- 1). If you have not marked you lawn already with stakes and twine for the sprinkler pipe runs, you will need to do so now. The stakes should be been placed where the sprinkler heads will be located. You can even identify each stake with what type of sprinkler you wish to use there. Once you have your lawn marked out for each sprinkler circuit and are happy with the runs and sprinkler locations (if not, the stakes and rope allow you to change things easily) use a marking chalk (white powder) to indicate where you want the trenches dug. You can remove the twine but with the stakes move them over a foot or two, perpendicular to the trench line. You don't want to lose the locations of your sprinklers.
- 2). Using a trenching machine (Ditch Witch) or shovels cut straight runs into the lawn about 10" deep. Try to ensure that the end of each run is the deepest point in the run. Also be careful not to cut through any underground plumbing (such as the main water line) and/or any electrical wires (this is less likely but it is good to be aware of).
- 3). Dig a deeper trench to where you want to tap into the main water source line. This trench should be deeper than the sprinkler lines. This will probably be around 1.5 feet deep. You will probably want to manually dig this run, especially as you get near the main line. When you get to the main water line dig out a good section around it, so that the plumber will have access.
- 4). The plumber will be installing a tap into the main line running to your house from the street meter (or from where ever your meter is). Make sure you tell the plumber you want to add an inline shutoff valve to your sprinkler manifold from the main line tap (Tee). Get a brass valve with an accessible control handle. If you dig up (trench) the ground from the main line tap to your manifold before the plumber arrives you can limit his work to just installing the tap (Tee) and shutoff valve. This should save you a bit of money. Make sure your sprinkler manifold connection side of the check valve has 3/4" NPT female threads. If the valve has 1" threads just buy a brass bushing to adapt down to 3/4" female threads. Us Teflon tape on the threads of the bushing when installing.
In Part 4 of how to install a sprinkler system we will cover how to put together the watering stations manifold assembly.
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