You're going to hit pipe. You will. Accept it, make peace with it, learn how to repair it, and move forward. A lot of people are terrified of their irrigation systems because they don't understand one simple fact: water is not moving through those pipes until the controller opens the valve for that zone. Worst case scenario, you shut that zone off until you fix the leak (or have a pro fix it). If you get super unlucky and hit the main line from the house to the valve boxes (this is the only line that is always charged) your system should have a main shutoff valve right at the house (may be on the backflow preventer). Since you have nothing going on besides lawn and a couple trees, you will need to move heads as you put in beds. The lawn heads will need to be moved to the edge, and you may decide to add irrigation zones for the beds as well. So no matter what, you're going to want to either develop a relationship with an irrigation contractor or start learning about irrigation. If you do any of it yourself, just remember the irrigator's prayer. "Lord, I know you wanted water to flow downhill. Please look the other way before I flip this switch. Amen."

Hi, I am brand new to this board and fairly new to gardening. I grew up in New York City all my life and now I have a weekend home with 1.5 acres. We have just excavated our property and in the fall we are planning to plant grass seed (perenial rye). We are also planting some privacy shrubs and I have plans for a vegetable garden. I already have a few perenial gardens. I have calls out re. installing an automatic sprinkler system. I am worried that this is going to be too expensive. I have two working outdoor faucets and one that I can probably have fixed. What do you think of installing multiple hoses and using timers? What about the Accurain system? Do you think this is a good option for weekenders? Thank you in advance for your advice. Jennifer

Shayle 40 glass break sensors? Wow - that is a lot. Are they planning to mount the senors directly to the glass - or are they using a ceiling/wall mount sensor that can cover several windows in one area? I have about 12 glass break sensors in my home - and it's a good size house (5000+ sq ft). For example - one glass break sensor in the dining room ceiling covers 3 large windows. If you use the Honeywell 1625 Glass break sensor - which comes in several different styles - you can reduce the number of glass break sensors. The 1625 has a range of 25 feet. You might check out this site: http://www.aesecurity.com which is where I purchased all of my alarm parts. The site is useful since they provide data sheets on all of the sensors and you can read about their capabilities (and see what they cost). Be very very careful when dealing with alarm companies - they make their money by charging you per sensor or per zone - so the more sensors or zones they can cram in - the more they make. As far as zones - you can have multiple sensors tied to a single zone. For example - I have 3 doors on the front of the house where one can enter - the front door, the door through the garage, and then a side patio door. All 3 of these doors have a magnetic sensor - but they are tied to 1 zone. This is commonly called "sensors in series" or "in-series" connections. Obviously- the more sensors you can group in series, the fewer zones you need on the controller and that can allow a smaller alarm panel or fewer zone expander modules. Another thing to watch out for is the fire monitoring. In my first house, the alarm company refused to tie the alarm system into the house smoke detectors. Instead, they charged me a few hundred dollars for an additional smoke detector that was only tied into the alarm system - and not connected to the house smoke detectors. It was a bunch of bull. A good alarm company can make a tiny little device that allows the 9 volt traveler wire in your house smoke detectors to be monitored (it's the red or yellow wire on the smoke detector). This little traveler wire is what is used to set off all house smoke detectors when only one detects smoke. The alarm company can monitor this signal. If they tell you they can't do it due to code - have them install it after the final inspection. It is a lot cleaner to use your existing home smoke detectors then to have 2 sets of detectors. The Vista 20P panel might be too small for your system if each of the sensors has a dedicated zone. However, if some of these sensors are grouped in series, then it might be fine. In my house, I have 12 glass break sensors (each one on a seperate zone), 10 magnetic sensors on doors (3 zones), 3 CO sensor each on a seperate zone, 7 motion sensors each on a seperate zone, and 1 fire zone. A grand total of 25 zones and 32 sensors. I also have 3 keypads. I used the Vista 20P and 3 zone expander modules. In the future I paln to add a few more glass break sensors in the basement as well as some exterior IR sensors.

I cannot get my system to turn on. Outlet is live and functioning. Thanks in advance!