Home Improvement Today?

That looks so much better and more functional than the original decking.

 

Hard to believe that's what was there before. Deck was all rotted and underbilt. Was only nailed into the house. Home
Inspector said more than 10 people on it, more than likely would collapse. I'm happy house the patio and steps are turning out.

 

Haha good catch, that's Deacon.

 

Ok....I am officially sick of architects that do not field measure anything. I am officially pissed off at subcontractors that are not there on time and compromise the quality of work. I am really pissed off at the owner of the company I work for, continuing to use both of the the prior examples, then having me fix their mistakes and asking “what’s taking so long?.....ok I am done, just needed to vent....better you guys than the wife and kids.

 

Have you ever done sprinkler layout and planning before? Replacing everything in place may be a mistake if the pressure isn't right and the heads are not placed for overlapping spray head to head. Loops and short branches to avoid pressure loss. Also, I strongly suggest swing joints for all your heads. It makes correct height placement so much easier, and will eliminate many broken heads and frustration down the road.

Check out irrigationtutorials.com

 

I've got the drawings the landscape architect did for the backyard 24 years ago. Assuming the irrigation was a professional job. One inch main trunk has 3/4" offshoots. Seems like it'd have pretty good coverage. 16 heads for a relatively small lawn. My first thought was patch the bad parts and replace the heads. Now I'm thinking if I've got it all dug up I might as well just replace the whole thing since PVC is cheap and I don't ever want to dig this thing up again. This is all foreign to me so I'm going under the assumption the installers knew what they were doing in 1994 or at least knew a lot more than me. Not trying to overcomplicate things but your swing joints seem like a good idea.

 

The digging is the hardest damn part. The rest is easy if you have a plan. The hydraulic haven't changed since 94, so if you have those plans and a pro did it, you are probably fine replicating it. But it would not hurt to throw a pressure gauge on it to make sure there are no hidden issues. Next question: do you know how to fill a hole? Serious. Consider using sand around the pipes, pick out the rocks, and do it in lifts.

 

Had to laugh at that, but yea I get what you're saying. Soil isn't very rocky - hard clay. I'm planning to just replicate what was there, hook up everything and get it working, check for leaks and then fill it all back in. Will have to see if I need to use sand or not - gut feeling is no.

Can you explain?

 

Fill the hole gradually a few inches (a lift) at a time, compacting each layer before adding the next. Really important for the deepest one around the pipes to make sure they are bedded with good support below the pipe (this is the part where sand is good). This helps prevent damage from traffic above, and prevents unwanted settling later that can create shallow surface trenches that are visible and are tripping hazards.

 

Thanks. Will let you know how I make out.

 

Good luck, man. Forgive me, for I work with water conveyance engineers and geotechs. I can never look at these things without all that going through my head, LOL.

 

I appreciate the feedback and guidance. Like I said, this is my first time messing with sprinklers in the desert. Where I'm from God waters the lawn.

 

We have a saying in the West. Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting over.

 

Also, during this process I found that there is a water supply line that bypasses the valves, parallels the sprinklers to the center of the yard, 90s toward the house and ends, capped off, about a foot from the house next to an outlet. Any ideas of something fun to use it for? Guessing original owner thought about putting a fountain in or something. If not I'm just going to cut and cap it by the valves because I hit the f'er with a shovel about halfway through the run and it erupted like a goddamn geyser and scared the shit out of me since I had turned everything off at the valves (Not the supply by the main).

 

Kind of a gratifying resolution... I did nothing more as far as replacing parts. Took a shower this morning and it drained like a champ, no standing water in the tub when the shower head was running. (before the dissection of the drum trap and snaking in both directions I had standing water of as much as an inch during a shower, upon the first snaking attempt it appeared to still drain slowly so I tried again and once again I found standing water with the shower running, but this morning it was different) I went through old photos to look into the bathroom plumbing wall and found two! So I updated my documentation for those who were helping me out thank you. Here is what I found. I will keep an eye on it and see what happens.

 

Wow those are much closer than I was imagining. I think you'd have a hard time cutting out 2 without having to replace 1 also. Hope it continues to work for ya.

 

It is tight quarters given all the space in the basement they decided to have everything tucked up into the floor joist... but there is a 3" piece between the wyes' 1 & 2 this would be enough room to cut out wye 2 and replace with a rubber joint if required in the future.
I might apply some C-L-R to the internals via tub drain to assist in stabilizing the pipes to prevent the burs from catching hair.

 

Drinking water fountain. But that kinda depends on visual issues/code violations and also if there is enough room around it to fight over the water with your neighbors.

If there is a way to tie in sewer nearby, al fresco urinal and drinking water fountain.