Your Complete Guide to Choosing and Installing a Home Sprinkler System

Want a home sprinkler system that is as thorough and yet as simple as possible? Use this guide to find the parts you need.

Summer temperatures in the United States can reach up to 85 degrees. This kind of heat can seriously damage your lawn.

If your lawn starts to dry out it’ll fade and be almost impossible to maintain. It will become brittle, brown and patchy. And this kind of damage can take months to repair.

So how can you avoid a dry lawn altogether? Well, installing a sprinkler system in your garden is a great solution.

Rather than spending hours watering your lawn, simply set up your system and let it do the work. That way you’ll have more time to tend to the rest of your garden.

But if you’re buying a new water sprinkler for the first time what do you need to look for? For help finding the best system for you, with all the right gadgets, read on!

Get Familiar With Your Lawn’s Needs

Knowing what type of care your lawn needs is crucial to keeping it healthy and luscious.

Different types of lawn require different levels of care. But there are some basic principals of lawn care that every gardener should be familiar with.

First of all, most lawns need between one and two inches of water every week. In summer, every lawn will need at least two inches of water. It doesn’t matter if your lawn gets this from natural rainwater or through an irrigation system, as long as it gets it.

The type of soil in your garden affects the rate at which water can penetrate the ground. For example, clay soil allows penetration at roughly 0.25 inches per hour. If you’re not familiar with your garden’s soil-type then you might want to get a soil test.

Rather than watering your lawn every day, you should water it deeply every few days. Deeply watering your lawn means that the water will permeate 8 inches below the surface of the soil. In order to achieve this depth, the lawn needs half an inch of water.

Finally, the best time of day to water your lawn is early morning. This means that your lawn can soak up the water before the sun comes up and causes it to evaporate.

But it also means that your lawn has time to soak up the water before the evening. Leaving your lawn wet from watering at night can result in fungus or diseased soil. This will also inhibit the healthy growth of your lawn and takes a long time to get rid of.

So now you’re familiar with what your lawn needs, let’s take a look at how installing a lawn sprinkler can help you to meet them.

Professional Lawn Sprinkler Systems

One popular type of sprinkler system is a professional one. These offer easy use and come ready-made.

Installing a professional lawn sprinkler system can save you a lot of time and effort when it comes to watering your lawn. And it means that you use your water efficiently rather than dragging a hose around your garden.

Depending on the size of your garden, these professional systems can vary. They often strategically place one or more sprinklers around your garden to ensure maximum coverage of the lawn.

A professional sprinkler system should include all the bells and whistles. You won’t have to pay extra for connecting pipes or water mains adapters. And sometimes the manufacturer will even come to install your system for you.

These systems will deliver exactly the right amount of water to your lawn. You can even set them on a timer to start work before you’re out of bed in the morning. So they’ll make maintaining your lawn an easy task.

And professional sprinkler systems aren’t just for your lawn. You should also check out the best type of sprinkler systems for in your home!

But these simple lawn solutions come with a fairly hefty price tag.

The most basic system you’ll come across will cost at least $500 and this will only cover an area of about 3,000 square feet. Anyone looking to cover more area or looking for more advanced features and want professional installation will pay more. In this case, you could be looking at spending upwards of $2,000.

If that sort of price has got you squirming in your seat then don’t worry – there’s another alternative for gardeners on a budget. Keep reading to find out how much you could save by installing your own DIY sprinkler system.

Create Your Own Sprinkler System

Setting up your own sprinkler system might take a little longer than buying a pre-made one. But this time could save you a lot of money. And when once your system is in place you won’t even be able to tell the difference!

To start yourself off you’ll need to invest in the right sprinkler system parts. These might cost you a little but the total price is nothing in comparison to the cost of a professional system.

At the center of your project is a basic sprinkler kit. This should cost around $40. There are lots of different types of these so choose one that suits your need.

You need a sprinkler with a decent range and water pressure. For more even coverage you might consider buying a sprinkler which rotates. Or you might prefer one that you can aim at specific areas of your garden.

Obviously, if you want to install more than one sprinkler you’ll need to buy more.

Some more expensive kits also include everything you need to set up your system but you can also buy these from most homeware stores. You’ll need:

• A standard garden hose (the required length depends on how much distance you need to cover)
• Hose connectors
• Shut off valves

For additional control, you might want to add in a hose faucet timer. This means that you’ll be able to set your sprinklers to start at whatever time you want rather than turning them on an off manually.

Once you have everything you need you can start setting up your sprinkler system!

Setting Up Your DIY Sprinkler System 

Setting up your sprinkler system should only take a few hours.

Choose the best spot for your sprinkler or sprinklers. Use trial and error to test out the reach of your sprinkler from a few spots before embedding it. A good place to position your sprinkler is at the edge of a flowerbed facing outwards.

Positioning your sprinkler along the edge of your flowerbed also means you don’t have to spend time digging up your lawn.

To embed your sprinkler, dig a hole at the edge of your flower bed. Using the surrounding earth to ensure that it is stable. But make sure that you can still access any shut-off valves or controls.

Then it’s simply a case of running your hose-piping back to your outdoor faucet.

For a lovely finish, you can trench this in your lawn or long your flowerbeds. But you can also simply use the edges of the lawn to conceal it. Both options have their benefits.

Keeping your hose exposed means you can access it quickly if there are any problems. If you choose to trench your hose pipe then make sure not to bury it too deep so you can still access it easily. You might also want to invest in some grass-seed or turf to cover where you have dug.

Before you dig anything in, double-check all your hose-pipe connectors and test the water flow through your system. Keep an eye out for any twists in the piping as this will cause blockages.

And then you’re good to go! Your new system is in full working order and ready to deliver your lawn some valuable hydration. Just sit back, relax and let the sprinkler do its job!

Make Things Simpler With a Smart Controller

Almost everything comes in a ‘smart’ version nowadays. We have ‘smartphones’ and ‘smartwatches’ – everywhere you look smart tech is taking over! So it’s hardly surprising that you can now use smart technology to make watering your plants even easier.

Forget timers, switches or LCD triggers. A lot of professional companies now offer you cutting edge technology which means you can water your lawn without getting up off the couch. Simply ask Google.

Integrated Google Assistance means that all you have to say it “Hey Google water the front yard” and your sprinklers will come on. This is particularly helpful if you’re out and about as you can control the tech from your smartphone.

Let’s say you’re at the grocery store and it starts to rain. You know your sprinklers are on at home and you don’t want to drown your lawn or waste water. Just go on the app and turn off your sprinklers!

If you have more than one sprinkler in your garden, advanced technology will even let you set them off one by one. If that’s not impressive, we don’t know what is!

The Bottom Line 

You can save yourself a lot of money by installing your own DIY sprinkler system at home. Or if you’ve got the budget, why not splurge and treat yourself (and your lawn!) to a professional one?

Whichever you choose, a sprinkler system will have your lawn looking lush and green in no time! And for more tips on how to keep your lawn in shape, check out our garden blog.