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New Home - irrigation system expansion question

17 years ago

My wife and I are buying a new house in Cary, NC. The house sits on a .29 acre lot. The builder has included in the price of the house sod and an irrigation system for the front and side yard. The back and part of the other side yard are to be seeded.

The house isn't done yet - so nothing has been done to the yard. It's still NC clay. Now we've started talking to the landscaping company. My question for this forum is:

1) What types of questions should we be asking the landscaping company about the irrigation system? WeÂre very new to this Â I apologize for such a basic question.

2) Since they're already planning an irrigation system for the front - what sort of price would be reasonable for the back? I've included a diagram of the yard. The back is approximately 6300 sq feet. I'm assuming an irrigation system for the back would be less than normal since they already have the cost of doing the front.

{{gwi:324601}}

Let me know if I'm leaving out any details that might help you respond.

Thanks in advance,

-Ben

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Comments (2)

divot
17 years ago
Hello BTA80

Yes you question is indeed a large one.
Anyway I will do my best to help.

First most people will make suggestion concerning product choices.
Do not worry about (for now) what product they are using but as to what spacing
The contractor is designing. There is two basic design parameters for your lot (as I see it)
Pop up which is 10Â¡Â¦, 12, 15Â¡Â¦ Spacing using the average pop up sprinkler. The other would be a medium throw sprinkler at about 25Â¡Â¦-35Â¡Â¦ spacing. The easiest way to think of your yard is to find the common denominator (that schoolin really paying off). Your yard is
70 x 90 roughly (I know it not quite that simple) the choices for this would be pop ups
At 14Â¡Â¦ x 15Â¡Â¦ or Medium Rotors at 35Â¡Â¦ x 30Â¡Â¦ or 23Â¡Â¦x 30Â¡Â¦. This is a real simplistic view but hopefully it gives you a foundation of thinking about sprinklers.

Keep in mind without proper spacing trying to fix any coverage/distribution uniformity is a uphill battle at best.

Here are some thoughts about sprinklers in general.

Pop up Â¡VPros
Â¡Â´ Superior Coverage over medium range heads
Â¡Â´ Very durable not many parts to wear out, low replacement cost.
Â¡Â´ Wide range of nozzle spacingÂ¡Â¦s and type from 4Â¡Â¦-18Â¡Â¦ with some manufactures.
Â¡Â´ Some manufactures offer other feature such as pressure regulating (fantastic feature) and check valves pre installed.

Pop up Cons
Â¡Â´ Large amount of heads are needed for large areas increasing chance of mower damage.
Â¡Â´ More costly to install (large areas) than medium throw rotors as increased trenching and increased fittings/labor is needed.s

Medium throw Rotors Â¡V Pros
Â¡Â´ Still Relatively inexpensive per coverage area.
Â¡Â´ More coverage area decreases overall head count Â¡V Less chance of toe stub ÂÂº
Â¡Â´ Some manufacture offer superior warranty on these types of heads.

Medium throw Rotors Â¡V Cons
Â¡Â´ Poor distribution uniformity compared to most pop up type heads.
Â¡Â´ More moving parts and gears in the drive train increases chances for failure.

Concerning product there are a lot of choices on the market but most contractor use either
Rain Bird, Hunter, or Toro. Some also combine these products to get the best results.
If I was to choose it would be in respect to the order of manufactures I just mentioned.
I would be happy to answer any other question as best I can. I hope this helped.
timothy_grow
17 years ago
hi
i would ask the landscape company about match percipitation,head to head coverage, and evaporation rate.Usually this will weed out the good irrigation contractors from the not so good.You will have to determine what you are working with as far as water pressure and flow rate before any kind of design work, becuase this will determine how many zones,and thus the price of install
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