IRRIGATION SKILL

Prep Sprinkler System for New Sunroom

Leave a Comment / Informative / By Mr. Irrigation

Have you ever had a day where your entire agenda was a pot of coffee and a good book?

No laundry. No dishes. No raking leaves. Just sitting in quiet contemplation and occasionally reading another page or two?

You haven’t? Yeah, me neither.

We all agree that your new sunroom is going to be great; but the impact on your irrigation system that is currently camped out underground, in the exact real estate that your new sunroom is hoping to occupy, may may not be as great as your great new sunroom.

Prep Irrigation System for Tree Removal

Leave a Comment / Informative / By Mr. Irrigation

There is very little in the world I love more than a good tree. There are nearly endless benefits of good trees. They provide shade and cool down homes in the warm months, which saves money by lowering the costs of AC.

But as great as trees are, sometimes they need to go. Just like people, animals, and other plants, trees can and do get diseases and need to come down before the whole tree or large sections of the tree fall off and injure people, or demolish part of your house.

So what do you do about your irrigation system when a tree you love needs to be taken down?

Prep Sprinkler System for New Walkway

Leave a Comment / Informative / By Mr. Irrigation

You have a perfectly good walkway that does its job just fine. It was there when you moved in and sure it works, but is that enough?

You don’t want to just get from point A to point B. You want to enjoy the journey from your driveway to your front door.

What do you do? You tear that old walkway out and tell it to get lost! Scram, old walkway! Put an egg in your shoe and beat it.

And then? You build a new walkway.

But wait! You have an irrigation system to consider. And aren’t there lots of sprinkler pipes and heads in that area?

Prep Irrigation System for Water Feature

Leave a Comment / Informative / By Mr. Irrigation

Is there anything more relaxing than sitting by a bubbling brook with a book and a cup of tea?

The noisy rush of water gently lulling you to sleep will have you nodding off so hard you’ll wonder if you’re overdosing on chamomile.

As long as you prepare your irrigation system ahead of construction, a water feature in your backyard can be as lovely as your own personal Walden.

However, if you do not take the necessary steps to prevent damage to the sprinkler system, a sprinkler leak could transform your lovely water feature into a swampy bog.

Prep Irrigation System for Outdoor Pizza Oven

Leave a Comment / Informative / By Mr. Irrigation

If you are anything like me, you have always wanted to travel to southern Italy to experience the beautiful weather, friendly people, and delicious food.

But what if I told you that you don’t actually need to board an airplane and fly all the way to the Amalfi Coast to drink buckets of red wine and shovel cheesy bread into your face?

In fact, for about the same price as a family vacation to Italy, you could probably have an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven built in your backyard and bring the flavors of Naples to you.

Add a Zone to Sprinkler System

Leave a Comment / Informative / By Mr. Irrigation

There are several reasons that you may be interested in adding another zone to sprinkler system.

You may have been working with a low budget when your sprinkler system was originally installed, so you only had irrigation installed in the front and side yards to save money. And now you have saved up more cash and don’t want to hand water your backyard with a hose anymore.

Or maybe you planted new vegetable or flower gardens in your backyard and you want to tap into your existing irrigation system to add sprinkler heads to water these new areas automatically.

Regardless of the reason you need to expand your sprinkler system, some considerations need to be made.

What is a Backflow Preventer

Leave a Comment / How-to / By Mr. Irrigation

What is a Backflow Preventer?

A backflow preventer is a necessary part of an irrigation system that helps make sure that the water in the pipes only flows in one direction, rather than backing up and going in the reverse direction.

What does a backflow preventer do?

Think of the backflow preventer like a gate or a turnstile at the subway station or amusement park. You can walk through, but if you try to turn around and go back you will find that you are out of luck. There is a barrier that prevents you from reversing course and returning the way that you came.

The same rules apply with backflow prevention. If a back siphon forms and the water in your pipes starts to reverse course, a backflow valve helps to keep the water from reversing course and going in the opposite direction back into your home’s drinking water pipes through a back siphon.

Winterize Backflow Preventer

Leave a Comment / How-to / By Mr. Irrigation

It’s a Sunday night in November and you’re heading to bed when it suddenly occurs to you….your irrigation system is still on and it’s going to be crazy cold tonight!

How could it be this cold?!? Wasn’t Halloween like a week ago? How does time move so quickly? How are the days so incredibly short already? It’s only 3:30pm and it’s already dark. How is that possible?!?

Take a deep breath and relax. You may not have time to get a licensed lawn sprinkler system contractor out to blow out a sprinkler system, but you can at least buy yourself some time.

Sweet, precious, time. There may not be much of it left, but there is enough to get you to bed in the next 15-30 minutes. That is, if you can keep taking those deep breaths and be cool, Yolanda.

Photo of a sign that says, "Sprinkler shut-off valve inside"

How to Turn off Sprinkler Valve

2 Comments / How-to / By Mr. Irrigation

Irrigation systems obviously need a water source. Unless, of course, you have a magical irrigation system. And if your irrigation system is magical, it probably does not require maintenance the way a regular, non-magical irrigation system does.

But if your irrigation system is not magical, you are going to need to know where the water source is located. It is probably going to be in one of a few places:

Is my irrigation shut-off valve in my basement?

How to Find Shut-Off Valve For Outdoor Faucet

4 Comments / How-to / By Mr. Irrigation

Why do you need to know where the outdoor faucet shut-off valve is? Maybe there are cold temperatures in the forecast and you want to make sure your outdoor hose bib doesn’t freeze and crack.

Or maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe you purchased your home over the winter and the outdoor faucets had already been drained to prevent potential freeze damage. Now that the temperatures have warmed up, you need to water your dry plants or wash your car.

Regardless of the reason, we need to find the shut off valve for your outdoor faucet…