Buried Utilities

Using a buried irrigation system combined with durable underground pipes with pop-up sprinklers eliminates the hassle and potential lawn damage of using hoses and surface sprinklers. Yet you can accidentally cause a lot of damage to your house or lawn by not checking with local utility companies before digging.

Almost all local utility providers offer free or affordable line tracing services in which they flag each and every pipe, cable, and other buried utility line around your house. Digging around buried utilities can cause life-threatening injuries or release thousands of gallons of water into your basement, so take the time to mark out all the relevant hazards before deciding where to place sprinklers and the pipes that supply water to them. 

Existing Structures

Not only will sheds, houses, fences, and other permanent structures limit where your lawn needs watering, but these structures are all also potentially damaged by being sprayed with water daily for months out of each year. Precision layout and planning of your sprinkler layout, regardless of the type you choose, helps prevent moisture damage to structures and fences.

Sketch out a basic layout of your property's main structures when dividing your lawn and other landscaping features into zones. Knowing where the biggest obstacles lie help you pick the right combination of spray patterns for corners and narrow strips of grass.

Landscape Features

Don't just take your lawn areas into account when planning a layout for sprinklers. Trees, flower beds, and even containers that you would also like routinely watered are easily included in a home irrigation system.

While drip irrigation is sometimes a better choice for these kinds of landscaping areas, sprinklers can also work just fine for dispensing the moisture needed to keep your roses or tomatoes blooming through a hot summer.

Spray Overlap

It's not enough just to space sprinklers out so the edges of each spray pattern comes close to each other. You'll notice brown and yellow patches in the lawn where water doesn't quite reach unless you plan for plenty of overlap between each sprinkler's range.

This most commonly happens in the corners and along the edges of lawn areas where it's harder to properly spray without hitting a structure or other feature. Quarter and half rotation sprinklers provide the best results in these areas to evenly water every nook and cranny of your landscape without wasting water or causing erosion.

Pipe Layout

Finally, the supply lines for various sprinklers are easily grouped by zone, so you can supply similar water amounts to various plants, even when they're spread across the entire landscape. For example, you can zone a handful of different sprinklers for watering shrubs and perennials while leaving the majority of the rest of the sprinklers on a lawn-appropriate schedule.

Careful sprinkler placement also minimizes the amount of piping needed for a faster and more affordable installation.

Improve your lawn's appearance and health through every challenge summer throws at it with our help here at Smith Irrigation & Landscaping. We'll design a complete sprinkler layout that keeps your entire home landscape perfectly hydrated.