[modhatter]

House I am supposed to purchase supposedly has a sprinkler system in the front and back yard, but by the looks of things I don't think it must be functioning very well. I thought that perhaps the current owners just didn't want to spend money on water, so I called up water company and found that their water bill is averaging about $89 in summer (no pool) One tree in front and a couple of bushes and dead lawn or dirt everywhere else. Having a hard time figuring that one out based on what you all say you pay for water.

But, that's not my question. If I close on this house, I will want to do some desert landscaping and incorporating some grass area in the back and maybe small patch in front and add more flowering plants. As it does not have a drip system, is this something that can be added to current sprinklers? I would need sprinklers for the lawn area, but in watching YouTube, someone said if you convert a section of your existing sprinkler, you have to cap the rest of that line. Have any of you done this successfully and still been able to water a lawn?

It's a fair size lot of about 6500+ sq ft. Anyone combine the two together? I know you can run a line for drip off a hose bib and set a timer using either battery or AC if you have one near your hose bib. I set one of those up on a small patio area once, but didn't work very long. (Did not have electric-only battery) However, that would be restrictive in the area you could cover with it, I would think. What's been your experience with this? Any sprinkler guys you might recommend by the way? House is in NW near Centenial.

[WestieJeff]

You won't be able to mix drip and sprinkler on the same valve/lines. Drip needs to run for like an hour at a time, you'd flood your yard (and have a very expensive water bill) if you had sprinklers on that long. You'll need to either add valves, add lines, or some mixture of the two. Unless there is already multiple valves that you could convert one of those existing valves to drip, but you'd have to disable whatever sprinklers that valve was connected to.

[MediocreButArrogant]

You can add additional valves to your manifold so you can have one more more drip zones separate from your lawn sprinklers. They should be separate since frequency and run time are so different. Right now my lawn gets five minute waterings three times a day, every day, while the drips run twice per day for 30 minutes each, three days per week. As you can see, it wouldn't work well if they were controlled by a single valve.

Depending on the condition of the existing stuff, you might just want to replace all of it.

[lvoc]

It can be finessed. Drip does not have to be conventional drip. There are heads that can go on a sprinker system to make part of it semi-drip. I have converted some segments of my sprinkler runs to bubblers and such to limit the waste of water. And ongoing task...we continue to modify.

My front is two conventional sprinkler runs and a 50 head drip. The sprinklers run 8 minutes twice a day and the drip 50 minutes once.

My back is four conventional sprinklers and four mixed sprinker/drip. The only thing in the back that uses conventional drip heads though is the pots on the patio. The rest is all bubblers or tight sprinklers.

[yellowsnow]

Originally Posted by modhatter

House I am supposed to purchase supposedly has a sprinkler system in the front and back yard, but by the looks of things I don't think it must be functioning very well. I thought that perhaps the current owners just didn't want to spend money on water, so I called up water company and found that their water bill is averaging about $89 in summer (no pool) One tree in front and a couple of bushes and dead lawn or dirt everywhere else. Having a hard time figuring that one out based on what you all say you pay for water.

I think you have a bigger problem. A bill that high with no lawn, pool, etc, screams LEAK to me. And some of those leaks can be quite expensive to repair especially if they are under the foundation of the house. The only time I have had a bill even close to that was the month I filled my pool twice because of some repair work. The water company can tell you if the water is running 24 hours a day. Ask!

I'm surprised you want lawn. Do you REALLY want to pay for water and have to mow it? Have you checked out fake grass?

[dynimagelv]

for years n years i had full grass in the front...watered mowed fought with it....

We moved 6 weeks ago to kingman az....beautiful mobile home on a big lot....not one blade f grass....total desert landscaping....


I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111

[timothyaw]

Originally Posted by dynimagelv

for years n years i had full grass in the front...watered mowed fought with it....

We moved 6 weeks ago to kingman az....beautiful mobile home on a big lot....not one blade f grass....total desert landscaping....


I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111

Gone for good?? Location still says LV as well. Congratulations on your new place!

[dynimagelv]

have places in both places.....and even tho GONE LV is still home for the last 50 years

[modhatter]

Well, I will probably take out grass in front - what there is of it and do all desert in front.
But I have two dogs so would like some grass in back. Picking up poop off of rocks seems like
it would be difficult, and also hot on their feet in the summer. Otherwise, I would go with all
desert landscaping.

If you have a leak under the house, don't you usually hear water running. I had one occur in my
house, and I was able to hear water running in walls. How do you go about checking that
out? I only have a seven day window and would need to have someone lined up.

I don't think the regular home inspector would be able to go that far.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by modhatter

Well, I will probably take out grass in front - what there is of it and do all desert in front.
But I have two dogs so would like some grass in back. Picking up poop off of rocks seems like
it would be difficult, and also hot on their feet in the summer. Otherwise, I would go with all
desert landscaping.

If you have a leak under the house, don't you usually hear water running. I had one occur in my
house, and I was able to hear water running in walls. How do you go about checking that
out? I only have a seven day window and would need to have someone lined up.

I don't think the regular home inspector would be able to go that far.

Standard test. There is a small indicator on the water meter that is very sensitive. If you have a leak of any size it will be moving.

The bill does sound excessive. So I would check.