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When it comes to irrigation there are great savings to be had if you purchase a do it yourself irrigation kit or design your own system. One of the first things you will want to do is put your watering system plan down on paper. After that is done you can go to the home improvement, hardware or lawn care store and purchase the components with confidence that you have what you need to finish the project once you begin. The final stage is hooking up the watering system and fine tune the sprinkling coverage.
Homemade and prepackaged do it yourself irrigation kits can run 10% of what it costs to have an irrigation system installed professionally. Instructions are available online and at home improvement departments.for various installation methods. Saturday seminars at home improvement stores are great places to learn how to plan a do it yourself irrigation systems also.
The step you do not want to skip is getting a drawing down on paper of all the elements of the landscape and how you intend to set up your irrigation system. The more detailed your drawing is the more likely it is that your do it yourself irrigation plan will work out without unnecessary work and aggravation. On graph paper or a pre-printed form include patios, walkways, decks, fences, sheds, shrubs and trees. The standard symbols for the location of the water meter is a box, the electric outlet closest to the planned position for the residential controller is an X and arrows pointing in the downward direction indicate areas of substantial elevation changes. From this drawing you can plan the placement of sprinkler heads so that water coverage overlaps.
From the completed plan you will be able to compile your equipment list. Irrigation systems consist or 4 basic components; timers or hand valves, underground PVC or drip lines, sprinkler heads or drip nozzles and a back-flow preventer. A way to keep costs of your do it yourself irrigation project low is to use old garden hose rather than PVC for water delivery. It is much cheaper and easier to put in ditches than PVC and the fittings are less expensive also. Trenches for PVC pipe must be 6-8 inches deep and extremely straight.
The final step is hooking up and fine tuning the water delivery system. First connect the back-flow preventer to water supply and the control box equipped with the timers or hand valves. Lay the PVC or hose in the trenches and position the sprinklers according to your diagram. Next connect your do it yourself irrigation pipes to the control box. Turn your system on to test the sprinkler placement before backfilling the trenches. Study the instructions provided by the product manufacturer on how to set the timer to automate watering.
A do it yourself irrigation system can be as simple at that. There is some math involved in figuring out the length of pipe or hose, the number of fittings and sprinkler heads needed but no specialized skill or tools are needed to install a do it yourself irrigation system.
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Author Bio Box: Patricia Wainwright
Get all the facts about water management and organic gardening at GreenThumbArticles.com!
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