DIY Project: Finishing the Backyard Sprinklers & Final Reveal!

Today I am sharing the “final reveal” for our new sprinklers! It might seem silly to have a mini online reveal party for sprinklers; however, Mr. Ethereal has been working sooo hard on this project (for over a month now) that kuddos galore go out to my husband for taking this big project on.

To me, that is worth a reveal for sure. 🙂 Let’s check out how he (and a little bit of me) finished out this project…

Why we started redoing the backyard sprinklers

There are two medium-sized oak trees out in our backyard and one of them was planted about 2-3 feet from the #1 sprinkler valve control box. Of course, the valve box and sprinkler run could have been laid after the trees were already in.

Our house was built in 1991, just a couple of years older than our previous two houses oddly enough. Well… Over the past 30+ years, this tree’s roots finally “ate” the valve, circled around the sprinkler wires for that valve and another sprinkler line, crushing the pipes and lifting them. Those roots also went in search of water and followed the original main waterline coming into the backyard from its origination out front.

Check out these roots! This photograph doesn’t even show the full extent of how many roots Charles cut out of the ground… These original sprinkler lines were lifting up and pushing down. Some were cracked and the one line you see cut off, which runs line #5 in the backyard, were lifted in a 6″ height difference!!! That’s how far the tree, which sits behind me as I took this photograph, lifted the #5 pipe.

The original height of the pipe is where the lower cut-off pipe is extending to the left in this photo, about 20″ in the ground.

Pro tip: When rebuilding your sprinkler lines, check out your areas frost line for the depth you need to dig down to when running your PVC pipes. Our frost line is between 10″ – 12″ here in North Texas, so running sprinkler pipe at 20″ is recommended.

Charles cut out two of these collapsible trash bins-full of roots throughout the yard but especially by this oak tree. This tree has many roots still underground plus the giant taproot so we are not worried about it falling over even with taking out so many running in this direction. More run under the planter bed I built under our bedroom window, so it is secure.

If you haven’t read Part 1 of this backyard sprinkler adventure, you can find that here. 🙂

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Creating a whole new backyard valve run

After Hubby got all those roots cleared out, he cut out the old pipes, capped off the pieces going under the tree, and began thinking of how he wanted to run new lines. He began with a simple pipe configuration with three valves, but realized that we really needed more valves to accurately cover the shady -vs- sunny parts of the yard, flower beds -vs- grass areas.

He drew up plans for the new sprinkler lines and realized he could install a new main unit to run just the backyard. This will be B-Hyve “BB” timer controller.

Four sprinkler heads were added to the grass area, but we found when testing that line that way too much water would be put onto the yard. So, Mr. Ethereal went and capped off two heads for now.

Each of the current black poly-tube lines for drip irrigation to the flowerbeds are still good and we will be re-using them. I will be changing up what is being watered by which line.

I may run trees on their own separate line so they can get more water but less often.

Roses need their own watering schedule, too. More research for me! 😉

Here you can see how Mr. Ethereal has lifted up the one set of poly tubing so he could dig around looking for the original #5 valve. He determined that it is most likely buried somewhere underneath the shed.

The #1 sprinkler line, which controls the sprinkler heads on the street-side of the south fence, is the lone pipe running off the main water line coming into the backyard. It will still be attached to B-Hyve “AA” timer controller.

The other four are waterlines for the grass, three different sections of flowerbeds, and the fifth will go back to the #5 (now moved onto the “BB” controller). That is the valve which sits above the others and Hubby will curve PVC back around to pick up that line.

It took some tinkering and a lot of thought, but Charles was able to “piggyback” off B-Hyve “AA” by connecting the main turn-on signal wire (brown) and the ground wire (white) in order to get B-Hyve “BB” to function without having to dig up all the way out to the front yard and running new wire just to tie in the new controller. A big win-win!!! 🙂

The photograph above shows how he connected every valve up and tested the runs.

Rebuilding the #1 sprinkler line for better coverage streetside and linking both sprinkler controllers

Charles ran new sprinkler wire down to the new valve for #1 line (just inside the fence). This wire is buried under the pipes to keep people in the future from cutting through the line and disabling the sprinkler run.

Building Sprinkler Line #1

Charles worked hard over a two-day stretch digging out the grass and laying it over, then digging all the dirt out into 3 large piles moved outfront.

***A funny aside: those dirt piles on top of tarps looked like someone had just buried several bodies… (no photos). Thank the Lord our neighbor, who is a policeman, has seen Charles’ digging progress all along, lol! 😉

These were massive piles! One just doesn’t think how much dirt has to be removed to run 80′ of sprinkler pipes…

How to build a sprinkler line:

• Run a tape measure the distance of your sprinkler line run. Divide that distance by how many sprinkler heads you will be using. Keep in mind how far each head sprays and have a 2′ overlap.
• Lay out your PVC pipe, all fittings, elbows, T’s, sprinkler heads. At 80′ and 15′ coverage, Charles figured we needed (6) sprinkler heads total at 16′ intervals.
• Gather your pipe cutting tools and the purple primer and glue for glueing up PVC.
• Begin glueing! 🙂 Let dry 30 minutes before testing the water line.
• Connect the water and take off both sprinkler heads at each end as the water test for leaks begins. Let water blow out those open heads, clearing the line of debris.
• Replace heads after fixing any leaks (if glued well, there won’t be any), and your sprinklers are ready to operate.

Hubby laid out 1″ PVC pipe. Since I was home, he asked if I wanted to help him glue the lines. He was naturally really tired from all this digging and normally doesn’t ask for help. I was happy to help!

We started with the left side here, keeping the writing on each pipe upwards as the glue dried. Charles had the good idea to hammer several metal rebar stakes into the ground so each sprinkler head could be tied to them in order to keep them straight-up as we moved to glueing in the next section.

As the left side was completed, that section needed to be laid into the trench and connected to the #1 water line. I was more than happy to have Charles do that since he really understands how to build sprinklers.

The water in the ditch here is from rain a day or two before we began this part of the project. Thankfully, we have had consistent rain this spring since none of the sprinklers have been turned on.

After lunch, I was back glueing. Mr. Ethereal gave me pointers and said I used too much glue, but hey! My joins didn’t blow. 😉

• As you prepare to glue PVC pipe fittings, start with the purple primer. Prime both fittings ~ along the pipe on the outside of its end and the end-edge and on the inner parts of each connector type.

• Swab the clear glue over the primer and do this quickly. It sets up fast!
• Push the PVC pipe into the connector and push hard, holding for 20 seconds. Count it out. You can turn the pipe a bit as it sets up to see if it is holding.
• Continue on with the next fitting as before. 🙂
• Keep an old rag with you for wiping off each part as you prepare it for primer and glue.

We were able to complete this whole 80′ line in just a few hours. Hubby was happy for the help as his back hurt, and his hands were numb from all of the digging. The day was nice in the low 80’s, perfect for working outside and it was fun for me. 🙂

The Big Sprinkler Reveal

One can’t almost tell where the new sprinkler heads are, they sit so flush with the ground. The monster piles of dirt are back in the ground and any extra has been redistributed to other parts of the dug-out valves and trenches in the front and backyards.

Here in the backyard, I can begin putting in the bougainvillea and other plants which were potted up to overwinter. They will be happy to get back into the ground for summer.

This rose is David Austin’s Tranquility, a short climber or rambler. Its scent is heavenly! I had to remove the other climber as it had what looked like the beginnings of rose rosette disease. I didn’t want it to spread so I pulled it and threw it away.

I also removed some of the dirt, all of the mulch from around all of these roses, and sprayed for mites to prevent any spreading. I am continuing with this regimen of spraying/feeding every month as a preventative.

And that’s it, friends! Now I can look to digging in the roses along this western fence which have been waiting patiently in their pots for several years for this moment.

I hope this tutorial has been helpful! Putting in sprinklers isn’t too hard (except for the digging…). This whole adventure with the backyard has been over about six weeks.

Thanks for stopping by and leave me a comment or ask any questions and I will be happy to help. 🙂

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Happy gardening, my friends,