I'm planning to have a lawn sprinkler installed. Overall property size is
1/3 acre, less house and driveway.

None of my friends have had work of this sort done, so I've called several
local nurseries and a lawn service I've had good success with for
references. Every one of these places said their primary recommendation was
the same company in this area. Interestingly enough, when calling around to
businesses in the area, I had the best "vibe" from this place even before
seeking references. It's also nice that this business is less than 2 miles
from my home.

This is a heavy business time for this work in our area, and so it may be a
couple of weeks before someone can come out to look over my property and
give me an estimate. A few other businesses in the area gave me a "rough
quote" over the phone. A couple of businesses even gave me the specific
price they charged for other homes in my neighborhood with yards and systems
of similar size to mine. I'm prepared to pay whatever cost would be
reasonable to get a high quality system. (We've saved a while to get this
put in, and I want to have it done right.)

What kinds of questions should I specifically ask the representative when he
comes by? Apart from the overall design of the system, placement of heads,
types of heads used, manufacturer and warranty, are there any other good
questions to ask?

Since this company is of such excellent reputation, I'd like to rely on
their expertise, but at the same time I want to go into this fully informed
as to potential pitfalls.

A year or so ago I sent my yard info off to Toro to have them spec out a
system if I were to do it myself. The system was so intimidating, I decided
a professional install would be the way to go. Is it likely that a local
company would install a system very similar to the one Toro spec'd out, or
was that system overkill (to sell more Toro heads and equipment)?

I'd really like to have a sophisticated controller since the sytem is likely
to be spec'd out with several zones, and there is a difference in the type
of grass and amount of sun present in each zone. Any recommendations on
this kind of equipment? Is there a difference in the "high end" controllers
and the el cheapo versions?

My yard does have a good number of trees in certain areas. They are very
mature oak and magnolia trees. I don't think there'd be any reason that
sprinkler lines would need to run extremely close to these trees, but I can
see the trenching cutting some of the roots that are close to the lawn
surface. Is this any great cause for concern?

Tony

On Sat, 3 Apr 2004 18:52:25 -0600, "Tony"
wrote:

I'm planning to have a lawn sprinkler installed. Overall property size is
1/3 acre, less house and driveway.

None of my friends have had work of this sort done, so I've called several
local nurseries and a lawn service I've had good success with for
references. Every one of these places said their primary recommendation was
the same company in this area. Interestingly enough, when calling around to
businesses in the area, I had the best "vibe" from this place even before
seeking references. It's also nice that this business is less than 2 miles
from my home.

This is a heavy business time for this work in our area, and so it may be a
couple of weeks before someone can come out to look over my property and
give me an estimate. A few other businesses in the area gave me a "rough
quote" over the phone. A couple of businesses even gave me the specific
price they charged for other homes in my neighborhood with yards and systems
of similar size to mine. I'm prepared to pay whatever cost would be
reasonable to get a high quality system. (We've saved a while to get this
put in, and I want to have it done right.)

What kinds of questions should I specifically ask the representative when he
comes by? Apart from the overall design of the system, placement of heads,
types of heads used, manufacturer and warranty, are there any other good
questions to ask?

Since this company is of such excellent reputation, I'd like to rely on
their expertise, but at the same time I want to go into this fully informed
as to potential pitfalls.

A year or so ago I sent my yard info off to Toro to have them spec out a
system if I were to do it myself. The system was so intimidating, I decided
a professional install would be the way to go. Is it likely that a local
company would install a system very similar to the one Toro spec'd out, or
was that system overkill (to sell more Toro heads and equipment)?

I'd really like to have a sophisticated controller since the sytem is likely
to be spec'd out with several zones, and there is a difference in the type
of grass and amount of sun present in each zone. Any recommendations on
this kind of equipment? Is there a difference in the "high end" controllers
and the el cheapo versions?

My yard does have a good number of trees in certain areas. They are very
mature oak and magnolia trees. I don't think there'd be any reason that
sprinkler lines would need to run extremely close to these trees, but I can
see the trenching cutting some of the roots that are close to the lawn
surface. Is this any great cause for concern?

Tony


I'm no expert in this but if you have a frost depth of soil, I'd be
sure to either have it below frost depth or able to withstand the
frozen soil. Also, be sure to get a detailed mapping of all the
heads, valves, lines so you can find them years later if necessary (I
had a system installed and I got one from the installer).

I'm planning to have a lawn sprinkler installed. Overall property size is
1/3 acre, less house and driveway.


What kinds of questions should I specifically ask the representative when he
comes by? Apart from the overall design of the system, placement of heads,
types of heads used, manufacturer and warranty, are there any other good
questions to ask?

Since this company is of such excellent reputation, I'd like to rely on
their expertise, but at the same time I want to go into this fully informed
as to potential pitfalls.

A year or so ago I sent my yard info off to Toro to have them spec out a
system if I were to do it myself. The system was so intimidating, I decided
a professional install would be the way to go. Is it likely that a local
company would install a system very similar to the one Toro spec'd out, or
was that system overkill (to sell more Toro heads and equipment)?

I'd really like to have a sophisticated controller since the sytem is likely
to be spec'd out with several zones, and there is a difference in the type
of grass and amount of sun present in each zone. Any recommendations on
this kind of equipment? Is there a difference in the "high end" controllers
and the el cheapo versions?


Tony,

I installed my system myself, but might suggest a couple of questions
to ask. Are they going to use PVC pipe or vinyl hose? I think the
PVC is better, it should be less prone to failure. Are they going to
use rainbird sprinkler heads? I think these loose the least amount of
water to evaporation; this is a big deal in a very dry climate with
high water prices. Do they include plumbing in an anti-siphon device
for the water supply? This is most important if you are watering up a
hill as the water in the pipe will want to drain back into your
drinking supply, most plumbing code requires this. Does the
controller allow zones to come on and off at different times, with
some zones overlapping in time? I had to use two el-cheapo
controllers to get the water on the dry parts for 4 hours, while just
lightly watering other places for an hour at the same time. Do the
attach drains for pop-up heads? Some sprinklers pop up out of a
bucket, and can hold water. I just put six inches of gravel under the
bucket and left the drain open, but for a professionally installed
system I would want the drains installed. Are they going to re-sod or
seed the trenches they dig for the pipe? You might want to find out
if they are going to leave big patches dirt in your yard. Good luck
with the process, DIY sprinklers are more like a hobby than a one time
thing - they take a lot of tweaking and adjusting to get just right,
having a system installed would be nice.

- James B

This website will answer everything you need to know for free. I used it
when designing my sprinkler system and you can't go wrong.

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/

-Jeff

"Tony" wrote in message
...
I'm planning to have a lawn sprinkler installed. Overall property size is
1/3 acre, less house and driveway.

None of my friends have had work of this sort done, so I've called several
local nurseries and a lawn service I've had good success with for
references. Every one of these places said their primary recommendation
was
the same company in this area. Interestingly enough, when calling around
to
businesses in the area, I had the best "vibe" from this place even before
seeking references. It's also nice that this business is less than 2
miles
from my home.

This is a heavy business time for this work in our area, and so it may be
a
couple of weeks before someone can come out to look over my property and
give me an estimate. A few other businesses in the area gave me a "rough
quote" over the phone. A couple of businesses even gave me the specific
price they charged for other homes in my neighborhood with yards and
systems
of similar size to mine. I'm prepared to pay whatever cost would be
reasonable to get a high quality system. (We've saved a while to get this
put in, and I want to have it done right.)

What kinds of questions should I specifically ask the representative when
he
comes by? Apart from the overall design of the system, placement of
heads,
types of heads used, manufacturer and warranty, are there any other good
questions to ask?

Since this company is of such excellent reputation, I'd like to rely on
their expertise, but at the same time I want to go into this fully
informed
as to potential pitfalls.

A year or so ago I sent my yard info off to Toro to have them spec out a
system if I were to do it myself. The system was so intimidating, I
decided
a professional install would be the way to go. Is it likely that a local
company would install a system very similar to the one Toro spec'd out, or
was that system overkill (to sell more Toro heads and equipment)?

I'd really like to have a sophisticated controller since the sytem is
likely
to be spec'd out with several zones, and there is a difference in the type
of grass and amount of sun present in each zone. Any recommendations on
this kind of equipment? Is there a difference in the "high end"
controllers
and the el cheapo versions?

My yard does have a good number of trees in certain areas. They are very
mature oak and magnolia trees. I don't think there'd be any reason that
sprinkler lines would need to run extremely close to these trees, but I
can
see the trenching cutting some of the roots that are close to the lawn
surface. Is this any great cause for concern?

Tony