Sprinkler System Installation Checklist

 

By Chad Castellanos

 

Are you considering getting a sprinkler system and not sure what to do prior to the installation? We came up with a quick checklist to help make your sprinkler system installation more smoothly.

 

Tip 1. Mark Property Lines

 

It is important to have all corners of  your property lines marked. You don’t want your irrigation installer to guess where the lines are and accidently put pipe on the neighbor’s property. It can be costly to move lines once they are already installed.

 

Tip 2. Mark any future plans

 

If you are planning on building a shed, putting in landscape, building a deck, etc, It is nice to spray paint where you are planning on placing them in the future. Although it isn’t that difficult to move a head or two, identifying where you are planning on putting additional items can help your installer design a better system for your future needs.

 

Tip 3. Mark any private lines

 

Gopher State One will mark all your utilities coming into your house like natural gas, cable, phone line, and power.  They however won’t mark any private lines that you have had installed. Many homeowners have run their own wires within their yard and the only way to find these is have a company come out and locate the private lines.

 

If you have any private lines including but not limited to dog fences, propane tanks, outlet wires, propane gas lines, septic system, etc you will want to have these marked prior to installation. If you don’t have an idea of where these lines are, you can risk having these lines damaged. If you are unsure, a guesstimate is better than nothing.

 

Tip 4. Water your grass prior to installation

 

If you already have an established lawn, it can make a huge difference if you water your lawn frequently prior to installation. The pipe goes in the ground much easier and can help with the overall healing of your lawn after installation.

 

Level off your yard

 

If you have black dirt, leveling your yard to final grade is important. It is important because your installer will set your heads to the grade you have. If you do the leveling afterwards, some of the heads may be too high or too low.

 

You don’t need to have it perfect because after the sprinkler installation is done, the dirt will have to have a final level done to smooth over the lines trenched from the irrigation.

 

Tip 5. Know If You Are Seeding or Sodding

 

It is important to let your sprinkler system installer know prior to installation if you are seeding or sodding your yard. It will determine what depth they leave your heads and valve boxes at.