Your lawn is a beautiful addition to your property. For your lawn to remain verdant and lush, it needs water. Professionally installed in-ground irrigation systems provide total coverage, but they require a significant amount of digging, time, and money. While loose hoses and sprinklers are a simple low-cost alternative, the sprinkler needs constant moving and unwatered patches are inevitable. There is another option: making a DIY sprinkler system.
A DIY sprinkler system is a great stop-gap solution if you’re contemplating an underground irrigation system in the future. Or it can also be a permanent solution for lawns that don’t need a lot of watering or if you just want to save money.
Basic Features of DIY Sprinkler System
With interconnected sprinkler heads and a timer, this DIY sprinkler system has some of the features found in permanent irrigation systems. Yet because the hoses run above-ground, the system is easy to install and requires no trenching. A DIY sprinkler system uses materials commonly found in home centers.
Outdoor Faucet
An outdoor faucet or spigot on the side of the house should be located within 10 to 20 feet of the edge of the lawn.
Sprinkler Timer
A battery-powered sprinkler timer screws directly into the outdoor faucet. The timer outputs water through a single male-threaded faucet.
Attaching a dual metal shut-off hose “Y” allows you to split that single output into two directions, one on each side of the lawn.
Garden Hose or PVC Pipe
A 1/2-inch garden hose connects the sprinkler timer to the sprinklers. The garden hose remains on ground level. Since the hose is used on the lawn perimeter, it can be disguised with bark or mulch.
Garden hose works best for lawns with irregular shapes or when you think you may need to frequently pull up the system for lawn mowing or for winter care.
Alternatively, PVC pipe can substitute for all or much of the garden hose. As with the garden hose, the PVC pipe runs on the ground. PVC pipe works best for lawns with straight sides or when you think the system will remain in place most of the time.
Sprinkler Spike Base
A metal flow-through lawn sprinkler spike is the base for a sprinkler body. With a sharp point at the bottom, it stakes about 10 to 12 inches into the lawn.
One end is male-threaded and the other end is female-threaded. As a flow-through spike, water can flow into one end, supply the sprinkler body attached to the top, and then flow on through to the next sprinkler in the series.
An inexpensive double male-threaded 1/2-inch PVC sprinkler riser is required to attach the sprinkler body to the spike.
Sprinkler Body
In-ground sprinkler systems often use plastic sprinkler pop-up bodies. The body is buried down to the top of the sprinkler body. When water flows through the sprinkler body, it forces a pop-up section upward. The pop-up remains up for as long as the water is running. This project adapts the same sprinkler body for above-ground use.
Rotator Stream Nozzle
A rotator sprinkler stream nozzle fits into the sprinkler body. It projects water in an adjustable angle, from 90 degrees to just past a semi-circle (200 to 210 degrees).
Safety Considerations
Though this DIY sprinkler system does not require trenches, the sprinkler spikes may penetrate buried electrical, gas, communication, or other vital lines. Call 811 or check online to have your local utilities location service visit and mark your property with washable paint. The service is usually free.
Check your local codes. As with any attachment to the permanent house domestic water piping, there is probably a requirement for a backflow device or vacuum breaker to protect the municipal water supply.
Source: The Spruce
