Ins and outs

Depending on the kind of plants in a yard, an installer will recommend either a drip or sprinkler system.
BY REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
It was a sopping wet spring. Will Mother Nature dish out a hot, dry summer to make up for it?
If she does, folks will be scrambling to keep their lawns and flower beds from turning into the Sahara.
A lawn irrigation system can help.
Types of systems
A lawn irrigation system can be as simple as a sprinkler connected to a garden hose, or it can be a complex network of underground pipes with automated controls.
If you have a small yard, you might be able to get away with buying an inexpensive sprinkler and hooking it up to your garden hose, but if you have a large lawn and sprawling flower beds, you might want to invest in a more sophisticated system.
Rich Russo, of American Lawn Sprinklers in Austintown, installs two types of lawn irrigation systems: Drip irrigation systems and sprinkler systems.
Russo recommends drip irrigation systems for flower beds or individual plants and sprinkler systems for lawns.
"A drip system isn't powerful enough for a lawn, and a sprinkler system can be too powerful for a flower bed if it's not set up correctly," Russo explained.
Jason Sylak, of JJLS LTD, a landscaping company in Warren, also installs drip irrigation systems and sprinkler systems.
Sylak recommends drip irrigation systems only for flower beds containing annuals and perennials.
"Drip irrigation systems can be a waste of money if they're used on plants that don't need to be watered every day. For example, most shrubs and trees that have been in the ground for a few years don't need to be watered every day so they don't need a drip system," Sylak said.
Drip systems work by gradually saturating selected areas of soil.
Although drip systems work slowly and steadily, they can drown a flower bed if they're used too frequently.
Sprinkler systems can do the same thing to lawns and flower beds.
"When a lawn irrigation system is installed -- whether it's a drip system or a sprinkler system -- the installer has to figure out how often the system should run and how much water should be released. People usually have a problem with over-watering rather than under-watering," Russo said.
How much is too much
Factors such as the type of soil in the yard, the size and shape of the yard, the home's water source and its level of water pressure will help determine how much water is too much.
For example, at a home with sandy soil, a lawn irrigation system will have to run for longer periods than it will at a home with heavy clay soil because sandy soil drains faster.
"The type of grass you have in your yard will also determine how much water you'll need. For example, bluegrass likes more water than tall fescue grass," Sylak said.
The average lawn needs about 1 or 2 inches of water per week.
"Ideally, a sprinkler system should water a lawn with 1 or 2 inches of water every few days," Russo said.
Even if there's plenty of water coming from your home's well or city water service, there might not be enough water pressure for a lawn sprinkler system to operate properly.
If that's the case, a professional will install a booster pump.
"We test the well to see how many gallons of water per minute it pumps before we install a system," Sylak said.
Lawn irrigation systems are typically connected to the home's well or city water system.
"At homes with city water, an extra water meter is added so the homeowner doesn't have to pay a sewage fee on water that's run through the irrigation system," Russo said.
Sprinkler heads
Available water pressure will also determine the number of sprinkler heads used on each irrigation line.
The weaker the water pressure, the fewer sprinkler heads.
Sylak said it's important to have enough sprinkler heads throughout the lawn since sparse placement of sprinkler heads will create dry spots.
"The area watered by each sprinkler head must overlap the area watered by the adjacent sprinkler," Sylak explained.
This overlap might seem wasteful, but without it, uniform coverage will be impossible and parts of the lawn will soon turn brown.
There are two types of sprinkler heads: rotating and spray heads.
"Rotating heads are used for large areas. They shoot a steady stream of water in a circular pattern. Spray heads don't rotate and are for smaller areas," Sylak said.
It's best to run a lawn irrigation system in the morning.
"If you run the system in the morning, the grass will dry out during the day and you won't have to worry about problems with mold and mildew the way you would if your grass were always wet during the night," Russo said.
Sylak said it's important to give lawns healthy doses of water before the weather turns hot and dry.
"If you deprive the lawn of water for a while and then notice that it's looking brown, it's much harder to get it back to looking lush and green again than it is if you consistently keep the lawn watered," Sylak explained.
Installation
Some people install their own lawn irrigation systems, but both Russo and Sylak said it's usually a job best left to the professionals.
"It's more complicated than it might seem. First of all, you need a piece of equipment to dig a trench to put in the pipe, then you have to know what kind of pipe to use and you have to hook the system up to the home's main waterline. Then you also have to know what kind of spray heads to use and how many spray heads to use and where to place them. It can be pretty involved," he said.
Russo said do-it-yourselfers often call him to come and fix their mistakes.
A lawn irrigation system should last at least 20 years, Sylak said.
Cost varies from job to job, but Russo and Sylak said they charges about $2,200 to $2,500 to install a lawn irrigation system in an average-sized yard.
Winter care
In cold climates, lawn irrigation systems must be properly winterized.
"We typically go to homes in the fall and use a compressor to blow all of the water out of the waterlines so it can't freeze inside the lines. Then we shut off the main valve to the system," Russo said.
This treatment typically costs about $40.