easy to replace.

Better yet, Heckman says, "If you don't have the money, do it in stages. Don't change the design. Change how much you do at one time. So many people put cost in front of everything else, then pay with maintenance."

Installation begins at the water main, where the sprinkler system is connected to the water supply. (In some areas, only a plumber or a master plumber is permitted to tap into the water main.)

"Most people have learned to do the copper work from their neighbor but don't know how to do it right," Heckman says. "I teach people how to sweat copper, and most don't have a problem with it. I can save them money by teaching them how to do it, or we can do it for them."

For a $75 fee, Smitty's will tap into the water main and install all the necessary components to get the system started.

From there, it's a matter of building the distribution manifold, which is essentially connecting the sprinkler pipe to the electric valves, and digging trenches to lay the pipe.

The recommended depth for the pipe is 6 to 10 inches. Options for digging the trenches range from hand-digging, the slowest and most labor intensive, to renting a trencher or pipe puller (imagine sticking a knife into the ground and dragging it through the lawn with the pipe behind it) or hiring a professional to operate either piece of equipment.

Creighton Smith, manager of the Lawn Sprinkler Center, favors trenchers over pipe pullers. He says pullers aren't user-friendly. In lawns where the landscaping is complete, however, hiring a service to use a pipe puller would probably result in the least amount of damage to the lawn.

Heckman, who agrees that the pipe puller is much too difficult for the average homeowner to operate, offers rental of the machine with an operator. The cost is $80 an hour, and the homeowner acts as the assistant.

Says Heckman: "You go in and pull the system in, then you run over it with the wheels and you cannot see you've been there. I tell the homeowner what to do to get ready so there's no wasted time."

Once the pipe is laid, it's time to put the sprinkler heads in place, the easiest part of the job. Smith says the sprinkler heads should extend about 5/8-inch above the ground before the sod is laid and should be level with the sod root base afterward.

One last thing to consider: Although homeowners who install their own sprinkler systems are likely to save a fair amount of money, the do-it-yourself plan is time-consuming.

Says Smith, "It's definitely physical labor, there's nothing easy about it. Typically, the rule of thumb is 1-1/2 hours per sprinkler head. Most landscapers will come in with a crew and have the whole thing done in a weekend and offer a warranty or guarantee. With the homeowner doing it, it will probably take them three weekends working all weekend."

On the other hand, Smith says, once the homeowner has installed the system, he has the knowledge to service it.

And, he says, "It builds character."