Help! I need a sprinkler guy.

[BPTactical]

Nozzles on the heads are critical, they come with different GPM and arc specs.
Water pressure is critical as well, your average home water supply is usually in the 60-80 psi range and usually that is too much for your average home pop up head. You end up with too fine of a spray that is prone to wind drift so a regulator or flow control at the solenoid valves may be required. The flow control does nothing for the pressure, but at least allows you to reduce the flow so you get a gentle drizzle instead of a hurricane spray and the water ends up everywhere but where it needs to be.
The system needs to be balanced with GPM, pressure, head/nozzle selection and head to head coverage.
Toro,RainBird and Hunter all have very helpful tips on their websites as well as the CSU Agricultural extension.

Two a day watering schedules also have a big advantage on Colorado soil. If you run a single say, 30 minute time for each zone a good amount of the water you are putting down runs off or puddles.
Split that into two 15 minute cycles and the first watering has a chance to soak in and then the soil is much more receptive to the second cycle.

[jreifsch80]

Flow is equally as I
Portent as psi you could have 60 psi but only 3 gpm of flow. Psi mainly becomes more important when dealing with longer mainlines.

Up north here when I was installing irrigation systems it was extremely rare for there to be a psi of over 60 and usually was around 55 psi but yours could be completely different also you can get flow regulating sprinkler valves usually all you need to do is replace just the bonet and diaphragm from the new flow control valve to the old one if it's the same brand. There are also pressure reducers that can be installed but I highly doubt your problem is too much pressure

[Jer]

don't water in the middle of the day as the water will be wasted through evaporation and water droplets can burn grass much like a magnifying glass

This is simply not true although I hear it a lot. When you're hot, do you stay away from water because it makes you hotter? Same thing for the grass. Watering a few minutes per zone during the heat of the day can help to cool the grass back down to keep it from becoming stressed out. The reason this story keeps going around is that tree-huggers try to scare people into conservation as it isn't as efficient as watering in the early morning or at night. Also, watering at night will allow for mold growth since the grass basically won't be utilizing the water hardly at all w/o the sun. The best time to water is early in the morning and then you can water for short periods throughout the day to cool the water during especially hot, dry and windy days like we're experiencing now. Wind plays a HUGE roll in all this that most home owners don't realize. It's one thing to be dry and hot but throw high wind into this and it's a nightmare to keep your soil moist.

I also second what someone said about Trugreen. They don't give a crap about your lawn and only care about your regular payments. Keep it simple: Water, regular mowing and fertilizer. Do those three things as best as you can you will find that your lawn is as nice as any in your neighborhood.

[Monky]

Man I wish you sprinkler smart people lived closer.. I need to add some heads and I have NO idea how.

Basically when I bought my house it had a sprinkler system in it, but they installed it stupid. Several zones have FAR too many heads and my biggest part of the yard has too few. Only one on each corner, and it doesn't cover the whole area.

I was wanting to add about 4 more heads for coverage, or if I can change the heads to something w/ more flow to get the coverage I need that'd be great too.

I know it'd be an easy thing to do.. I just have no clue how to do it.

I could however provide a nice bottle of whatever you like to drink

[JohnTRourke]

aren't homeowners/DIY's great????????

almost always it's really better to start over.

but no one ever does, they add and put things here and there and try and make it work.

in the long run it costs a LOT more water.

[Jer]

aren't homeowners/DIY's great????????

almost always it's really better to start over.

but no one ever does, they add and put things here and there and try and make it work.

in the long run it costs a LOT more water.

So, let me see if I understand you correctly.

Option 1: Prep land for new sod, buy new sod and lay new sod plus watering in new sod (probably as much as he would use to try to bring his established lawn back in all actuality). That's either a LOT of work to a novice homeowner and equipment rental or a lot of money in labor to an expert.

Option 2: More water.

You really think option 2 will cost more than option 1? You're talking maybe an extra $100/mo (on the high end) over what he normally spends on watering or potentially thousands for a whole new yard.

Now, w/o pictures of the guy's yard it's hard to say if it's really beyond saving but based on what he's described the mistake was I have a hard time believing it's a lost cause unless this occurred two months ago and the owner hasn't even gotten his watering hoses out for the season once yet. My guess is if the guy has had a healthy yard every other time his idea of 'brown' is going to be a lot different than some other's idea of brown who have never watered or mowed their rental property's yard.

Edit: Actually, I may be confusing this thread with another one of nearly the same topic. Bah! I give up.

[BPTactical]

You left out option #3

Green concrete and rubber Palm trees

[Jer]

You left out option #3

Green concrete and rubber Palm trees

In our other neighborhood we had a guy who paved his entire back yard.

[Marlin]

In our other neighborhood we had a guy who paved his entire back yard.

I can can almost top that. The old 'hood, about mid 70's The guy down the street, River rock, the whole front yard and all of the back yard. The only "green things" he had was two trees and a couple of bushes.

[JohnTRourke]

So, let me see if I understand you correctly.

Option 1: Prep land for new sod, buy new sod and lay new sod plus watering in new sod (probably as much as he would use to try to bring his established lawn back in all actuality). That's either a LOT of work to a novice homeowner and equipment rental or a lot of money in labor to an expert.

why would you need a new yard?
I'm confused
We're talking sprinkler systems here.
the tap is done, a clock exists, everything else is relatively straight forward.
Probably $1500 bucks in parts and rental of a trencher or a pipe puller at most. probably less.

new correctly designed system.

My water bills can exceed $300 a month in the summer (and this month is going to be ridiculous) and I have a well designed system (pretty big yard).

If we can knock $100 off a month from not running twice as much, in 15 months it's paid for. that's about 3 years of watering.

that pays for itself.

Plus, the grass is green and the system works.

I never said or alluded to replacing the yard. that's plain silly.