Designing a sprinkler system is not a straightforward task. There are several things to consider, including your water pressure, the different needs of your plants, and your landscape size. According to Weed Pro, the average lawn is 20% of an acre in size. This plays a big role when planning for your system. Here's how you can go about designing a sprinkler system.

Determining Your Water Pressure

One of the important factors to consider when designing a sprinkler system is to space your sprinklers. The key to this is figuring out your water pressure. Fortunately, you can easily obtain your water pressure figures by using a pressure gauge. The pressure gauge can be easily screwed into a faucet. Once attached, turn your water to full blast and take the readings. The general idea is that your sprinkler water pressure should be equal to the number of feet you want to cover.

Mapping Out the Sprinkler System

You should consider grouping areas of your landscape with the same water needs. For instance, you can group lawns and vegetable gardens together. These require short, frequent irrigation intervals. On the other hand, trees and shrubs will do well with deep, infrequent soakings. Once you have grouped your areas into zones, you can then try to figure out what types of sprinklers are needed for each zone. This will enable you to come up with a schematic of the system so you can figure out how many of each component you need. You must also use the map to mark where your underground piping will go.

Installing Your Sprinkler System

If you don't already have a valve attached to your home's main water line, you will need to hire a plumber to install one for you. Once you have water, you can then run a pipe from the valve to your other valves. Your water supply should be split with a 'T' to feed each valve. Once that's done, you should also dig trenches to install your PVC piping that will take water to each sprinkler. Your PVC pipes should be buried no less than six inches below ground. You need to ensure that the pipe depth is below the average depth of frost in your area for wintertime.

These are some of the steps involved in sprinkler system design. It's important to take your time to understand all of the steps so you won't have to redo the design. Get in touch with us if you need help with sprinkler design!