What Happens on Sprinkler Installation Day in Eastern Iowa

If you've never had a sprinkler system installed, the process can feel like a mystery. A crew shows up, a machine rolls onto the lawn, and a short while later you have heads in the grass and a controller on the garage wall. Here's what actually happens, in order, so you know what to expect before anyone parks a truck in your driveway.

Before anyone digs: the design and the flags

Every system starts with a design. A certified designer lays out the zones to fit your property and your water supply, and follows the building and water-use codes that apply where you live. Larger commercial and athletic jobs get a detailed plan showing every sprinkler, valve and timer. A home gets the same care, drawn around your yard instead of a template.

Then comes a step many homeowners don't expect. Before any pipe goes in, the layout is flagged out on your lawn. Small flags mark where the heads will sit, so you can walk the yard and see the plan at full size. If a flag is in the wrong place, say so. Maybe the play area needs different coverage, or a bed by the porch needs a different approach. Moving a flag takes seconds. Moving a buried head takes a shovel. The install starts once you approve the layout.

Fleming Irrigation gives free estimates on new installations, and the flagged walk-through is where an estimate turns into something you can see and touch.

Pipe without a trench

The most common worry is that the whole yard will be torn up. That's not how it goes. Instead of cutting an open trench along every line, the crew uses a machine that pulls the pipe underground. The line is drawn through the soil and the turf stays in place, so the yard looks like a yard again much sooner than it would after trenching.

Planting beds are handled differently. Shrub and perennial areas are dug by hand, because a machine would tear up roots you've spent years growing. Hand digging is slower. It's also the right way to work around plants that matter to you.

Heads, valves and the details you won't see later

Once the main lines are in, the crew moves to the parts that decide how well the system works. The hole for each head is dug by hand. Valves are assembled on site. Then the heads are set and adjusted, and this is where a careful crew earns its keep.

• Heads are placed so the spray from each one reaches the next, which is what head-to-head coverage means.
• Arcs are adjusted so water lands on grass and not on the driveway, the sidewalk or the siding.
• The layout is designed to keep coverage even when it's windy and when demand on the water supply is high.
• Every zone is run to confirm the heads pop up, spray where they should and stop when they should.

An experienced site manager is on the property for the whole installation. If something unexpected turns up underground, like an old line, a buried rock or a patch of ground that drains oddly, there is a person right there who knows what to do about it. You don't have to wait for a phone call back to the office.

The walk-through at the end

When the system is in, the crew doesn't hand you a manual and drive off. You get a demonstration of the controller, the water supply and the rain sensor. You see how a schedule is set, how to run a single zone, and how the rain sensor puts the system on standby. Ask every question you have. This is the right time to ask them.

Scott Geweke, a customer, put it this way in a Google review: “Very professional, answered all questions. Excellent clean up, yard looks great when done.” Clean-up is part of the job, and a good crew treats it that way.

You also get an as-built drawing. It records where the pipe, valves and heads actually ended up, which can differ a little from where the plan said they'd go. Fleming keeps a copy in permanent files. Years from now, when you want to add a flower bed, a patio or a fence, that drawing tells you where not to dig. It also lets a technician find a problem without guessing.

After the install

Every installation carries a full warranty on parts and labor. And a sprinkler system isn't a one-time purchase you can forget. It needs a spring start-up, a fall blowout and the occasional repair, and when you do call for service, most requests are filled the same day. Fleming has been installing and servicing systems since 1983, and a lot of its work comes from referrals, which tells you something about how those first installs go.

If you're thinking about a system for a home in Cedar Rapids, Marion, North Liberty, Iowa City or nearby, call Fleming Irrigation at (319) 393-9229 or send a note through the contact page. Estimates on new installations are free.