Probably the biggest to-do with our new house was to install a backyard fence ASAP. It didn't (and for the moment still doesn't) have one and it's a need for us. We want to be able to leave the dog out and let the kids play without needing an eye on them every second. There's a road back there, as well as a neighborhood pool and playground, and we'll feel better knowing there's some containment. Soon after the new year we got started on the process, picking a contractor after getting a few quotes from local companies. Unfortunately, in our first interaction with the HOA, our request for a black metal fence was denied and the installation got pushed back. So now we'll be getting a white plastic fence, which we admittedly don't love, but at least we'll have it done. The post hole digging is supposed to (finally) be this week.
Something I needed to do prior to the workers showing up was ensure none of our sprinkler heads encroached on the property line where the fence will go. While I know they're not overly complicated, irrigation systems have always been a bit of a mystery to me. My family didn't have one growing up. We didn't have one in Maryland. In my years working on a golf course I did very little work with the pop-up sprinklers. But I was confident I'd figure it out.
The prep steps were finding the property pins and turning on the irrigation. Finding the pins is important, and necessary, for installing a fence as well as helping me with the potential problem of the sprinklers. My dad, the civil engineer, helped us out big time. He brought over a metal detector and we found them pretty quickly, then I exposed them for the fence crew. That was a couple months ago. When it eventually got warm enough, when I was confident the ground wasn't frozen, I turned on the winterized irrigation system. This was a process I'd never done before but wasn't too bad. Quick steps: start outside, turn the two screws 90 degrees and reinstall the removed white cap to seal the pipe, turn off the two values (perpendicular), then inside open the water to the irrigation system (all the way!), back outside slowly open one value at a time and make sure there are no leaks, including on the back-flow preventer. Once water is in the system use the controller box (mine's in the garage) to run the sprinkler zones.
After seeing where all the sprinklers are located and eyeballing the property pins, only a couple appeared too close to the fence line. These were the ones in the two back corners of our property. I decided, as had always been the thought, to move them myself. It couldn't be that hard right? I was just moving them in. After completing the work this last weekend, here's what I learned.
The soft, flexible plastic pipe (polyethylene) is a good distance below the ground (10 inches maybe) and connects to the bottom of the sprinkler heads. This means you can confidently dig around the sprinkler as long as you don't put the entire shovel into the ground. Still, you want to make sure you don't damage the sprinkler or the pipe. Start by cutting out the grass where you're going to dig and set it aside. Do this well and you can just put it back when you're done. Then dig around the sprinkler and go more carefully as you get to the bottom. I used a wheelbarrow to store the dirt. Once you expose it you can free the head and the pipe easily. Next dig out the new location. Make sure these two spots are connected in one big hole or with a trench. Again take out the sod and enough dirt so the sprinkler head and pipe can be deep enough in the ground.
Then you move the head. The actual sprinkler unscrews from a right-angle coupler that connects the head and pipe. Spin it counterclockwise on the threading to remove. After that you also need to remove the coupler from the pipe in the ground. I wasn't able to do this with my bare hands so skipped it and first cut the poly pipe to the length needed to reach the new location without kinking the line. A new tool was ideal for this, a poly pipe cutter, which was the only purchase I made to complete this project. With the cut out length of pipe and the coupler inside it, I used a utility knife to make several cuts to loosen the coupler. Once it's free, the coupler gets re-inserted into the pipe in the ground by twisting it clockwise until sufficiently in. With the pipe and coupler ready in the new location, twist the sprinkler head back on as well. It's ready to be buried. Holding it with one hand, throw in enough dirt to hold the sprinkler in place. Then fill the hole and replace the sod. Hopefully everything fits together nicely. I, naturally, spent more time than I needed to trying to get the grass and ground looking nice.
What was left was to make sure it all worked and the heads pointed the right way. I was happy to see both sprinklers still worked like a charm but I did have to work on their aim. After fiddling and trying to repoint one in particular, I gave up and watched a(nother) YouTube video. Turns out with my system, Rain Bird, you want to use the provided green-handled, screwdriver-like tool. Ours is kept with the controller box in the garage. Here's how you establish the aim. First set the left edge, this is a fixed point. Then insert the tool into the top of the head, where's there's a two-way arrow with +/- symbols, and turn to increase or decrease the rotation. You can actually test how far it'll go in each direction without turning on the zone by physically spinning the pop-up part of the sprinkler with your fingers. Once the two edges are where you want them it's a good idea to run it and make sure it all still works as desired.
This all took me longer than it probably should have, but I like to think I have a good idea what I'm doing now. Hopefully those two sprinklers are well within the fence line and none of the others are a problem either. Even if they are, I can fix them.
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