residential sprinkler system

[grideTLS]

I believe a thread in the past was opened for this topic, but I am not able to locate it. Are their any beyond members that have experience with automatic sprinkler systems and installation of such units?

Thanks in advance.

[Barking_Spidre]

I do, I currently live in Victoria but will be moving back to calgary to work at a company that does install for those systems.

What's up?

[Black Gts]

I have experience, and my Mothers boyfriend has his own company, what are you looking for exactly?

[grideTLS]

Originally posted by Black Gts
I have experience, and my Mothers boyfriend has his own company, what are you looking for exactly?

I am not sure what exactly I would require since I have no experience with these systems. I may need an on-site inspection/quote to better understand what components I require to properly irrigate my lawn.

[Barking_Spidre]

PM'd.

[blownz]

I have a Toro system at my place an love it.

Only recommendation I have is to get a professional to do it. My neighbor and a buddy of mine both wanted a sprinkler system after I got mine done and they both thought they could do it themselves cheaper.

My buddy spent about 6 weekends doing his and it actually ended up pretty good and definitely cheaper then mine, but he did spend a shit load of personal time on it.

My neighbor has now spent two summers messing around with his and it still isn't finished and still doesn't work right and his yard looks like shit.

Mine was in two days with a crew of 6 people working on it. They sent two guys out 30 days later to see how it was working and how I liked it and if I wanted anything changed or moved around. They spent about 3 hours making some changes for no extra charge and it is now almost 4 years later and it is still working perfectly.

I may have paid a bit more but it was worth every penny imo.

And the Toro brand that I have seems to be very high quality and so does the Rain Bird my buddy used, but my neighbor is using the Home Depot stuff and it seems really cheap in comparison.

You definitely won't regret it though. It is so nice not to ever have to worry about putting out a sprinkler. :thumbsup:

Oh, and I would definitely recommend a wireless rain sensor so you are not needlessly watering while it is raining or just after a good rain fall.

[grideTLS]

Originally posted by blownz
I have a Toro system at my place an love it.

Only recommendation I have is to get a professional to do it. My neighbor and a buddy of mine both wanted a sprinkler system after I got mine done and they both thought they could do it themselves cheaper.

My buddy spent about 6 weekends doing his and it actually ended up pretty good and definitely cheaper then mine, but he did spend a shit load of personal time on it.

My neighbor has now spent two summers messing around with his and it still isn't finished and still doesn't work right and his yard looks like shit.

Mine was in two days with a crew of 6 people working on it. They sent two guys out 30 days later to see how it was working and how I liked it and if I wanted anything changed or moved around. They spent about 3 hours making some changes for no extra charge and it is now almost 4 years later and it is still working perfectly.

I may have paid a bit more but it was worth every penny imo.

And the Toro brand that I have seems to be very high quality and so does the Rain Bird my buddy used, but my neighbor is using the Home Depot stuff and it seems really cheap in comparison.

You definitely won't regret it though. It is so nice not to ever have to worry about putting out a sprinkler. :thumbsup:

Oh, and I would definitely recommend a wireless rain sensor so you are not needlessly watering while it is raining or just after a good rain fall.


Thanks for the information.

Do you mind sending me a PM with the price you paid for your system and what company you used.

Thanks again.

[ChappedLips]

I have done quite a few of the rain bird systems, it's quite a bit of labour to dig all the trenches. I would recommend you get a professional to do it as there are so many things that can go wrong which nozzles/heads to use, how many heads on a zone to keep pressure up, everything is sealed properly with no leaks...


You might save a bit of money doing it yourself but chances are something will go wrong.

It helps a lot if you have a helper if you do end up doing it yourself.

[Tik-Tok]

I spent about 2 weekends on mine early last summer. Really easy to do, the only tough part was digging the trenches, since I have a LOT of roots in my ground.

[Barking_Spidre]

Geez, you guys all hand dug your trenches? Lots of companies will use their pipe puller to pull your zones/main line and wiring for you. (My old job was pipe puller :D)
My company charges 50 bucks a zone, last time I checked. Pretty cheap and saves you a TON of labour. Hand trenching is FTL.

[Nate25]

Me and Barking have been doing it a while together. We mainly use Irritrol parts, have a great service record.
Im in Calgary now, Barkings moving back soon.
Could prob take a look sometime if you want.
And yea home depot brand is Orbital, wouldn't recommend using that unless you'd like to deal with service problems in the future :P

[nismodrifter]

Home Depot heads are called Orbit. They are loud and POS. We personally used Hunter heads and they have held up for 8 years so far without any issues.

All the neighbors paid to get theirs done and most have punctured a line once or twice while doing light garden work because they aren't deep enough. There is probably a standard depth that most lines are at, but when you DIY you can change these things as you see fit because you know what you are going to be doing in the area.

Not a hard job to do if it's planned right for surez. If you have a plan in place with accurate measurements 1/3 the work is done. Dig your trenches, run some lines, clamp some isht. Setup your manifold, run lines from inside, donezors, enjoy.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Barking_Spidre
Geez, you guys all hand dug your trenches?

I was digging up half my lawn anyways for other reasons, that's when I found an old sprinkler system that my neighbor said she hadn't seen on since the early 70's :rofl:

Wasn't even a planned project, but I figured, hey I might as well replaced all these lines, and throw some heads on.