Can You Build a Lawn Irrigation System?


In the classic movie Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella keeps hearing a voice that says, “Build it, and they will come.” Homeowners often hear the same voice, albeit with a different message.

“Build an irrigation system, and the grass will grow.”

Can you DIY an irrigation system?

The answer is a resounding yes!

How to Build a Lawn Irrigation System

An expertly built and consistently maintained lawn irrigation system not only conserves water by running it to soil that needs replenishment, it also saves you money on monthly water bills. How to build a lawn irrigation system begins with creating the design and choosing the parts that seamlessly combine to keep your soil moist. The most important steps of building an underground sprinkler system involve digging and assembling the irrigation system.

You Don’t Have to Dig Deep

Step one of the digging process involves aligning stakes and strings with the layout of your underground irrigation system. The irrigation outline ensures you accurately dig into the ground to install the sprinkler system parts. Hammer flags into the ground where you plan to install the sprinkler heads. You only need to dig between 6 and 12 inches to create the trenches that your sprinkler pipes follow. The depth of the trenches depends on your area’s seasonal freeze cycles. Trenches must be deep enough to allow sprinklers to move underground after a thorough watering.

You create the trenches by hand or rent a trencher to save time. In either case, this seemingly laborious task is easy to accomplish.

Bring the Sprinkler System to Life

Many homeowners question whether they can DIY an irrigation system because of the complexity of the assembly stage of the underground sprinkler project. In fact, this step requires little, if any expertise; just a little patience and forethought. First, you lay out the parts of the underground sprinkler system to coincide with your blueprint. Remember to assemble all connecting parts above ground, before laying the pipes inside of the trenches. Use a hacksaw or pipe cutter to expedite the construction of the sprinkler pipes. Smooth all of the pipe edges to ensure each pipe fits neatly into every fitting.

Can you DIY an irrigation system should never be a question that you answer no, if you purchase an entire system from a reputable manufacturer. The final step of this DIY project requires you to connect the irrigation system to the water service line. You can connect the lawn irrigation system either to an outdoor faucet or directly to the water utility service line.

 

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