In most parts of the world, irrigation system installation is a trade skill that requires education.
Designing and planning the layout for an irrigation system is a complex process. It involves water pressure testing, head output calculations and extensive knowledge in the irrigation field.
In our local area, companies just best guess the layouts and skip the design process. This often leads to a few issues including overwatering some areas while underwatering other areas. It also leads to a spotty lawn from the areas the water doesn't reach sufficiently. They also don't provide proper head to head coverage. We'll go over this important aspect later in this article.
What Does a Irrigation Design Detail?
Irrigation designs vary from project to project. Their main goal is to determine which heads go where and how they should be laid out throughout the yard. A standard irrigation design will include the following:
Property Layout / Head Design - Includes a diagram of the property with building locations, sometimes general dimensions. Includes the head locations with spray patterns and zone layout.
Installation Diagram - Includes the locations of the pipes, house spigots, outlet locations, location of the irrigation manifolds, wiring and controller.
Proper Water Coverage
As mentioned earlier in this article. Property water coverage is an important aspect of every lawn irrigation system. We use head to head coverage on our lawn sprinkler installations. This means the spray streams reach at least 80% of the way to the next head(s).
Irrigation heads spray more water closer to the head and as the distance of the stream moves on, the stream disperses more, meaning the further the stream goes, the less it waters the lawn. Due to this fact, head to head coverage is an essential aspect of each irrigation system.