DIY Project: Rebuilding the Backyard Sprinklers – Part 1

Sometimes you need to redo something around the house or yard… Sometimes it’s a desire for a new look out of necessity, or that that area is really dated and inefficient. For us, the #1 sprinkler valve out in our backyard has been “eaten” by the right-hand oak tree someone planted years ago within two feet of this valve.

We didn’t want to necessarily cut down the tree as it is wonderful at shading the house and yard. We have been hand-watering and doing without this sprinkler line for several years. But, this is the year to fix things while Mr. Ethereal has a lot of time. 🙂 He has undertaken a whole revamp or rebuild of the backyard sprinkler system.

Let’s check out how it’s going so far!

You may recall that we ran drip irrigation lines a few years ago when we were going to be gone for a week to see our son and his family in South Dakota.

Those lines were to water all the plants and pots in the backyard and they have worked pretty well just hooked up to a controller run on a four-way splitter from an outdoor faucet. Last summer, Mr. Ethereal and I buried some of those black plastic feeder lines. We used our former trailer hose as a watering line, and also an old garden hose, lol!

That old adage:

Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without, ” certainly applies to our jury-rigged watering system currently! 😉

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum website, a saying from the Great Depression

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Building the Greenhouse waterlines

Hubby began with running new lines for the new, larger greenhouse. That included a hydrant with a back-flow valve which can be used for watering all winter in cold climates. It is buried to 20″ deep, below our freeze line of 10-12″.

Charles really had to “dig deep” (we aren’t 30-year-olds anymore) cutting a zillion roots along the way to get these trenches made, the dirt moved, and new pipe laid.

This turned out great and I was able to help re-attach the critter-proofing hardware cloth so he could move on to the next area.

He is a trooper! Here is the valve assembly he put together running this one off the main sprinkler system (now B-hyve watering system “A”).

Here is where Mr. Ethereal finished burying the new valve for drip lines inside the greenhouse area, plus a shut-off for the new hydrant faucet.

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Digging the backyard for new sprinkler lines

Charles’ idea was to tap into the main water line, which is on only when the main valve runs (which dictates which line is running at a time).

He began with digging under the tree again (no photo) and looking at whether the wires to that old valve were still “live.” (to the left, along this trench, out of picture)

They were, so he cut those off to bypass that area. Several trips to the big box stores later, we’ve picked up 1″, 3/4″ and 1/2″ PVC 10′ sections and fittings. Mr. Ethereal began laying those out Sunday afternoon late in the day.

*This has been a two- to three-week project so far. 🙂

On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning/afternoon (we stayed home from church since it was supposed to be really hot Sunday afternoon (92 degrees F), he worked on trenching long lines going toward the south and western fences.

This line he had already dug, and over Sunday and Monday, he dug a new trench about 2′ to the left of this one to move this line. He is going to lay new pipe and just reuse a few of the specialty fittings.

I convinced Charles to use new sprinkler heads and not reuse the old ones to prevent having to dig up what he is just now laying down. 😉 Some things are better using new!

Charles is running lines for watering:

1. The grass inside the backyard, but also to connect to part of the original lines which water the corner and first part of the south yard just outside of the fence.
2. A second line will also be laid to water plants using 1/2″ black poly (already in place) to continue using drip irrigation along with bigger 1/2″ brown drip connected in for the trees and roses.

Happily, with digging these long trenches, only oak tree roots were cut and pulled (outer edges for most of this digging). We are trying NOT to shock the tree. They have been fine before with root cutting so it should be fine.

The roses are now four and five years old and are just getting into their first blooms of the year!

I will share them in a separate post and hopefully the yard will be put back together by then and I will be able to get some long shots for you. Set up our garden chairs… Maybe a tea?…

I am excited to begin planting the last roses to go along the west fence (in front of Mr. Ethereal, below). They have been patiently waiting in pots for this day since planting them after we moved into this house and out of our Prairie Home, our RV.

Thanks for stopping by today, dear friends! This is a labor of love for Charles as he knows we have needed this sprinkler valve issue fixed/changed/moved for the past five years when we first had someone come over and “buy” us a few years with the “eaten” valve.

I thought I’d leave you with a photograph of Hubby hard at work… Plus he’s getting some of his Marine Corps muscles back with all of this digging (always a good thing!)… 😉

***Find Part 2 ~ DIY Projects: Finishing the Backyard Sprinklers & Final Reveal!

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Until next time,