#welp i got to go move some more dirt if it's not raining

[rasangan-raspberry]

Here is more of that zolu comic that I started at work the other day

[nightfall-kachiniko]

I never thought I would make it.

“Congratulations cadets, you are officially deemed a soldier, welcome to the scouting regiment,”

It’s hard to believe im even still alive.

You stood in the crowd of your now newly named comrades, your fist over your heart as it pounded in and out of your chest. Realization overcoming you as you looked around the crowd. “Seven..no eight..” You mumbled, counting the peoples heads. One in particular stuck out to you. “Oh, the quiet girl who’s always with Eren?” You questioned yourself, as an answer popped into your head about her cause of joining, “Probably for him..”

It had been days since your promotion from cadet to soldier.

The people all around the lunch room talking and chatted as you sat at the table with Eren, Armin and Mikasa. Jean sat next to you with Sasha and Connie across the table, right beside Mikasa. “That wasn’t fair! The captain doesn’t understand how hard i’m trying to master my titan ability!” The emerald eyed teen whined, hiding his face in her elbow in stress. “I’d say not to worry about it Eren,” Mikasa suggested in response as she sipped her soup.

“Yeah, Mikasa’s right!” Artlert exclaimed, “There's no way he’ll punish you for that incident earlier, it was after all an accident!” He shrugged, reassuring Eren.

“I just hope he doesn’t tell section commander Hange to help me with it.. They’re nuts,”

“Keep in mind you don’t need to master it, just gain control,” You blattered out, overhearing their conversation. The black haired girl with the red scarf looked towards you, her eyes narrowed in a stren confusion. “A-ah..er.. Sorry I didn’t mean to intrude in your conversation..” You blushed as she looked at you, your eyes quickly moving away, hiding the rose that came upon your face. “Your fine,” She said, looking away from you. “That’s okay y/n! Thanks for the advi-”

“THATS IT!” Eren suddenly yelled, pounding the table with his fist. “You’re right y/n! I just need to have control!” The brown haired boy realized with a smile on his face. “Thanks!”

“O-oh uhm no problem!” You said in his response.

The girl still had her eyes on you, almost as if she was watching you closely, observing you. Even during training, Mikasa’s eyes always fell right onto you. It was as if she was watching a child.

“AGH! ANNIE OKAY!” You yelled in hailt for your fighting trainer to stop. The dirt flew in your eyes as you crashed to the ground, your body in a sharp pain. You tried clearing the dirt in your eyes as you were kicked in the side. “AH! I SAID STOP GODDAMNIT!” You backed up, wiping your eyes. “That hurt like a bitch..” You grumbed, the side of your stomach in pain. “Its not my fault your skills in hand-to-hand combat are awful,” The blonde said, staring at you below her. “You think you could go a bit slower next time?! This is training where we help each other improve, not kick each other's asses!”

“Hey,” A familiar voice called out, steps getting closer. “That was uncalled for, Leonhart,”

“Hm?” The blonde looked behind you, The voice coming closer, “And so what if it wasn’t?” Annie said, her arms crossed at her chest. You felt an intensity gain in the atmosphere. The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Mikasa, still glaring Annie down, crouched at you side, “Are you alright Y/n?” The females voice questioned. You wiped your eyes with your shirt, water coming out as well as the sand that had been in your eyes. “Here,” Mikasa handed a tissue to you as you wiped with that instead. She stood up, glaring the blonde down, predator on pray. “You need to be more gente, keep in mind what would happen if you got caught by Captian hurting someone,”

Annie scoffed and brushed the hair out of her face, “Yeah, you’re right, but this is training, I can be as hard as I want on Y/n, after all, we’re soldiers remember?”

“Yeah, I remember, and you sure as hell don’t look like one,” Mikasa replied, leaving the blonde’s face more aggravated. A crowd suddenly formed behind them, “Oh shit are they about to fight?” Connie said, looking at the both of them and how their eyes locked sternly onto each other “No way! I’ve gotta see!” Sasha looked up from her plastic knife. Woah..wait.. Your mind wondered, are they seriously about to do this? Right now? Here? Mikasa’s the most calm and collected person I know.. And here she is, about to fight Annie.

“If you’re looking for a fight all because Y/n here is too weak, then bring it,” Leonhart smirked, holding out her hands in a steady punching position. “I’m always ready for anything,”

And with that Mikasa walked over to Annie, looking down at the girl. “Go ahead, hit me and see what happens,”

“Oh god…” Eren mumbled to himself, “why right now..”

“Mikasa! I don’t think this is a good idea!” Armin shouted at her.

“No, it’s a great one,” Mikasa looked over her shoulder at him, his face cautious, “Let’s see what you’ve got, Annie,”

You were frozen in position, too much in shock to get up. Why is she fighting over me? I mean nothing to her? Don’t I..?

“Try me, you bitch,”

“Brats break it up!” The captain yelled from across the yard, heading over to Mikasa and Annie. Levi pushed them apart from each other, scolding them, “Your lucky I don’t have much trouble with the both of you then I have with Kirsten and Jaeger,” His face in annoyance as he spoke. “Back to training you idiots, and I better not see it again,”

It seemed as though the days of being a newly graduated soldier were over as you soared through the sky. Enemies surrounded all around you as you drew your blade slicing the Jaw titan. Mikasa at your side as she helped take him down. Eren had became a monster, sneaking off to a forgien country and killing thousands of innocent civilians. It was all so new to the survey corps, and taking lives was something you didn't necessarily have a liking for.

All the screaming and yelling as the battle continued. You sprung your ODM gear onto the top of a building with terrified residents inside, their screams coming from the open window. You looked down as ash filled the air along with smoke. All around you laid bodies of people who no longer existed, their deceased corpses laid under rubble, some torn in half, some crushed. Wetness fell down your face like rain as you realized the situation before you.

“Y/N! KEEP MOVING!” Your girlfriend said as her black hair moved in the wind, her hand slightly touching your shoulder as she moved swiftly past you, her blades drawn and swinging at the Warhammer titan. Wiping your tears as you got a move on, avoiding the chaos to get a better look.

“But,” You studdered out, “what about the childre-”

A corpse of a little boy, no older than 8 laid beneath you, his head crushed open, a arm band on his shoul. “Why…”

“TONIGHT WE HONOR OUR SEVEN FALLEN COMRADES BY CELEBRATING ANOTHER STEP CLOSER TO ELDIAS VICTORY!” The soldiers all roared as Foster cheered them on.

“Is that everyone?” Jean called out after helping you on the aircraft, his hand in your pulling you up. “I think so!” You called back to him from above. Connie yanked you in the airship, fully getting inside as you rolled on the floor. “Geez con, mind being a bit more careful? Since where’d you get all that strength from?” Groaning out, you complained.

“Too much strength for a bald man anyways,” Sasha Joked around as Connie punched her in the arm, letting out a laugh. “Thanks you guys,” You softly smiled, “I really needed that,”

“Mission been hard for ya?” The bearded man questioned. “Yeah, really hard,”

“We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for that bozo looking guy in the back with Captain, Armin and Mikasa,” The brunette female said in annoyance, rolling her eyes as she fixed her gear, adjusting it. “I know right,” Jean commented, “We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him,”

“I’m just glad I still have you two,” The guy with barely any hair said, hugging Jean and Sasha. “You guys are important to me,”

He glanced up at you who was removing your heavy gear from your side, “And you too y/n,”

“Well thank you for making me feel included,” You joked around. Standing up as you lower the bottom of your shirt, “Welp, Imma go see where Eren is and try and get some sympathy for the innocent lives he killed out of him,”

“I doubt the suicidal maniac will have any to spare,” Jean rolled his eyes as a you smiled at his stupid remark. “Hopefully over dinner we can all talk and catch up while they're interrogating Eren ,”

“I Hope we’re having meat tonight!” The snack loving girl exclaimed, a glare of joy and hope in her eyes. “Me too we haven't had any in ages,” You crossed your arms. Jean gave you a soft smile before saying, “Later Y/n,”

“Alrighty,” You said, closing the door behind you as you stepped into the room where he was being held. Your girlfriend, Mikasa gave you a glance and a smile, love in her eyes as you responded by doing the same. Clearing your throat before looking away as the blush rose upon your faec you placed your eyes on Eren.

You stood next to Mikasa and Armin looking at the boy who you knew, but it was apparent to all of you that you no longer did. “I see the whole gang is here,” Zeke said, trying to kid around with his brother. “Shut up,” Captain spoke at the blonde with glasses, his legs steaming as well as Eren’s. Both of their hands were tied behind their back, Eren looked numbly to the floor, no expression to appear besides coldness. “You did put on a show Levi cutting off my limbs like that,”

“I’m glad I still, a shitbag like you doesn't deserve them,”

Levi glared down at the man, anger in his tone as he harshly spoke to him. “Eren,” You stated his name as Jaeger looked up at you, “Why did you decide to do this?” The brunette looked to the side, his once glowing emerald eyes now stone cold. “...” No words came out of his mouth, his expression not changing either. “Did you do this in a rage like you always do?”

So many unanswered questions roamed your head, dying for an answer. “We haven't seen you in months!” You shouted, getting angry with him. “And then you send us letters, demanding us to help you with this-!”

“I never begged you to do this y/n,” Eren finally spoke, his head still hanging low. “You basically did! You knew we would come, and you knew Mikasa would as well, and the rest of us!” Your lips spat at him in ignorance and frustration.

“You did all this for what use? What was the outcome of this besides getting Zeke!?”

Yet again no words. You sighed as you mumbled an “by the walls,” In frustration. “God this is no use is it?” your fingers pinching the bridge of your nose.

“Is this all a part of your revenge on the Marleyans?! On Annie Bertoldt and Reiner?!”

“Yes it is,” His hair hung in his face, messy and greasy locks tangled together. He looked like he was in terrible condition, malnourished and unhygienic.

“...wow, I can’t believe you.. Innocent kids over people who wronged you, Is death all you talk about?”

He nodded his head, glaring into your eyes as you paused, then looked at your feet. Mikasa grabbed your hand, holding it. “Thats enough y/n, he isn’t going to cooperate anyways,” She said in a calm manner, trying to avoid any argumenments.

“I doubt any-”

The sound of the heavy metal door coming open stopped you dead in your sentence, Jean came into the room along with 2 kids you had never seen before. His hand on their shoulders as the kids arms were tied together with rope.

“Jean?” Mikasa said, looking at him with a confused expression on her face. “Who are these brats?” The captain asked, annoyance in his voice.

“These kid’s snuck on board using Lobvo’s gear,” He explained.

“And this one,” Jean pointed to the brown haired girl, “Shot Sasha,”

A flame of shock came over you all as you looked at each other, Armin and Mikasa rushed out the room, tears building up in their eyes. You followed along with them as you whipped open the door.

“SASHA!” Mikasa said, running over to the injured woman and crouching to the ground. Armin went next to her side, Shaking her barely conscious body. “Are we...eating yet…..?” She whispered, a croak in her voice.

“SASHA PLEASE STAY WITH US!” Armin yelled, cupping her cheek and sobbing. All you could do was stand there, shock upon your face and your mouth agape.

“Why are you guys…..being...so...loud..”

Tears and sniffles along with screams of plea flooded the room, just as how it was outside. You put your hand over your mouth, slowly backing away as you cried to yourself. Backing against the wall and tears streaming down your face as you curled yourself into a ball.

“When will this ever end?”

[shadowdianne]

22. OC.

XoXo pregnant anonimo

OCs you asked so OCs I give you :P I tried to keep the infodumping at minimum but welp Xd Couldn’t stop myself. The lore of this one is turning out to be glorious but I still need to make some editings here and there so bear with me.

Kisses in the rain

Akta let the ruby fall from her right hand as she completed the summoning circle, the chalk on her hands disintegrating from the mix of her inner heat and the strength in which she grabbed onto it. Black eyes going over the runes she was supposed to write, she felt her lips tremble the incantation, readying herself for when she would need to whisper it into the drawn lines.

She hated feeling this nervous; she hadn’t sacrificed what she had done for acting like a blushing newbie when it came to a simple summoning and yet, as she straightened her posture, puffing away a stray of brunette hair that had fallen over her eyes, curly, damp, she kept on going back to the opened book between her feet where the ruby now reposed, waiting. It should work, she thought with prying eyes as the thunder from outside the dilapidated warehouse strengthened ever so slightly. No one would come to the outermost part of the Circle, the strange lights that often created blue and golden fire when approached by too much ozone were enough to keep strangers at bay; and the ones living within the city proper knew better than to go out after the second bell had chanted its tune. Yet, despite knowing herself alone, she kept on feeling the sense of someone watching from over her shoulder. A gift, a distant memory, of her master. Cursing to herself in a dialect so short tempered she guessed not even the ghosts that could very well roam outside were able to understand her, she knelt once more, biting the tip of her thumb’s finger until drawing enough blood to create a thin coat over the gem’s most immediate surface.

The séance was ready, all she needed to do was close the circle and call forth the demon’s name,

They had gone about this a million times, or, rather, Akta had while trying to account for everything that could go wrong. She had kept as much of a poker face as possible, of course, but she had been able to feel Thyria’s eyes on her, the shadow of them, at least, the vague feeling of fingernails tapping against a surface they weren’t able to truly touch.

The brunette couldn’t truly blame the other, but she had kept a level gaze whenever the question came blazing through Thyria’s voice.

“Once we get the gem I’ll liberate you.” The words had been said through gritted teeth, the thousand other things she also thought -how she knew Thyria was on their right to doubt the reasons why she kept on helping them, how she knew they would have a very slim chance for it to work given that she would be rewriting a botched séance on the hopes for it to liberate the badly called demon in order to be free of the bindings done by previous owners- not quite reaching her throat. Doubts didn’t matter, she had said to herself while walking through the hidden tunnels that kept them away from the city above as she reached the factory ring, the sound of thousands of feet against pavement a echo that was ever present, always filling the underground with a spiralling echo that grew and kept on spilling, threatening to drown you if you weren’t careful enough.

But Akta was careful, careful enough to know that she needed to wait, a moment, two, until the first thunder hit the broken spine that circumvallated the entire factory in where the warehouse was located, the dark skies threatening to open up, pour their insides to any bystander that happened to be within reaching distance. The moment a second rumble could be heard, running through the sky, fly over the darkened corners of the dismantled copper and brass details that had been stolen and stripped bare by those daring enough to enter the enclosure through daytime, she struck her hand up, holding the ruby once more as her eyes illuminated, her clothes floating as the soil beneath her, a mismatched mix of cement and dirt, cracked and crumbled, her skin tinting purple from the tips of her pointed ears as she kept on reciting each and every line, the chalk forgotten, melting and hissing as she stepped backwards, her feet leaving behind rivers of energy that bite into the earth as the shadows conglomerated, waiting.

She needed the name, the name that would bind the circle as it carried away its purpose. After that, the chalk would be consumed as well as the blood offering and without a second circle containing it, the energy would, finally, take the body that had been denied before. Or so she hoped.

She spat Thyria’s name, the letters clunky on her mouth as they were written with symbols that were difficult enough for a mortal to keep general practitioners at bay. But Akta wasn’t a general magic user, that much she had demonstrated, and so she called forth the demon, narrowing her eyes and feeling her eyelids heavy as part of her glamour faded away only to be erected back once more by a gentle hand that, still disembodied, reached out towards her with long fingers and enough residual warmth to be physical.

The lines of Thyria’s body came slowly, with fingers being first, shoulders second, neck, legs, back. The armor was also quick to appear, a residual of the aspect that they had been forced to take during that first séance, so many years ago. Swallowing and tasting sulfur, Akta leant into the touch, into fingers that traveled now from her collarbone to her sternum, to the hollow point where a dagger had embedded itself just a little at the right. She kept her stance though, feet firmly planted into the floor and when she heard the crackling thunder growl and echo, she only glanced upwards as the first drops of rain began to fall, a perfectly cut out circle from the crumbling corrugated iron that worked as a ceiling, welcoming her. Rain poured, hitting her, dampening her hair.

“Show-off.” She said, a chuckle blossoming just behind the words as the face of Thyria began to take form, eyes like molten lava quickly transforming into silver, skin darkening until it remembered the color of starless sky, with specks of golden and purple dotting over it every other second.

Thyria tilted their head just as the armor faded away, transformed into a much more practical leather set. They, even, replicated part of the crumbling sign of the guild that had, once upon a time, been in charge of the factory. Akta couldn’t help herself but roll her eyes at them, at the way they smiled, with full lips and sharp eyes, the eyes of one that had seen far too many things in the realms in-between. But so had she.

“You don’t like my appearance?” Thyria pouted as she rose her eyebrows at them, at the way they stood, on the very tips of their feet, hands at her back, mockingly innocent.

“I think-” She replied with a pointed stare around her, from the circle to the sulfur that kept on leaving a stench that grew more and more obvious by the minute. “- that we need to escape from here before we even consider the horns.”

That got a laugh out of the other one. A warm one, the one Akta had learnt the other one possessed after considering it mere energy for so long. Kicking out of her way some of the rubble that surrounded them both, she finally broke the circle with her feet, offering the gem in one fluid movement, the tips of her fingers the last thing that touched the ruby before Thyria picked it up, her own eyes betraying their own glamour for a second as they transformed into molten lava once more, the runes written on the ruby shinning brightly as rain began to fall stronger now, erasing any residual lines that could still be waiting for any curious bystander in a few hours more.

“I will tone it down a little. “Thyria murmured, forked tongue changing to a mortal one, her mouth closing once, then twice, as changes, more minute yet as important taking out some of the preternatural details that would tip anyone with a good pair of eyes of what, who, stood before them.

“Thank you.” Akta began to reply, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she said so. The demon clicked their tongue and Akta felt the hands around her forearms once more, the touch present, with enough weight for the book at her feet being completely forgotten as she took into Thyria’s eyes. “We don’t have the time.” She finally whispered as the demon leaned forward, lips already opening a little, a dark quiet chuckle that betrayed much more glee than the collected, flirty persona they feigned to have, escaping their mouth.

“Not even for a kiss?” The question was full of mirth and Akta didn’t feel like denying herself or them for that matter. Hooking her arms around Thyria’s shoulders she brought her right hand up the short, short hair the demon had decided on, nails digging, chest heaving, as she moved as close as physically possible to Thyria, biting the demon’s tongue as they tried to gain the upper hand through the kiss.

“Don’t even think about it.” She replied while nibbling on the other’s lips. Chuckling, the demon mumbled their agreement while grabbing her by the thighs, digging, painful, real, until Akta separated herself enough to rest her forehead against Thyria’s shoulder. The rain had continued to pour, rivulets falling down as the surface of the book glowed, protected by its natural barrier, some pages threatening to spill out of the shield, thought, out of the way they kept pressing against them, hands still hooked, looped, around them both.

“We need to leave.” Thyria finally spoke, breathless, and Akta hummed, forehead still pressed, one hand traveling to the front where she let it rest against Thyria’s chest, at the way it rose, it moved. Alive, alive alive.

“Let’s go.” She finally said while pushing herself away, her own energy slipping away. “We still need to do a few more things.”

“Together.”

“Together.”

[tree0frog]

memory maze runner x fem reader part two

masterlist

it had been three years since ably was sent up to the maze followed by newt and Minho and so on and on. the diaries had still not been found the new greenie for this month was chuck a small boy around 12-13 and was most likely the youngest in the glade he wasn't really doing much so he was just wondering around the woods when he notices something sticking up from the ground chuck being himself and brode out of his mind went over to the weird thing and pulled it out of of the ground it was a bag he wanted to see what was inside but couldn't open it he knew newt out be able to help him since he was meant to be helping him in the garden.

chucks pov

the bag was old and looked like it had been there for a while I tried to open it but it was tide too tightly I knew newt could mabey help me so I made my way back to the tall blond boy I hadn't had time to get to know each other but I was still happy for the few I did know once I made my way back to knew he looked at me confused "what you go there greenie "he asked "I'm not sure it was lying in the dirt beside a tree I wanted to look in it but I can't seem to open it"newt laughed "so you want to see if I can open your bloody bag for ya "I looked away rubbing the back of my neck newt took the bag from the theme and opened it everything seemed to be I'm pretty good condition "I have no clue what these are but tonight well show ably alright" newt Spock handing the bad back to me "ok"

time skip

it was later that night at dinner when chuck decided to bring the bad up he knew he wasn't meant to just go up to their leader like that but who the fuck cared not him anyway well Mebay a little but no one needs to know that now do they "ably "the boy said nervously "hey greenie you ok"the boy looked up from his food as well as some of the other keepers at the table "ah e ya I just found this and I wasn't sure what to do with it" Chuck glands at newt the back at alby and handed him the bag the older boy just looked between the two boys but takes they bag anyway.

after dinner newt minho and alby decide to go throw the bag "do you think it will have anything use full in it"?minho asked "probably not it most likely been left by the craters" newt stated as ably started to take the items out of the bag there were 4 book some 8 folded paper a silver band they looked at them one by one until newt Spock up "whos y/n" he looked up at the other two in the room the dairy he had to pick up seemed to be the oldest "are you going to open it"minho asked crossing his arms "ill get to that "the boy laughed the book was filled to the bring of different piced of paper newt started to read the first page.

day one

well hi, I would tell you my name but I don't remember that I'm not sure why though for now ill call myself greenie I don't know why buts let go with it for the now cool. well first of all I woke up in the mettel box thing that took me too long to get out of when I awoke here I'm not sure what ill call it but I don't think ill be leaving any time soon I'm surrounded by four big walls they aren't open but I can hear things moving inside of them oh ya and for some reason, there are animals in the box as well I'm not too sure what's that all about if you wondering why I'm writing this down it is because I for one want to remember this and two if I ever leave this place I can have something to look back on.

I want to say it's about midday or so well once I manage to get out of the box and get everything out as well I were who ever sent me here won't be too happy when I find that if I ever do I just spent today walking about this place it's really big and I seem to be the only one here the people that sent me up here gave some a hammock witch was nice of I guess so I set that up I really hope they send someone else up soon I'm lonely and fuck here.

there's these weird gree bug with that have W.IC.K.E.D. on them I tried to touch one it never went very well I think it will be nice here there's not much to do now but tomorrow ill find something to do it's late now I think, to be honest, I don't know what time it is but the light is fading to em I guess this is a good night

greenie

newt finished reading the three boys look up at each other with a shocked look on their face "should I read more"neat asked the other two just nodded

day 2

well today has been fun I get my name back it's y/n it is weird and I'm not sure if it suits me but at least I have a name to call myself now I started a farm and started to male some bits and bobs around this place I still need a name for it I started to work on making a kitchen like think to keep all of the food I have in I was give some cand food as well as granola bards and bread so that's what iv been eating and im happy to say it went well the walls opened up today I think this is some form of a maze im not sure yet the box hast came back yet im waiting to see how long till it comes up.

it's very hot here but it's nice I just hope it doesn't rain any time soon I found out most of the things here have the word wicked on the still not sure what that means  but you know what shuck that oh ya I also forgot to menschen I made up of new words shuck means such greenie means newbie klunk means shit that's all iv got, for now, I think ill like it here

y/n

"alby when you came up here what was all here, "minho asked still looking shocked "well there was the map room the home shuck the kitchen a smaller farm and the slaughterhouse and a small med bay as well" they all looked at each other "so you telling me that this y/n was here before you built this place and the left leaving their stuff here, "newt asked looked at there leader "look I know as much as you do, "alby said "hey why don't we just go to shucking sleep and come back to this in the morning "minha yawned.

minho had given the runners the day off and alby had called all of the keepers for a gathering about this y/n person "so if your wondering why you all here its because chuck found this yesterday and we wanted to see if we could find any use full info in it so take a piece of paper and get looking all right "alby was followed by mumbles and grows him newt minho and gally had one book each and the others had the pice of paper that had their fallen out of a book or was just there.

about an hour had passed and no one had found anything till gally Spock up "hey I found something "well don't just stand there read it out"alby ordered

day 163

well good even to whoever is reading this today has been a shucking great one I keep having these dreams about a boy called newt and whoever he is they keep saying were twins I don't understand what going on with my head mabey im just going crazy right iv been here alone for so long right

not the point of today I finished mapping out the full maze I the maze opens in bits so one part will open then the next a different one but I don't think it has anything to do with the maze I think it has something to do with the maps and grievers that's what im calling them anywhere there big creatures that have tried to kill me there easy to kill once you get the change of it, oh ya and the box came up again with more things I wish they would send someone else up here im border welp good night

y/n

gally look up to see all eyes on him "newt have you ever heard the name y/n before this "newt shook his head sighing he hadn't before "and what does she if she mean about its not the maze its the maps and grievers "minho asked "I'm not sure but there are somewhat maps they aren't very clear though "frypan stated

they were about to continue when the box alarm went off

[kshep106]

Working Title: Bonds of Blood

How far are you willing to go for family?

There’s a metallic taste in my mouth as something drips from my head. A ringing screams in my ears as I crawl to my knees before stumbling upright. I face my opponent, fists clenched and chest heaving. A punch flies to my face. A feint. Another to my stomach. I block it with my knee and grab the other, twisting my momentum and rip the boy off his feet. Drenched in mud, he rises. We circle around. He’s left an opening and I tackle him into the mud. Knees pressed into his chest, a hand around his throat and a fist pointing between the eyes, he surrenders. I win. My vision is darkens and the world tips on its side.

               ‘They’re raising it by two hundred,’ Mum says.

               ‘What the hell are we supposed to do then,’ Skylar shouts.

               ‘Well, we’ll be out on our ear then,’ Mum shouts back. I stand there watching, sipping a juice.

               ‘So, we’re fucked then, aren’t we?’

               ‘Maybe, if we sell some things…,’

               ‘Enough with the selling stuff crap. It’s not going to do anything,’ I knew they were just going to go back and forth eternally unless I mediated.

               ‘We need jobs,’ I said. Skylar scoffed.

               ‘How exactly do we pull that out of our arse?’ she said, grabbing a juice, ‘I can’t fucking stand up for long periods of time. How hard is it for you to understand Lela?’

               ‘And I can’t exactly do much with this,’ Mum said, holding up her stuck stiff hand, ‘not to mention that everything has taken a hit with this pandemic. The benefits just aren’t enough to afford things, but I don’t have the experience required for childcare.

               ‘Then I’ll join the army. I have good health, fitness, my records from school and it pays over sixty grand a year while I’m training. Seventy after,’ I say. Mum looks unconvinced.

               ‘Do you have a better idea?’ She didn’t have an answer for that.

               ‘Do you even know what you’re signing up for?’ Skylar asks.

               ‘Employment.’

 The sun casts streaks through the blinds and my eyes snap open. I fling my feet to the floor and rise. The nurse rushes over. She grips my shoulder while making a noise of disapproval.

               ‘Recruit Warrick, I must ask you to remain on the bed,’ She says. I protest.

               ‘Nurse Errapel, it’s beyond late in the morning. I have to get to training.’

               ‘You’ve been unconscious for twelve hours. You’re staying here for monitoring.’ Her tone leaves no room for argument. She eases me back onto laying on the bed. A door opens and in comes my favourite platoon sergeant. He scans the room, spotting me and walking over. He looks me over. I straighten up in bed and salute. He waves it away.

               ‘Warrick, what the hell have you done to yourself?’ he asks.

               ‘It’s nothing. I’m fine.’ I say. He shakes his head and turns to Errapel. Sensing his question, she starts to explain.

               ‘We’re just going to be monitoring her for a day to see if its anything serious, Conall.’ He nods in acknowledgment then turns back to me.

               ‘If you’re fine tomorrow then I will see you at training. Early of course.’ He smirks afterwards.

               ‘Yes sergeant.’ I salute. He leaves.

               ‘Get some rest recruit,’ the nurse says, reminding me of her existence.

               I flop backwards, groaning. The day had just begun, and I was already bored. The footsteps of nurses and patients sound around me with a constant quiet chatter. I ignore it, choosing to stare out the window and watch the hours pass by. As a blessing night comes, and I fall asleep ready for tomorrow.

 I awake to the dark and catch the nurse’s attention. She looks me over before giving me approval to thankfully join today’s training. I race to my room and the barracks, dress and make my bed. I think I set a record in that moment. I stand for daily inspection with the rest of my room mates. Gaining approval, we set out for the breakfast hall. They’re serving bacon and eggs. I sit at the bench seats, listening to mindless chatter before it finishes and it’s training time. We make our way to the field and there stands Sergeant Conall. We all salute and so does he.

               ‘Morning recruits today is the time for an obstacle course,’ he says, dropping the salute. Around me there was a lack of enthusiasm, though I was ready after the boredom of yesterday.

               ‘First though, we’re going for a warmup run. Two kilometres. Starting…now,’ he clicked a stopwatch and we all set off. The running track is mostly flat field but there are a few holes to trip in. I finished in six minutes and thirty-four seconds. Which is nothing compared to the two fastest in the platoon, both with five minutes, which is insane. As everyone was catching their breath Conall came over.

               ‘Right. Now onto the course. It’s a treat.’ He smiled after saying this. Slave driver.

               We all stared as he explained what went into it and the safety.

               ‘Right, we’ve got a mud pit covered with wire to crawl through—’

               ‘Oi, what’s all this we business. Unless we get to see you covered in mud Sergeant.’ A voice calls from behind. It’s Fox. The cheeky bugger. Conall calls him on it.

               ‘Sorry recruit, however, you get to experience the wonder twice.’ We all laugh although Fox takes it well. Nothing phases that guy.

               ‘Anyway, you,’ he says, emphasising the ‘you,’ ‘also have a rope swing, the wall, ladders and at the end a flying fox to victory. This will be timed but don’t worry it’s a starting point, you’ll have this again later.’

I hear the quiet mutter of ‘wasn’t worried’ behind me from Fox. I hid a laugh. We got started.

I fling myself into the mud and start crawling. Just about climbing up my backside are five of my platoon mates but we all look like weird golems who just came from mud town. I had mud down my shirt which may be the next worst thing to wet socks. Finally dragging myself from the hellish bog, I run for the rope swing and sail across. A splosh sounds behind me, but I’m too focussed on victory. Next up is the wall. I’m just behind the girl whose bed is next to mine. We both jump for the wall and as I pull myself up a boot collides with my cheek. Gravity makes its appearance as I pitch backward into the dirt. At least it’s not mud. My lungs seem to decide that now is the time to take a vacation. They’re currently being strangled in a vice as I gasp for breath like a drowning person. I can’t breathe. My arms aren’t responding to my commands. Move, dammit. My head is throbbing. I hear voices but they sound far away.

               ‘Sergeant, come quick,’ a voice screams. This time it’s a lot closer. Thuddering footsteps sound. Ah, they’re beside me.

               ‘Recruit, why is Warrick on the ground?’ Conall asks.

               ‘I kicked her off the wall accidently, sir. She hasn’t gotten up.’ It was that girl. She sounded upset. The Sergeant crouched beside me.

               ‘Anything feel broken, kid?’ He eyed me in concern.

               I wheezed out a no.

               ‘Can you stand?’ I nodded and the two of them help me to stand. Unsteady and with a forming bruise. Air was still limited in my lungs.  I knew Conall was going to send me back to the nurses.

               ‘Welp, back to observation for you.’ He sounded amused. Bastard. I just looked at him miserable. He turned to the girl fretting beside me. ‘Can you take her Morrigan?’ She nods. Conall then leaves to watch the rest of the obstacle course. Morrigan turns to me.

               ‘I’m sorry for kicking you.’ She looks contrite. I smile at her.

               ‘It was just an accident. No worries.’ She forms a small smile at this. I grin at it.

               ‘I’m Lela,’ I say, holding out my hand.

               ‘Winifred,’ she replies, taking it. She then wraps her arm around my shoulders.

Winifred supports me under the arms as I slump against her, enter the main building and we hobble along to the Nurse’s station. She strikes up a conversation.

‘So, what brings you to the Armed Forces, Lela?’ She asks, seeming to test out my name.

‘Existing,’ I say. She looks at me with a raised brow.

‘Well with the world gone to shit—’

               ‘Implying the world wasn’t already in a terrible state.’ She frowns at my expletive.

               ‘You’re right. Gone to even more shit, I needed a way to put food on the table,’ I look at a wall frowning, ‘I think this is the fastest it’s globally been fucked.’

               ‘A record truly.’ We both laugh. It’s not funny but its needed. We arrive at the Nurse’s station where Errapel greet us, arms crossed and frowning. I grin.

               ‘Hi, Errapel. Good to see you,’ I say, waving. The poor nurse sighs.

 After getting me set up Errapel leaves, citing other patients to attend. I notice Winnifred still with me, hovering by the foot of my bed, unsure. I turn my head to her and wave her to a chair at my bedside.

‘Hey, thanks for helping me,’ I say. She blinks, inclining her head.

‘It was my responsibility as a result of injuring you.’ I laugh.

‘I’m still grateful,’ I say, smiling before a thought enters my head, ‘did you have to get back?’ She frowns.

‘Do you wish for me to leave?’

‘No, I want to keep talking to you, but I also know that Conall will rain hell for missing training.’ She looks surprised before melting into a mask of disapproval at my language again.

‘I want to stay,’ Winnifred says, quiet as a back road at midnight, looking at the wall. ‘Besides, she says, turning to look at me, ‘I believe the Sergeant would be far harsher about just leaving you like this.’ She gestures to my bruised and battered body. I scoff.

‘Please, I’m fine.’

‘Indeed.’ She stares at me amused. I poke my tongue out like a mature person. She giggles. It sounds like bells. Why the hell do I think that? I put it out of my mind and decide to return the favour from earlier.

‘So, what’re you in for?’ I ask. Her giggling cuts off and she goes back to a neutral expression.

‘It was expected of me.’ I look at her and tilt my head. Catching my confusion, she continues.

‘The Morrigan family have a proud history of service and as such I was required to join when I came of age.’ She says it like giving a report in front of class. I nodded in acknowledgement.

               ‘So, you joined for your family, huh, looks like we have something in common,’ I say, nudging her with my elbow and smiling at her.

               ‘It would appear so, however, I believe they differ. Selflessness and expectation.’

               ‘Aww, Winnie.’ I have no idea where that comes from. She glares at me.

               ‘Do not call me that.’ Okay, whatever, I’m rolling with this. Besides I have to after she says this.

               ‘But it’s cute just like you.’ She goes bright red, unable to meet my eyes and tries to hide by looking at the wall. I grab her pale hand. She jumps and whips her head back to me.

               ‘No, don’t hide,’ I say, between giggles. She proceeds to rise from the chair as if to leave.

               ‘If you’re just going to tease me, I’ll take my leave.’ She hovers out of the chair, blinks and glances down, realising I’m still holding her hand. She goes even redder, somehow. I shake my head, rubbing my thumb across the back of her hand.

‘Stay, please,’ I look her in the eyes. I’ve never seen anything that blue.

She stays.

[royal-writer]

If it looks like a snake...

Oohh look at this dusty old thing I found sitting behind the shelves. Welp, this’ll do I suppose.

Another night on the cold hard ground, Essätha regarded with a gloomy sigh. She barely shimmied herself off of the cart and to her feet; which felt wobbly from bouncing on the road, when the groans from some of her comrades began. Speaking her internal dialogue, the faces of her friends all were droopy with abhorrence at the idea of sleeping outside yet again.

Ravamora was the first off the carriage to claim a spot, flopping herself over the nearest worn log at the campsite. She sighed, hiding her face as Aylin hovered to occupy a seat close beside her. His hand patted her head with poised elegant sympathy. His gloved hand almost appeared to be eaten by the dense bounce of her curls.

“I’ll work on pitching tents,” Abernathy grumbled, hopping off the drivers seat. He extended a hand out to Adela, who accepted with smile as he guided the pink Tiefling delicately down the foot board.

“I’ll help,” Sulhadur piped up. His tone by far remained the cheeriest still of them all as he clamored out of the back. Beneath each scaly plated arm, he had the wrapped canvases of their shelters.

“Guess I’ll work on finding firewood,” Essätha mumbled, placing a hand to her aching back. Her eyes flickered ahead of them, to where the Briarton Lord stood. Already ahead of the tasks at hand, the nobleman was walking Maestro to tie her off to a tree a few yards out from camp.

With a sage nod in her direction, Abe turned to look upon Penimra as he purred, “Would you mind aiding Sul and I, mister Korvis?”

“I’ll pass.”

“This one would be willing to help, nister Abe!”

A worn smile reflecting the day’s uncomfortable ride shone upon the Yuan-Ti woman’s face. She offered a look of support to the rounded eyes of the golden bug as they stepped forward. The cleric may be tiny in status, but they were mighty in power.

“Thank you, Pri’cha, your help is always appreciated,” Abe stated warmly, beaming upon them. He turned his eyes to the sulking elf, changing his tone to a slightly firmer implication as he rumbled, “Penimra, perhaps you could instead help by unhitching the horses and tying them off over where Amon is? Rava and Aylin can see about gathering foraged goods to go with the remains of the deer we have. And if you wouldn’t mind also helping in looking for firewood, Adela…?”

“I wouldn’t mind,”she acknowledged, flashing teeth in a lopsided grin.

The elf-man groaned, waving an arm dramatically in the air. His breathy tone gave a tut-tut sound as he replied, “I don’t want to do such a tiresome, mundane job with smelly animals and an old man!”

Curling her lip, Essätha let out a warning hiss in the masked warlock’s direction. “You’re an elf. Doesn’t that mean you’re old? And quit whining; it’s a simple task, Pen. Surely even you know how to tie a knot.”

“I am not old! I’m a respectably age for an elf. Humans age differently, what with their creaking joints and old bones,” he stated, pretending to shake his limbs like a feeble old man.

“Besides, you don’t get to pick sides, Essätha. You’re snogging one of them.”

Her cheeks aglow with a radiant pink, Essie stuck out her slightly forked tongue in response. A very mature response. Totally not at all childish or sassy.

“Don’t be jealous I’m in a committed relationship and you aren’t, Pen.”

“Me? Jealous of you?” Penimra gawked. “Don’t make me laugh.”

She smiled to herself fondly, ignoring the snotty pride in the high-elf’s words with a shrug. She’d only had a go at him in light teasing, but in truth, she’d be jealous of herself if she was, well, not her. Knowing what Amon was like now, understanding the currents of his ocean depths and how they changed, it was exhilarating. She got to experience intimacy from a gentleman who was classy and refined, but who also knew plenty of interesting techniques to have fun.

He was an easy man to love. You fell right into it, without realizing it was there. The gentleness in his touch, the steady calm of his words. He had a strength in his will that made all other things seem brittle and weak by comparison. Amon was dependable in every way; from his wit to his strength to simply just being, and being there come rain or shine.

While the composed orc-elf tried to haggle their whiny magus into manual labor, Essie strolled past the wagon and in the nobleman’s direction. A much more enticing company that beckoned her like a heart fire after a day out in the cold.

Not that they’d be having a fire tonight if she didn’t gather any kindling and fuel to burn. It could wait a few minutes. The darkness wasn’t imminent, and she would be brief.

The dark bay mare’s tail lashed irritably to swat at stubborn horse flies as she approached. Caesar sat obediently at his master’s side where he was most frequently sighted. One long rolling tongue hung out the side of the furry giant’s maw that made it almost hard to believe the dog was meant for hunting. Almost being the word, having seen the mastiff rip open the throat of prey and take a hefty bite out of crooks in their travels.

Caesar perked up first to lift his head and look at her. The heavy wrinkles of his face rose up with his enormous goofy dog-grin and lolling tongue. A subtle swish of his tail turned to excitable thumping; stirring dirt like a miniature whirlwind. It didn’t alert Amon however; even as the beast let out a soft ‘arf’ in the back of his throat, who was accustomed to his companions excitability.

Pressing a finger to her lips in a sign of silence to the pooch, Essätha crept over to the other side of the equine. It snorted at her, tossing their head back and counting a hoof in the dust as the scaly woman reached up to caress the creature’s side.

“Oh come now Maestro, don’t act like that. You like me.”

The horse whinnied in response, shifting closer to where Amon stood on the beast’s opposing side. He lifted his head with the lead still wrapped around his knuckles to glance over at her. He grinned instantaneously as their eyes met. It was irresistible, and made her impulsively craft one of her own in response.

“What are you up to, pretending to sneak up on me like that?” he questioned lightly, pausing to pat the large horse’s to settle her nerves.

Essie reached out, stroking Maestro’s neck as she leaned over to whisper: “If I was sneaking, I wouldn’t have spoke up, and you wouldn’t have caught me until it was too late, m’lord.”

“Really?” Amon drawled, focusing on the binding knot he was making for a time. He paused to glance over his shoulder again, offering a considerate hum. “And what would you done with me, if you’d prowled up unseen?”

She dropped her hand, blowing off horsehair to to acknowledge while beaming proudly, “Captured you into a tight embrace, and submitted you to a shower of kisses. Something like that.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very devious plot, my dear.”

“Who said anything about being devious? If I was feeling a little wicked, I could always deny you the privilege of kissing me back.”

Amon chuckled, dropping the free end of the rope as he finished the knot. He turned back to gaze at her. His dark eyes were lit up with adoration, and his smile had grown so it rounded his cheeks and squinted his eyes with gaiety.

“Now that would be an awful punishment,” the Illiad heir confessed.

“Oh m’lord, no,” she cooed, reaching over the broad animal to caress the tight whiskers at his chin with a tender smile. “You might get a bit antsy, but I assure you, the pleasure of my company would be worth it.”

Her teeth flashed a wide grin as he stared at her, mystified as she finished in a sultry whisper, “I’m sure I could get you to sit down, release your tensions, and allow yourself to be an eager follower for a change. No work, no need to take the reigns, just let it be about you. Sounds nice, hmm, m’lord Amon?”

The nobleman visibly swallowed. His eyes moved over her face in quick flashes as his adam’s apple bobbed. Meeting her gaze, then moving to her mouth. Studying the shape of her cheeks and tresses of hair trying to hide her mocking smirk and examining the fire in her golden brown gaze, or the suggestive quirk in her brow.

He cleared his throat finally, taking her hand from his chin to rest his lips against the edge of her scales and skin. Not a kiss, but the brush of his mouth in a feather-light softness that sent tingles racing up her arm.

“I think you should save that idea, for a more private setting,” he reflected hoarsely, the corners of his lips pulled up.

“Oh, I intend to,” she laughed breathlessly. “I just came over to let you know to be patient with Penimra. I’m sure he’ll try swindling you into unfastening the steeds from the cart to tether, since that’s what Abe’s trying to convince him he’ll be doing.”

The wanton expression diminished from the nobleman’s face swiftly, and he grimaced. “Wonderful.”

Taking her hand back as Amon loosened his grip, she jabbed a thumb in the direction behind her. “I’m picking up firewood. Would you mind throwing bag in our tent, please?”

Creases softened the edges of Amon’s eyes as he murmured, “Like you needed to ask.”

“You’re the best, and I looovvve you,” Essie joyously sang. She placed a kiss in her palm as she stepped back, tossing it gently Amon’s way with a private smile of pure sweetness.

He pretended to catch it in both hands, and placed them against his chest directly over his heart. The spread of the smile on his face meant just for her. Burning with fondness; dazzling like rays of sunshine warming her from the inside out.

“GET A ROOM!”

“BOOF!”

Whipping her head around, Essätha snickered to see Penimra glowering with narrowed eyes of disgust beneath his mask their way. She didn’t get a chance to gloat though, as Caesar came bounding towards the loud-mouth elf in search of attention at his squealing tone. His karma was hilariously immediate, as he shrieked and tried to flee the excitable dog seeking a little attention and affection. Chasing him around the wagon, barking that deep bellowing bork with each bounding step.

Gods bless that dog. What a wingman.

“Caesar!” Amon tried to scold, but his voice broke with amusement.

“Oooh let him have a bit of fun, m’lord,” Essätha giggled, turning for the wood. “He’s getting some exercise, and keeping us all young. Can you blame him for trying to lighten our moods?”

“Don’t make excuses for his behavior,” the nobleman’s voice carried after her, though it lacked any affliction of warning. In fact, he still sounded like he was trying to hold back laughter, as a chorus of other voices chortled and crooned at the sight from the campgrounds.

She rolled her eyes with a grin, and disappeared into the wooded surroundings on her search.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The scaly woman returned with a bundle of sticks and logs in her arms. Some of them rugged, others smelling of faintly dark magic on their freshly cut ends. The earthy aromas of the outdoors seemed to mask the usual aura of sweet honeysuckle and morning dew on her skin, and that of sweat.

Her eyes scanned those surrounding the fire that Abernathy was already tending too. The young elfling and her lackey appeared to be missing, she noted. The soulful bright eyes the rugged nobleman met hers, and lit up like divine moonshine breaking clouds.

She returned the eager grin on her face with one of her own. It hurt her cheeks. He seemed puzzled by her reaction, and it caused the glee written on his features to dilute rapidly. Maybe there was something wrong with her hair? Or something wrong with her outfit? No, she was sure everything was alright.

“Oh ho! Those look like some good burning logs Essätha. You didn’t need to go through all the trouble chopping them up.”

Dropping them in the pile that was already set up, she dusted off her arms and shirt of pieces of bark. “No trouble Abe, it was good practice.”

“Practice?” chimed in Adela. “Feeling out of touch, Essätha?”

“Well,” she mumbled, nervously shrugging her shoulders. “You know, accuracy is very important. After that acid blob I threw splashed on Sulhadur…”

“Please don’t remind me,” a familiar voice called out from their tent.

Adela snickered, trying to hide her face in her hand to avoid the deep scowl she cast the woman. With an enormous huff; knowing she simply had to make due with the mockery, she made her way over to the log that the Protector of the Emerald Expanse sat on. The lines of his forehead were furrowed with a look of concentration as she joined him, examining her once more.

She timidly brushed a self-conscious hand over her clothes. “Did I pick something up, is something on me- Oh-”

Caesar stepped closer, tilting his head slightly towards her. His tail gave a stiff waggle back and forth while he snuffled his face against her leg. The moment she reached out to him, he flinched and took a step back.

Pouting, she curled her fingers to the dog in a gesture for him to come closer. He lowered his head, belly low as he crept forward. As she reached out, her fingers mused along the top of the canine mastiff’s head until he was giving that stupid grin of his, wagging his tail eagerly into the dirt.

“Silly,” she breathed, patting him atop his head.

“Arwoof!”

Her eyes moved back to Amon, and the blank face he wore. It made her heart skip a beat.

“M’lord-?”

His hand reached for her, and she froze. Holding her breath, her tongue darted out to lick her lips. She half expected him to caress her face, but instead, he pulled a small leaf out from the lengthy curls making curtains on either side of her cheekbones.

With a faint smile, he tossed it aside.

“There, much better.”

Sighing with relief, she allowed herself a tight smile. The brush began to shift behind her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin before laughing at herself, recognizing the figures of the muscular Drow and high-spirited elfling.

“We’re back! And we found mushrooms, wild cherries, elderberries, bird eggs, and some onions!”

“Well save the berries for after dinner,” the eldest paladin advised. “And away from Essätha, so she doesn’t eat them all.”

“Hey!”

Rava gazed at her from the corner of her eye, opening her mouth to reveal a cherry pit she spat into the dirt. The little show-off monster.

“Hand them to Pri’cha,” Adela added, giving the rogue a parental Look. “I’m sure you had enough on the walk back to satisfy for a while, Rava.”

“We may have had to return to pick some more,” Aylin agreed calmly. “Since we found the onions after, and once digging them up, realized we were out of cherries…”

“Greedy hairball,” the scaled woman joked, sticking her nose up to the child as she offered her goods to the Thri-Kreen. The young elf stuck her tongue out at her in reply before looking away.

She watched with comfortable calm as the others went about taking apart and cleaning the mushrooms, piting the cherries, and breaking apart the onions to add into the pan on the fire. Her butt shimmied across the age-smoothed wood of the log and closer to Amon, so their thighs brushed close. He wrapped an arm lightly against her waist as she rested her head to his shoulder, sighing. Her eyes upturned to stare up at his face, but it was impassive and focused on the flames and crackling pan of vegetables and meat.

Must be hungry, she mused with a yawn while cuddling up against his side. A good meal would do her some good. Get some rest, wake up to some leftovers, and get them all out and moving in an orderly fashion.

It should be a piece of cake.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stretching, the scaled woman smacked her lips as she sat down the empty mess kit tin she’d been feasting out of her. Her tummy felt warm with the meal. It wasn’t too bad, Aylin had added some herbs he’d found and the peppery taste wasn’t too bad. The onions were strong though, no amount of cooking had broken down the sharp aftertaste it left on her tongue.

“Ugghh I missed the taste of breakfast,” she remarked. “The eggs might have been chewy but they were better than Sul’s pheasant a few days ago. I could use something sweet though; maybe a danish, or-”

“PANCAKES!” the tiny elfling shrieked at the top of her lungs, raising both arms in the air.

Penimra winced, shoving the child off her seat with an elbow while clasping a hand over each pointed ear.

“I’m right beside you, kid. You don’t need to yell.”

“She’s just excited to get moving,” she defended, giving a sympathetic smile to the child as she scrambled back over the wood. Her expression was irate, but Aylin’s visor turned to black holes of rage as he glowered in the Gibbith follower.

Grabbing hold of her mess kit, she dunked it in the nearby bucket of purified water to rinse off before wiping it down. She was on her feet quickly with a grunt, wiping it down with a rag as she walked through the campsite, straight on through to where Amon was adjusting the bags on Maestro’s saddle.

“Good morning, m’lord!”

The nobleman jerked with surprise. He looked over his shoulder at her, with a still glazed look in his eyes. Not enough sleep, she surmised easily. She reached out to the pony as she stepped past, and it turned its head to her. A vacant and bland look of an unintelligent creature, its teeth chewing on some feed it picked up from the ground.

Amon was silent, fixing the straps so not to be too lose or too tight on the beast. It lowered its head as she ran her fingers through its mane, snatching up another mouthful of whatever grassy weed it found suitable to eat at the moment.

“Good morning, Essätha.”

“Don’t look so down. If we don’t take too many long breaks, we should reach the rest point town on to our next destination,” she pointed out. “That means actual bedding, and a homecooked meal from real cooks. Sounds good, eh?”

He gave her a weary smile of tiredness, nodding his head.

“I suppose you’re right,” he agreed, patting Maestro on the neck.

She beamed at him, and went to skip back to the camp. Her bag still needed to be repacked, and thrown into the wagon.

The nobleman looked from his mare to her with unease before going back to tugging the leather straps into place.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was a lengthy day ride, with only enough stops for bathroom breaks. She tried not to be too chatty, but everyone was interested in babbling today, so she entertained and dabbled in conversation here and there. They laughed, they groaned, people rolled their eyes and everything went smoothly. Well, with the exception of the ride itself, as they rocked and bounced along the road.

She could see the glow of lanterns in houses and outdoor street lamps as they rode on through the path towards the tiny town. Her smile grew wider the closer they got. A thrill in her chest, nearly bubbling over the edge.

As they came to a halt, nearing the stables, Amon was the first off his horse. She remained where she was near the front, whipping her head around and snorting. In the most courteous of fashions, he hurried to the back of their wagon to offer out a hand to her.

Quirking a partial smile in response, she accepted.

Her boots thudded to the ground, and with violent suddenness, she was yanked around. A shout of alarm alerted the others, who turned their appalled faces towards the commotion so fast their necks probably got whiplash. She tried to struggle, but her arms were restrained behind her back in a tight grip and a blade was close to her throat.

A threatening voice bordering on hate rasped close to her ear, chilling her to the core.

“Where is Essätha Meduza?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Their mouths hung open with shock. Amon couldn’t understand what their astonishment was about, unless they were more stunned by their own ability to see the truth before them. How could they stare upon this imposter, and think she was their Essie?

“But how did you know?” Pri’cha whispered with awe, looking up at him.

From behind the priestess, he could make out Penimra muttering, “She must have kissed wrong.”

He remained silent, looking down at the brunette glaring up at him. All she could do was glare daggers at him behind dark brown eyes, with her arms bound and voice muffled beneath the improvised wrappings to keep the casters from hexing them. She was admittedly close in stature to Essätha, which helped her illusion, but she still was not Essie. Not quite as thin, no where near as ethereal.

He hadn’t kissed her. Not once. It wasn’t a kiss that alerted him. He didn’t need a kiss to know.

“We need to get to the theater immediately,” he growled, raising his eyes to the others. “Before they realize their ruse has ended, and they do something to the real Essätha.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He dropped his sword. Not bothering to wipe the glistening blood off, or even sliding it back into its scabbard. It clattered to the floor beside the dead guard as he rushed across the room in a haste. His boots caught up on the uneven carpet, but he saved himself from tripping over it or the furls of his cloak as he made his way over to the shackled figure kneeling beside a desk.

Amon’s hands shook as he reached up to her, gingerly examining a knot her forehead. She shied away nervously from his touch with rounded eyes. Speckles of dark brown stains; dried blood he realized, were on her clothes as well as the gauzy dirty fabric they’d wrapped around her mouth and throat.

“Just sit still a moment longer,” he muttered, reaching around her head to find the gnarled knot. He leaned around her to work on it, realizing how it was entangled in her tangled locks. Flecks of dried blood came off her roots and onto his fingertips as he worked the material loose. In a few careful loops and rips, he managed to unravel the cloth to unwind it from around her face.

Essie coughed weakly as fresh air hit her dry lips. Amon hovered, his hands splayed out but not quite touching her. He went to reach for a dagger at his hip as another hand appeared in his peripherals, before realizing it was Abernathy’s hand. He turned his eyes shamefully away for a moment, as the teal man grazed his fingertips to her shoulder to expel a wash of healing light over her bruised form.

“Here,” Sulhadur offered, holding out a waterskin. He accepted it with a grateful nod, and pressed it into the Yuan-Ti woman’s shaky hands.

Her face grew splotches of discolored flush with embarrassment at her weakness. He looked from her shameful eyes to her hands, and gently took the water back. He uncapped it and sat up higher on his knees, offering her the drink with a steady hand.

The eyes of their friends turned away. Some respectfully; not wanting to ogle at the dilapidated state of their comrades. Others were more sheepish to see such an act of open love and devotion. Careful not to spill a drop, or tip too far despite the rapid gulps of her parched throat.

When the container was out of water, Essätha gasped dizzily for air. She tilted forward uneasily, right into Amon’s awaiting arms. The metallic smell of blood was in her hair, mixed with sweat. Her face nested against his upper chest with a god-awful tired sigh of gratitude.

"How did you know she wasn't me?" Essätha echoed in a belated echo to their friends, a ghost of a smile on her face. She peered up at him beneath lengthy dark lashes, just barely leaning back from his torso for him to properly see her expression. His worn hands glided along his sides gently, up to her shoulders in slow circular motion.

"They were pretty convincing. Even to me, it was like looking in a mirror. When she jumped me in the forest, I couldn’t believe I was fighting… me."

Amon offered a quiet scoff. His fingers; already knotted in the ringlets on the side of her face, stroked along her cheeks as his forehead pressed to hers.

"She didn't have your eyes," he murmured, observing the rush of pink dust over her features. "Or hold her smile, the same way you do. Or laugh; lacking your giddiness and charm. And she wasn't nearly as lovely and witty as you."

The cast of color grew darker as he spoke, until she was nervously glancing from him. Her hands; the palms he recognized for their gentle ways, laid over the hands he rested to her cheeks. The rounded edges full in his hands as she smiled. A gentle, nervous smile that he could recognize a mile away. Oh that fiendish mole had thought she'd pulled the wool over their eyes; having spied on them so long, gathered her intel damn near to the letter but he was not so easily blinded. She'd lacked the character and depth just as much as she had the tell-tale cues of her body language.

There was only one Essätha. And now she was right here, safe in his hands, staring up at him and away with all the bashful, squirming timidness of a woman who was so used to not being seen for who she was inside.

But oh, how he knew her. No magic or makeup could ever make him forget this splendid face. All the layers and spectrums she had; each one more stunning and wonderful as the last. She was unique; unparalleled, a one-of-a-kind you could not simply steal the vision of a face of and become. He would recognize her anywhere in a crowd of false deceivers wearing the same illusion; his darling Essätha.

He knew the truth the moment he saw the fake. Even prior to Caesar’s odd reaction, or Maestro’s careful curiosity. They had sensed the change in a way the rest of them could not but he could be blinded, and still feel the wrongness in the air and in the tone of the stranger. He had to be sure though, when to lead them on and when best to strike.

Now they had deconstructed at least part of a cult out to manipulate and destroy them from the inside, in one swipe of the blade.

Not that that mattered an inkling to the gravity that was having his Essie, safe.

Amon released the flawless perfection of her face, to wrap his arms carefully around her. She squeaked with alarm as he hoisted her up princess style. Her body leaned into him as he rested her against his chest, where she scrunched up tightly to grasp the fur lining of his cloak in both hands. A vibrant and pleading light glimmering in her butterscotch eyes. A look that simply couldn’t be faked, couldn’t be replicated, and was brimming with shyness, affection and appreciation.

As the group scattered, most moving to leave while a few stranglers inspected the room for anything they might have missed, Amon glanced down at the heart-melting warmth of the smiling face, looking up at him.

“Let’s take you out of here, and get you somewhere safe to clean up, eat a hot meal, and get some rest.”

Puzzled, Essie’s smile faltered a little before reigniting. She unfurled her fingertips from one hand digging into the bear fur to reach up, and cup the side of his face.

“I am safe,” she whispered. Her head shifted against his shoulder; eyes darting around to catch sight of the figures of the strange gaggle of people moving around before meeting his regard once more.

“I’m safe and I’m home, because I’m with you.”

Amon sucked in a startled breath of air, his arms clutching tightly to the maddening grin of a woman so utterly beautiful, she made him speechless. And he most definitely in that very moment, was speechless. Searching her stunning face, wondering how in the world he got so lucky to have someone so gentle and kind in his life. Not for the first time, but the unwavering dedication and boundless love was more than he ever deserved from any woman, let alone to have one in his life that he once had raised, and now one who looked at him like he put the stars in the sky.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he leaned in to rub his nose against hers, listening to the charming melody of her elated giggling he knew so fondly. He squeezed her close, his voice a thick rasp spoken in a billowing softness to her.

“Then let’s go be at home, together.”

[pokeprism]

Pokemon Found Family: Chapter 6 (The Golden Field)

This is the sixth chapter of Pokemon Found Family, my pokemon fanfic!

I’m always up for questions!

First --- Previous --- Next

The rain softly descends from the sky. Ever since the early morning showdown has concluded, the cloud cover has thinned enough to let the sun’s rays through. Jane wakes up to the sensation of the soft rain and sun, then begins to look around. She observes that she’s not far from Geist, and then also sees the amount of tall, golden grass at the fringes of where she and Geist ended up. Jane looks up. The clouds are beginning to part while still heavy with rain. Jane lifts herself off the ground, stretches much like a cat would, then walks over to Geist. She doesn’t realize she’s being watched as she coaxes Geist awake.

“Geist, are you alright?” she asks with both front paws on his side.

Geist’s ears twitch just before he opens his eyes. “Hmm?”

“Oh good, you are awake!” Jane exclaims. “Would you know where we are now, Geist?”

Geist sits up as he rubs his eyes. “Wait a sec, I’m still waking up Jane…” A look of surprise touches Geist’s face as he notices the change in scenery. He scans the surroundings, then says “Welp, I think we’re in the Aurum Savannah.”

“The what?”

“It’s the region south of Mischief Valley. I think that swampert’s surf pushed us here.”

“Oh, right.” Jane says. “That swampert you speak of, I did say his name, did I not?”

Geist stands up and says “Well ya did. What about him?”

“As a knight, Wade was one of my family’s bodyguards, and uh…”

Geist can see the anxiety on her face. “Jane, don’t worry about telling me. I could deduce that you two knew each other at least. Let’s just keep moving, alright?”

“Away from the valley, that is?” Jane asks.

“Yeah.” Geist looks up, then back to Jane’s face. He points as he says “That means we’re going this way… Oh right.”

The pokemon that had been observing these two ducks back into the grass, thinking they were seen.

“What now, Geist?”

“Ugh. It’s this grass. It’s barely taller than me, so I can’t exactly see over it. I could burn it with will ‘o wisp, but that would make our trail fairly obvious to anyone from above…”

Jane’s ears twitch. She begins to look around.

Geist notices Jane’s movements. “What’s going on now?”

Jane’s fur stands on end. “I heard footsteps. I don’t think we’re alone…”

Geist, now alert, begins to look around himself. The one observing them, seeing they’ve been spotted, opts to utilize the clearing before being found. An unfamiliar voice pipes up.

“Rex, now!”

The ground below Jane and Geist shakes, then begins to fall away as it loses its support. Just before they begin to fall, Jane sees the ends of vines recede into the dirt surrounding the clearing. Jane feels she should have known this was a trap. As Geist and Jane begin to fall, a lucario sticks their head out of the grass to look into what used to be the clearing, and sees his chance. Out of the corner of his eye, Geist sees a club of sorts come flying at him, and after recovering from the impact, he sees a shady pokemon dash through the air and grab Jane. Both Geist and this dodgy lucario land on the floor, albeit Geist landing not as perfectly as this lucario. As Gengar attempts to get up, the lucario walks over, picks up the thick club he threw, and makes eye contact with Geist.

“A gengar? You don’t see them around here much.” the lucario says.

Geist shakily gets to his feet. “Let. Go. Of. My. Friend.”

“Oh, this eevee is your friend?” the lucario says with a raised eyebrow.

Jane cuts in with “Yes he is, you brute!”

“Brute, ay? That’s quite-”

Jane bites down on the lucario’s wrist. The lucario screeches in pain as he lets go of Jane. An awkward silence enters the room as Jane safely lands on the floor.

The lucario breaks the silence. “Ugh. Excuse me, don’t tell anyone that screech was me…”

Jane and Geist blink twice nearly in sync.

“Anyways, I’m Brutus Lucario, and I need to get you to this burrow’s leader.”

“What was that fling about then?” Geist asks.

“I thought you were one of the knights. Sorry about that.” Brutus admits.

“I’ll compliment you on that though. Nice plan, nice execution.” Geist says.

Brutus practically blushes with pride. “Erm, anyway, follow me if you will. It’s easy to get lost here.”

Brutus turns toward the passageway behind him, and begins to walk in that direction. Jane begins to follow Brutus, and with some hesitation, Geist begins to follow as well. As the three of them walk, Jane and Geist see several other pokemon going through the tunnels, all of them seeming to be preparing something, at least according to Jane. After a few minutes of quite literally walking in a straight line, Jane and Geist stop in front of a veil as Brutus does a moment before them.

Brutus turns to Jane and kneels. “Lady Jane, my burrow’s leader wishes to speak with just you.” Brutus says. “I will stay outside with your friend while you two discuss.”

Jane raises an eyebrow. “Alright then…” She begins to step towards the veil, then stops and turns back to Brutus. “Brutus, is there anything that would be improper to mention?”

Brutus is caught off guard. “Oh, um… Don’t fixate on his looks. Last guest who did that was thoroughly unwelcomed.”

“Got it.” Jane starts back toward the veil, and walks through it, leaving both Geist’s and Brutus’s view.

Jane looks around the room as she enters, then lays eyes on the burrow’s leader. She guessed they would be ground type, but didn’t expect a shiny pokemon, much less a shiny krookodile.

Before Jane can speak, the burrow’s leader stands. “Greetings, Princess Jane Eevee. Just call me Apollo, I’m this burrow’s master.”

Jane bows. “Greetings, Apollo.”

Apollo smiles, then stutters for a moment before saying “Anyways, I wanted to offer you a slot in my burrow for the sake of keeping you from Pawland’s forces.”

Jane’s eyes narrow. “Why is that, good sir?”

Apollo’s smile gives way. “I’ve become the leader of this burrow because those knights got to my parents.”

Jane’s eyes go wide at Apollo’s statement. “Oh.” Her surprise turns to sorrow as she adds “I’m sorry to hear that…”

Not wanting to elaborate, Apollo changes the subject. “On another note, my scouts told me you encountered the Pawland knights earlier this morning. Do you have any intel gathered from that encounter?”

“Well… It wasn’t an encounter. It was more like a capture mission for them.”

A bout of surprise makes Apollo’s eyes widen. “Oh! P-Please elaborate, if you will.”

Jane is hit with a concerning thought. “I learned that the knights were coming to Mischief Valley, and they almost made off with me until Geist stepped in.”

“Geist? Oh, you mean Geist Gengar, the valley’s curator, correct?”

“Yes, he went with me on my way out of the valley. He’s currently sitting beyond the curtain.”

A brief pause sets in just before Apollo speaks again. “Interesting. Would you want him to have a slot in this burrow as well?”

There is no delay for Jane’s answer. “Of course! Why would I want my friend to be excluded?”

“Alright then.” Apollo gets up from his seat. “I’ll brief him on that. I need to show you around anyway, please follow me if you will.”

Apollo begins walking toward the veil Jane entered through, and Jane follows him as instructed. Apollo walks through the veil, catching Brutus’s attention.

“Apollo! What are you doing outside your chamber?!” Brutus says, clearly concerned.

“I’m showing our new burrow mates around.” Apollo replies.

Geist turns to Jane with a curious look on his face.

“I’ll explain in a bit. Let’s follow Apollo for now!” Jane says.

As he processes Jane’s comment, realization grips Brutus’s mind. “Oh. Yeah yeah, sorry about that! Should I join you?”

Apollo smirks. “Feel free. We’re all burrow mates here!”

Brutus’s eyes shine with joy, then duty. “Alright! Let’s show them around!”

Apollo’s gaze shifts to Geist. “Follow me if you will, my friend.” Apollo extends his hand.

Geist notices the gesture, and with some hesitation, places his hand in Apollo’s. Apollo nods, then begins to walk away from his chamber’s entrance. Brutus, Jane, and Geist all begin to follow him. Two chambers and left turns later, the group enters a third chamber with an elevated earthen table in the middle.

Jane looks to Apollo. “This wouldn’t happen to be your mess hall, would it?”

“Don’t worry, it is.” Apollo answers.

Apollo walks past the table toward a moderately sized bell on the other side of the room. Apollo taps the bell with a singular claw, and after its ring radiates through the burrow, several pokemon begin walking into the mess hall. Among them are a venusaur, a gliscor, and a wooper. Shortly after the wooper waddles in, a cubone slowly enters this chamber. Brutus gestures for Jane and Geist to take a seat as Apollo clears his throat. Geist and Jane obey.

Apollo puts on a more boisterous affectation as he speaks. “Greetings everyone! We’re welcoming two new pokemon into the burrow today!”

The other burrow mates all turn toward Geist and Jane in the moment before Apollo adds “Let’s give ‘em both a warm welcome feast!”

All of the burrow mates’ faces, with the exception of the cubone, light up with joy.

“Rex, start on the berries, will ya? We’ve got two new members to feed!” Apollo bellows.

The venusaur nods, then hops off to a different chamber.

After taking a moment to watch Rex leave the room, Apollo redirects his attention to the rest of his burrow mates. “To the rest of ya, make some conversation! I’ll go help with the cookin’.”

Apollo begins to leave the chamber as Jane and Geist begin trying to read the room.

The wooper looks in Jane and Geist’s direction before speaking. “Hiya! I’m Maggie, Apollo’s kid! Who are you two?”

Jane’s ear’s perk up. “Oh! I’m Jane. Pleasure to meet you!”

Maggie’s gaze shifts to Geist. “Who are you then, Gengar?”

Geist takes a moment to respond. “Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m Geist.”

Maggie gasps, then smiles.

Geist raises an eyebrow. “Eh? What’s up with that grin?”

The cubone across from Jane rolls his eyes. “Ugh. She’s a champion nerd, and you’re a curator. Simple as.”

Geist blinks twice, then turns to Maggie. “I’ll talk about Cyrus once we’re through with introductions, okay kid?”

Maggie nods.

Jane turns her head toward cubone. “What’s your name then?”

An awkward pause enters the room.

The gliscor next to the cubone pipes up as they lock eyes with the cubone. “Drake, ya ain’t gonna make any friends with that attitude.”

Drake, embarrassed, just turns away from the table.

“Anyways…” the gliscor says, “I’m Ladon Gliscor, nice to meet ya both!”

Geist and Jane exchange looks.

Rex and Apollo enter a mere moment before the silence begins to set in.

Everyone at the table snaps to attention. “Alrighty, the feast is on everyone!” Apollo announces.

Rex extends his vines enough to gently set several stacks of cooked berries on the table.

Apollo takes a seat then begins to chow down on his ration of berries.

The others more familiar with burrow life begin to eat as well.

Jane reads the room, and despite her confusion related to how the others are eating, begins to carefully eat her ration. Geist quietly sighs and does the same as Jane.

It’s been an hour or so after the feast. All of the other burrow mates have shuffled off to bed with the exception of Brutus, Jane, and Geist. After preparing the rooms and before he went to bed, Apollo had told Brutus to get Jane and Geist to their respective bed chambers. Brutus gets Jane and Geist to Jane’s chamber first.

Brutus stops and turns to Jane. “Lady Jane, your bed chamber is here for you. Make yourself comfortable!”

Jane smiles. “Thanks! Goodnight you two!”

Jane gently steps into her chamber. As soon as Jane is fully inside her chamber, Brutus turns to Geist.

“Geist, you were an... Um….”

Geist raises an eyebrow. “Unexpected guest?”

Brutus nods as he says “Oh, yes yes!”. The lucario’s anxiety peaks as he continues with “So, um… Your room was made on short notice.”

“What’s the problem with that?” Geist asks.

Brutus stumbles for a moment. “The walls are a bit loose and um…”

Geist royally shrugs. “Eh, whatever. I’m sure I won’t be touching them anyway.”

Brutus breaks the brief quiet. “... Alrighty. I’ll get you there then. Follow me please.”

Geist follows Brutus to where he will be sleeping. As Brutus mentioned, the earth making up the dimensions of the room are clearly new and still crumbly.

Brutus turns to Geist again. “Again, sorry for the crummy state of the room Gei-”

“It’s fine kiddo. I’ll get some sleep sooner or later.” Geist says.

Geist begins to walk into his chamber. “Anyways, see ya around Brutus.”

Brutus silently waves goodbye to Geist, then shuffles off to his bedchamber. The whole burrow slumbers with a near mystical level of calm as the stars come into view above ground.

[whateverwhateveritsbradley]

All In - Part 1 of 3

All In

Pairing: ChikaRiko

Rating: T

Words: 2717

Summary: Day 2 of ChikaRiko week. Rainy Days/Cards. Western AU. In order to help You out of a bad bet, Riko reluctantly agrees to play a night of bad poker with a charismatic stranger.

-

The rain hit the automobile windows as I looked out at the dreary sand and dirt, the rickety buildings, and the drooping plants that spotted the alleyways and porchsides of the town. "It had to be on such a poor day, too..." I sighed, turning towards the girl in the driver's seat, with such a determined look on her eyes, "Why does it have to be me? You know I'm no good at poker, You."

"You're good with money, right?" she said, "I have a bunch of money riding on this, so I really, really need your help. Whether that 'help' is winning by game today or helping budget my next few months worth of food..." Being an accountant does not make someone a good gambler. I would have told her that right then and there, but she had already heard it and disregarded it. At that moment, she turned to me with a nervous grin. "I wouldn't have bothered you with it if I wasn't desperate, so I really mean it when I say I'm sorry. This girl and I play all the time - she knows all my tricks! I can't risk it by myself!"

I groaned again, turning back to the window. "It's fine. I'll do it. Just don't be surprised when it doesn't go as well as you plan..."

She bumped me with her shoulder, loosening her grip on the wheel for a moment and jerking the car to the side as she did. She grinned and laughed, saying, "Thanks, Riko! I knew I could count on you!" If there were ever any other cars on the road in this ghost town, I'd probably be too nervous to even set foot within the same fifty foot radius of both You Watanabe and anything with wheels. Most people in this town were still on horse-and-buggy, and honestly, if You wanted to care about her budget, she would walk somewhere once in a while instead of taking this monstrosity. This town is small enough to support it.

"Besides," she continued, "She really likes redheads." I blushed, on instinct, not justifying her teasing with any more of a response than that. I had told You time and time again that I wasn't looking for anything like that right now. That was mostly because whenever the topic came up, it was because she was significantly drunker than I was and was directly asking me on her own behalf. She had long since given up, which isn't to say I would say 'no' if the question had the proper context, but... what we had now was nice enough on its own, for what it was worth. At least, it was nice most of the time. Other times, she dragged me to impromptu poker games and tried to set me up with strangers.

"Welp!" she cried out, turning the car with a screech to a building to our side, jolting me out of my melancholic haze rather suddenly, "We're here!" The vehicle had stopped before I even realized what had happened, and she exited and egged me out as well. I looked at the building in front of us. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I probably should have been. It looked like all the other buildings. Nothing in this town was ever quite dynamic enough to catch my interest anymore.

When I entered the building, it looked just like another saloon. There were a lot of those in this place. There were more of those than there were almost anything else, which certainly made my dayjob a little more secure if nothing else. I immediately saw a piano, untouched and looking a bit dusty in the corner, and my hand twitched a little as if subconsciously. I hadn't played in a while; I certainly played a lot less since I moved from the city. Whether it was the dreary town that made me give up, or if it was the giving up that inspired the move, I was still unsure.

Suddenly, I heard a voice, picking up my head to follow the sound to a table across the room. It was loud enough to cut through the crowds spread about. "Ah, You! Over here!" Sitting down at the table with half of a pint in hand was a sort of boyish-looking girl with messy ginger hair, waving her hand excitedly over her head. "Ooh, and a friend!" The main thing I noticed about her was how much she stood out from the crowd.

You led me over to an empty seat across from the girl, who shook her hand with me with a big, silly grin on her face. I'd usually chalk that sort of smile up to drunkenness, but her's seemed genuine. "The name's Chika!" she said, "You're a pretty one, aren't ya? I think You must be trying to distract me from the game, eh?" She turned to You with a cocked brow and a cocksure curve of the lips.

"Actually," You said, stepping forward before I could even speak up to introduce myself, "Riko here is going to be your opponent!" She pulled a deck of cards out of her back pocket and slapped it on the table, messily knocking aside a couple bottlecaps that were strewn about.

Chika didn't look amused. "Eh? That's cheating," she said, poutily crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair, "This is supposed to be your gamble."

You scratched the back of her head and nudged me in the side, pulling out a chair for me with her other hand. She chuckled, "Yeah, well, Riko's not exactly a seasoned veteran, here. Asking her to play for me is my gamble." I told her to stop teasing as I reluctantly took the seat and looked down at the deck of cards. Chika's hands were already reaching for it to grab it and shuffle - they were such pretty hands, which was surprising in this sort of scene.

"Riko, Riko, Riko..." she muttered as she tossed the deck back and forth between her hands, cutting it in front of her as she mused, "Oh, right! You're the pianist, from the city!" She lit up again, looking at me without missing a beat as far as handling the cards went. "Ooh! Can you play us something?"

You placed her hand on top of my head, ruffling my hair like she was peting a dog, and I brushed her aside, before she could make whatever comment it was she was going to make. "I'm an accountant first," I said, realizing that I never got a chance to properly greet Chika without being interrupted and adding, "And it's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine," Chika said, setting the freshly shuffled deck in the center of the two of us.

"Before she's an accountant," You said, putting a hand on my shoulder and leaning forward, finding a way to shoehorn the cheeky comment she had planned before back into the conversation, "She's a poker player! Maybe if we win, she'll be in good enough spirits to play you something."

"It's a deal, then," Chika said, smiling at me as Riko patted my shoulder in assurance, "If you win, you play me a song as a punishment game."

"Eh?" I stammered, scooting my seat back and tossing off You's hand once again, "Wait, aren't punishment games usually for the loser?"

Chika replied, "Yeah, 'cause if you win the poker game, that means you've gotten on my bad side. That's the real loss here, hehehe." She motioned You over wordlessly to the center of the table, having her act as the dealer. I wouldn't trust You to deal a fair hand as far as I could throw her, but Chika seemed assured enough. She leaned forward and put on a deep, gruff-sounding voice as the cards started to get passed, saying, "You don't want to be my enemy."

You finished passing out the cards and I lifted up my first hand: absolute crap. Chika only looked confident as ever. If You was cheating, she certainly wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Speaking of, You set the deck back on the table and looked at Chika, pointing over toward the bar. "You mind if I get us a fill-up first, before we start? Riko, you want one?" She looked at me and I looked back and forth between her and Chika before sighing and agreeing to one drink and only one. I was already bad enough at poker without intentionally impairing myself even further.

Once You had left, the air felt a little heavy for a moment, and Chika leaned forward on one elbow towards me. It was as if she was going to share a secret. For some reason, I felt drawn in to her. I felt that if anything in this city was on the verge of something special, it was her, and I had only known her for a few minutes. I leaned in close. If it was You, I probably would have thought she was just going to say something silly or flirty...

"Hey, you're even prettier than she said you were, you know that?"

It was something silly and flirty. Of course it was something silly and flirty.

I fell back in my chair, turning away. "That's not exactly tactful with someone you just met, you know?"

"Eh?" she cried, putting her other elbow on the table and tilting her said to the side like a puppy dog, "It's true, though! Besides, we're not strangers - You's my friend, too! And we're even poker buddies already! But I suppose if it embarrasses you..."

Seeing her so dejected wasn't fair. "That's not what I meant," I said, even though it was almost exactly what I meant, even if the sincerity in her voice made me un-mean it, "Thank you. You're not too bad yourself." The last part sort of rolled off my tongue, and I clasped my hands over my mouth as soon as I realized that I was flirting back. Chika just laughed.

"So, then, is it true?" she continued, "What You said? That you haven't played piano for her in sooooo long? I mean, she was right about you being pretty and all, so I figured maybe..."

"I haven't played piano for anyone besides her, either," I said. The idea of it kind of frightened me. I don't know what I was quite afraid of. When your money is as stable as an accountant's, it's easy to convince yourself that fears aren't justified. I had become accustomed to brushing the question off with just a simple 'no' and leaving the dead eyes as the only hint of what I really wanted to say.

"Ah," she said, letting that hang in the air for a second as she sat back in her chair. For a moment, it was as if she saw right through me. She still had the smile on her face, but now it was softer. I felt like I had seen it before, or rather, I felt that it was comfortable. It was a feeling I knew but couldn't recall, as if I had known her for years rather than this one moment. The kind smile felt perfectly in place on the lips of an older sister or a teacher you loved. "It's just... hearing that made me a little sad, is all. I don't know why."

This was the point when You returned, happily setting our drinks on the table and jokingly checking that neither of us cheated at all while she was gone. She grabbed the deck and slid it around the table for a moment, itching to deal as soon as we were ready. Chika still had a bit of the first beer she had when we entered.

"I'm ready," Chika said, with a new energy in her eyes. The hint of a spark that said she knew exactly how this game would play out. I looked at my junk hand and sighed, asking You for a complete redraw. She glared at me for not having any semblance of a poker face and I ignored it. The new hand wasn't much better, with only a pair of eights.

"All in."

I looked away from my cards, torn away from my thoughts, by Chika's sudden declaration. She had an arm thrown over her chair and all her cards set face down. Her look was serious, and her eyes were burning with gusto as she stared across the table at me. "Come on, quit joking around," You said, "This is a big game. You can't go all-in on the first turn."

"Sure I can," Chika said with her chin crooked up in defiance, "It's more fun just drinking with someone who's bad at poker than playing them. I want my money now so I can spend the rest of the night buying out the bar." She looked back at me, leaning forward and gently placing a stack of bills on the table. Then, with a cheeky giggle, she grabbed the discarded bottlecaps and threw them on top of the pile like chips. "Of course, if she folds, none of this matters..."

I looked at her, and then down at my hand. When I did, she told me the hand doesn't matter and directed me back to her. She had her hand over her money, as if reaching out to me, asking me to take it. She was testing me, for everything this game is worth. She was putting my pride on the line, rather than the money, and what's more, for a moment, I actually found myself caring. I had never cared about such a silly thing as my own pride before. It was such an elaborate gesture that I couldn't help but get sucked into the moment.

"All in."

I set my cards on the table, face up, before You had a chance to protest. The two of them looked on and saw the pair of eights. You yelled out in panic, grabbing my still completely full beer and asking how much I drank when she wasn't looking. Chika just laughed and laughed. It was infectious, and I almost caught the faint traces of a giggle escaping my own throat. Of course, at that moment, I couldn't laugh because I was so choked up over the fact that I forgot I only had a pair of goddamned eights.

Chika stopped laughing, wiping a tear away from her eye, and she grabbed the hysrerical You's shoulder. "Relax, relax," she said, flipping over her own hand - a pair of sevens. "You won."

You was left speechless for a moment, as Chika playfully grabbed the money in a crumpled ball and shoved it into You's chest, dropping a few bills to the ground in the process before yelping and bending down to grab them before they flew away in the light breeze that filled the room.

"Ahh, man," she said, standing back up and grabbing her drink, taking a long gulp. In my shock, I had only just then realized that I was holding my own drink in my trembling hands - or perhaps I had switched mine with You's and didn't realize - and had taken a few sips. It was already over. Everything with Chika went so fast, it seemed. Nothing in this town went fast.

"I was shaking in my boots! I knew you were cut out for this! I haven't been so excited over a hand in ages!" She kept rambling on and on as I watched You on the ground, having found a stray bill Chika had missed. "You're great! You have a gambler's heart in you - I have to teach you to play for real sometime! Oh, oh! And we should go to dinner! And, oh!"

She slapped her hands down on the table, shaking You's drink and knocking me out of my stupor so I could reach out to make sure it didn't topple. "And... right now, I need to hear your song! After all that, it'll be the second-scariest thing you do tonight, right?"

She finally broke me.

I laughed.

"Fine, fine," I said, setting my drink down and standing up, "But you only get one, okay?"

[statusreview]

How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It)

Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below.

Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two  (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough makes it all worth it.

In our past ten years of DIYing tons of things, this has been the case… but while this project left me with traces of that satisfaction, it just didn’t feel like it made up for the time, stress, and pain that ended up being involved in this particular project. So I’m keeping it real with you guys and saying it like it is: ultimately I think it was the steep learning curve (this was my first big plumbing project) and large scale (our yard never felt so big) that nearly did me in.

BUT the job did finally get done, despite several hiccups (more on that later), and the silver lining is that now I know HOW an irrigation system works and I can hopefully save myself some money down the road if I ever need to troubleshoot or reconfigure the system. Well, and now our landscaping will finally have a fighting chance against the summer heat.

So I figured I’d share how I did it so anyone else who is considering the project can make an educated decision about whether they want to take it on (like if you had a smaller yard or more previous plumbing experience).

The Background

For our anniversary last year, we got ourselves a landscape plan from a landscape architect (it was around $300) because we felt like we needed a professional to set us on a course for the yard we wanted. She drew us this plan below, but she advised us not to put any money into new plants until we solved our water issue (the summer sun basically bakes everything in July and August). So I’m sharing her diagram here for reference, but we’ve made basically ZERO progress on it – and in the year since getting it, we already have a couple of things we’re thinking of changing. So our property DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS, but the general lawn areas are close enough – so I��m going to use this to show how the system is arranged.

So based on her recommendation, we got a few estimates from professionals to install an irrigation system. The costs were about $3,500. We were juuuust about to pull the trigger on one when a neighbor caught wind of our plan and offered to help me install my own. He had done a couple in his previous homes (his current home had one when he moved in) and said it was a pretty doable. Even may have described it as “easy.” After showing me the basics, he offered to help knock it out with me. So last September we finally got the ball rolling.

Getting A Companion Meter

The first step was going to our county’s utility office and requesting the installation of a “companion meter.” This is basically a separate water meter from the one that provides water to the rest of the house. The reason for this is that we only get charged for water on this meter, not water and sewer like our other meter. That’s because the county knows all of the water from this meter is ending up in the yard, not going back into their sewer system. Everyone we talked to said this extra step saves a lot of money over time and is definitely worth it (even the pros who quoted installations for us). The separate meter also allows us to turn it off during the winter when the irrigation system isn’t in use, without affecting the rest of our home’s water. This cost us $500 and it took a couple of weeks of waiting for it to get installed. So while we waited, my neighbor helped me plan our system.

Planning The Irrigation System Layout

We actually picked up a couple of layout ideas from getting those prior professional estimates, but our main goal was to get water where we needed it in the least complicated route possible. For starters, you have to identify two important sources: (1) where your water is coming from and (2) where your power is coming from. The county determined the placement of the companion meter, and since we wanted to control the system from our garage, that would be our power source.

From the water source, we’d install a “main line” to supply water to each of the “zones.” These zones are basically groups of sprinkler heads that turn on or off together. The zones serve a couple of purposes. For one, depending on the size of your yard, you may not have enough water pressure to get ALL of your sprinkler heads to spray simultaneously. Creating zones also gives you more control of your watering – like if you have an area that gets drier than another, you can run just that area longer or more often (and save water/money on all the others). Each zone is fed by its own water line that branches off the main line. Ours looks a little something like this:

Once we had a general idea of where we’d run our water lines, we used some orange flags to mark exactly where the sprinkler heads would go. We just walked off our distances between heads (about 8-10 large steps between each one). We placed most around the perimeter of the yard, trying to limit overspray into areas that wouldn’t need watering (the woods, the driveway) or things that shouldn’t get wet unnecessarily (the deck, the house). You can adjust the arc and spray distance later to make sure you contain the water to the yard, while also creating some overlap to enough to sufficiently water the grass.

Buying Irrigation System Materials

With a general idea of the layout, I could start shopping for my materials. So let me go over what I needed (besides yards and yards of PVC pipe and a smorgasbord of PVC fittings and connectors). First up, the sprinkler heads. I went with these Hunter Rotor heads at my neighbor’s recommendation for most of the yard, and some smaller mister heads from Lowe’s for our front mulch bed. In both cases, most of it is buried underground and sits just barely above the dirt line. When the water turns on, the pressure pops it up (as shown below) and rotates back-and-forth in whatever arc you determine, or in a full 360 degree function.

image source

Each head attaches to the PVC water line via some flexible swing pipe (also called “funny pipe”) and some swing pipe elbows on either end (one screws into the bottom of the sprinkler head, the other into a threaded tee installed in your line). I’ll show you how this works later, but know that for each sprinkler head, you’ll need these as well.

Each zone is controlled by a valve. It’s a little electronic device that is installed at the start of each of your zone water lines, and controls when water flows into that zone. So you need one valve per zone, along with a valve box for each one. Since the valves live underground, the box keeps dirt off the valve and gives you access to it without having to dig.

The valves are controlled by a controller, which is where you’ll program your watering schedule (aka: when each zone turns on, and for how long). We chose this “smart” Racchio sprinkler controller and we LOVE it. All the programming is done via an app on your phone (or even your Alexa!), so it’s much easier than deciphering knobs or buttons on the actual box. Plus, it connects to a local weather station so it will skip a scheduled watering when it knows it has recently rained OR if rain is in the forecast (meaning you don’t have to buy and wire your own personal rain gauge – it’s so smart and has already saved us a ton of water on days we don’t need it).

You also can opt in to get a text or an email notification when a scheduled watering starts, stops, or is skipped. It’s a bit more expensive than a basic controller, but it’s been WELL WORTH IT. Just make sure you buy a version with enough zones for your yard (we have 6 zones, so I bought the 8 zone version – which gives us room to grow if we ever need to add more).

The controller plugs in near your power source (again, ours is in the garage) and is wired underground to each of the valves. So you’ll need some underground wire with enough strands so each zone has it’s own dedicated line (we got this 10-conductor version, since 10 strands were plenty for our 6 zones). It’s fine if it’s got extra, you just don’t want too few. The last item on the list is a backflow preventer, which is a device our county requires you to install to prevent water in your system from flowing back into the water main. It’s one of the few above-ground parts of an irrigation system, so you may have noticed them in yards with a sprinkler system.

Digging Your Trenches

The first step in installing your system is digging trenches for your pipes to run. CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG ANYTHING. They will come mark your property for utility lines so you don’t damage anything or hurt yourself. As we detailed in our podcast (Episode #21) our local utility failed to mark a gas line that we knew ran along our yard, so I ended up having to dig a large section by hand so that I could be extra vigilant for any utility lines. A neighborhood kid happened to be testing his new drone when I was doing this, so I have overhead evidence of some of my work!

For the rest of the yard, I rented a trencher from our local Home Depot (it was $88/day). I also had to rent their truck to get it home, since it wouldn’t fit in my car. So I used that as a chance to also buy loads and loads of PVC pipe (both 1″ and 3/4″ widths).

The trencher was VERY heavy and it took me and two other guys to get it in and out of the truck. Even once it was down, it was quite a beast to maneuver. You basically pull it backward steadily and the “blade,” which you can set to plunge into the earth at various depths, churns the dirt up, and leaves a narrow trench. The trencher is a bit tedious/slow to use and it still proved to be pretty exhausting, between yanking its weight and the vibration of you felt through your bones the whole time.

In fact, my neighbor (who I’ll be the first to admit is much stronger than me) ended up doing most of the trenching because he had better control over it than I did. Can I blame all my shovel digging earlier in the day for not being up to the task? While he did that, I wasn’t off the hook though. I shoveled the trench alongside our front walkway (as not to damage it with the machine) and I worked on running a pipe under the sidewalk itself (for the “mulch bed zone”). I did this by ramming a PVC piece through the dirt with a sledgehammer.

Digging – including renting & returning the trencher – ended up consuming most of the first day, which was a surprise to all of us. My neighbor thinks last time he did this he rented a smaller cable installer which digs a 4″ deep trench. I can’t speak to whether that would’ve worked or not, but it might be worth asking at your tool rental place – since it does appear to be easier and faster to maneuver.

Laying Your Irrigation System Pipes

Once your channels are all dug, it’s really just about connecting everything together. This is a straightforward process, but – depending on the size of your system – can be tedious and time-consuming. I started by loosely laying out my PVC along my trenches. I used 1″ for my main water line and for the first 2 or 3 sprinkler heads on each zone line, at which point I reduced it 3/4″. This was just a cost savings suggestion from my neighbor since 3/4″ is slightly cheaper.

To connect all of the pipes together, you use various couplings and elbows that get cemented in place. The process looks a little something like this. Start with this primer, like this purple guy.

Using the built-in brush, coat the ends of the PVC pieces you’ll be connecting, making sure to go all the way around – it’s very thin, so try not to drip on anything like sidewalks or driveways. Your pipe should be clean and dry too.

The primer dries within a couple of seconds, at which point you can apply your cement. We used this blue kind.

Same deal: use the brush to coat all sides with it. It’s pretty gooey, but again try not to drip it on anything you don’t want a blue stain on.

Repeat this process on the other surface you’ll be attaching it to – in this case, the inside of a coupling I had already cemented to the other pipe.

Then you push the pieces together, giving it a slight twist and holding for about 30 seconds. I usually do this with two hands to apply pressure from both sides, but one hand was occupied with a camera phone for this pic.

If ever I needed to cut a piece of PVC, I used this ratcheting pipe cutter.  It’s super easy to use, so well worth the $25 price tag.

I know this doesn’t seem like a difficult task, and it’s not. But I had LOTS of connections to create and working hunched over (dare I say “in the trenches”?) and repeatedly pushing pipes together with some force slowly took a toll on my back and shoulders. I had some of the worst sleeps of my life during this project because I had tweaked my shoulder in a way that didn’t allow me to lay on it. #sidesleeperproblems

Installing Your Valves

Again, the valves are the devices that need to be placed at the start of each zone because they control when water is allowed through to that zone. To install into your piping, the valves I used took some threaded couplings that I tightly secured with some plumbers tape and a couple of tightening twists of my wrench.

I don’t have any picture of the installation, but I used the same cementing process to attach the couplings to the rest of my pipe, right where each of my zone water lines branched off the main line. Just be sure to install it facing the right direction (mine had arrows to indicate the direction of water flow) and don’t forget to put a valve box around them too. Mine had to be added during the pipe install, but some can lay over your pipe afterward.

The valves need to be wired to your controller, so I’ll show you this part now, but I actually did my wiring after all of my piping was completed. Again, I’m using a 10-conductor underground wire that, when cut open, has 10 strands of different colors.

I first installed one cut end into my Racchio controller. I made black the common wire and then just went in “rainbow order” to help me keep my zones straight. The gray and brown wires could be used later if I wanted to add two more zones. And long story short, the zone 2 wire (red) jammed as I tried to put it in, so it didn’t connect fully…. buuuuut I can’t get it lose. Rather than buy a replacement controller, I just bypassed Zone #2. That means I’m using Zone #1, then Zones #3-7 to control my six zones. One of the many small annoyances of this project, but at the end of the day, no biggie.

With my controller wired (but still not plugged in) I then threaded the wire across the yard, through my main line trench, all the way to my first valve. I left excess as I went, since it was better to have extra than not enough.

At each valve, I had to connect one of the vavle’s red wires to the black (common) wire and the other to the color that would control that zone (this would be my Zone #5, so I used green to correspond with the wiring at the controller). This would literally be the end of the line for the green wire, since it’s not needed on the valves further down the line.

But in order to continue all of the other colors down the system, I wired them one-by-one (using waterproof wirecaps) to the same color strand on my next section of wire. Same goes for the black common wire, which is why you see two black strands going into the wirecap pictured above. In retrospect, I probably could’ve figured out a way to not cut all of the colors at each valve and just extract the colors needed – which would’ve saved lots of time. Maybe next time (ha! NEVER!).

By the last valve the only strands left were the Zone #1 color (pink), the common (black), and my two unused colors (gray and brown). I continued my unused colors throughout the thing so that I could add a new zone at any point within the system without having to rebury a whole new line.

Installing Your Backflow Preventer

This is probably where I encountered the most hiccups, so forgive my lack of photographs (I tend to slack on documenting when things aren’t going my way). This diagram shows pretty much what I was aiming for, based on what I had seen on other houses in the area.

(image source)

The only thing not shown is also a blowout, which is a pipe that sticks out from the main line that remains capped all year, until the fall when you need to winterize your system (aka, get all the water out of the lines so they don’t freeze and bust things up). To do this you attach an air compressor to the blowout and literally blow water out of the pipes through the sprinkler heads.

So here’s what mine looked like at one point – sorry my only pic is from when I had taped off the backflow device in order to spray the exposed PVC brown to blend in with its natural surroundings. You can see my blowout there on the bottom right. Spoiler alert: there are some mistakes here, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Actually, my first “saga” with the backflow installation was literally getting the darn thing connected to the county water line. Their pipe was copper, so I had to buy a special SharkBite coupling that would connect copper to PVC. The connection was about 2.5 feet in the ground, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to work on – and after a couple attempts, I just couldn’t get the lines to connect without leaking. We eventually called a plumber, and even his first guy couldn’t get it to work either. The next guy finally got it, and determined there was a gash on the underside of the county’s pipe (which none of us could see) and it wasn’t until he cut that part of the copper pipe off did we get a leak-free connection. It was super annoying and cost us about $150 to resolve.

So all seemed good in the backflow preventer department from there on out. But fast-forward to this spring when I finally get my system inspected (you can hear why it took that long in podcast Episode #49) and I find out THE REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED and my install is now incorrect. In fact, I fail the inspection in three different spectacular ways. So I have to dig it back out again. Which, as you can imagine, I was REALLY excited about.

Here were my three errors (which previously had been permitted since our neighbor has his system configured this way):

I hadn’t installed a main shut-off valve before my backflow device (I thought the county shut-off was sufficient, but apparently not)

I hadn’t installed couplings on either side of the device, which can be unscrewed for winter storage of the backflow preventer

I had put my blowout before the backflow preventer when instead it should go after so you’re not blowing pressurized air through the backflow

Again, what I did matched how others looked along my street (and even what is still shown in some of our county’s documentation) but it wasn’t gonna pass anymore. Times had changed. I had changed. My opinions of DIYing an irrigation system had definitely changed.

It took me a couple of hours to reconfigure everything and now it looks a little something like this.

So I’m certainly not the authority on backflow preventer installation (and it likely varies from county to county), but now you know at least as much as I do.

Installing Your Sprinkler Heads

With my valves and backflow preventer installed, I moved on to installing my sprinkler heads. Previously, as I had laid my zoned water lines, I had incorporated one of these set-ups whenever I came upon one of my orange flags.

This follows this schematic that I showed earlier (and again below). To create a spot in my line for a sprinkler head, I incorporated a threaded tee connection into my line. This is basically the same as a straight coupling but with a third hole on the top where I could twist in a threaded swing pipe elbow.

I assembled these connections in bulk one night on the couch – twisting the swing pipe elbows into a couple dozen tees, as well into some white elbows that would go at the end of each zone’s water line. They were pretty easy to thread by hand, but then I stuck a screwdriver in the end of the gray elbow to give me leverage to tighten them a couple more turns. I also cut small (18″-ish) sections of funny pipe in bulk and attached them. They just twisted on with a bit of pressure.

That same night on the couch I also one prepared my sprinkler heads in bulk (I had 27 in total, including misters). This meant twisting the small gray elbows into the back of each one…

…and installing red nozzles into each one based on the type of spray I wanted. This took longer than you’d expect, since I had to use that special white “key” to pull the sprinkler head out of its chamber to access the nozzle hole. It took a surprising amount of force to keep it from snapping back in (note my white-fingertip grip).

The next day I was able to install all of my sprinkler heads to the other end of the funny pipe, cutting it to the desired length so that I could position my sprinkler head exactly where I wanted it in the ground.

I hand dug holes for the pipe and sprinkler heads to be buried, so that just the very top of the each spinkler head would be exposed. You want it low enough that you won’t catch your mower blade on them.

Then it was time to go to each head and set the spray arc. I won’t get into the detail of this (just follow your manufacturer’s instructions) but it did involve some more yanking with that special key tool, so I’m not going to say it was fast and easy (I’d best describe it as tedious, especially since we have 27 sprinkler heads!). Oh and it’s helpful to do it with the system running so you can watch exactly what your water hits and make adjustments as you go.

Finishing Touches

The last few steps were, for one, filling in all the holes and trenches that had crisscrossed our yard for three weeks. Thanks to some heavy rains in there at some point, my dirt piles had turned into dried, muddy clumps so it took a bit of effort to get everything filled in, but we eventually got it done.

It was mid-October by this point, so I was running short on time to regrow grass on those dirt spots, so I tossed down some grass seed and let the new irrigation system do its thing.

We’ll still need to overseed this fall, but that last-ditch-effort seeds last fall actually did a pretty good job considering their late start. Phew! I’ll take all the good news I can get!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I do feel accomplished for having completed this project. But between the barrage of hiccups, the tedious physical exertion, and the general stress I put myself under during this task – it will go down in history as the DIY project I most regret not hiring out (and I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they have a smaller yard or more previous plumbing/irrigation experience). Not counting my backflow prevention revision this spring, it took me about a month from planning to completion. That’s not working non-stop on it for that time period, of course, but still much longer than the 2 or 3 days my neighbor had originally predicted. And I don’t blame him for “getting me into this mess” by any means. He couldn’t have anticipated some of the challenges (the slow-to-use trencher, the copper pipe connection, the changes to the inspection requirements, etc) and I’m very grateful for his help that first weekend.

The silver lining is that I went back through our receipts and it looks like our grand total was around the $1,800 mark, so we did save about $1,700 versus the professional estimates. And that doesn’t include the fact that I now know how to winterize it in the late fall and how to get it ready each spring (something that people often pay $75-$150 a year to have an irrigation company do). It also stands to reason that since I know how the system works, I should theoretically be able to repair things or add onto it should I ever need to. So yes, that money saved is satisfying, and these skills will definitely come in handy over the years of maintaining it and draining it and all that stuff. But yeah, not the smoothest project I’ve ever done. Perhaps I should dip into that savings for a massage to try to work out that persistent shoulder kink…

The post How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) appeared first on Young House Love.

How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) published first on http://ift.tt/2r6hzQy

[moonshroooms]

102 More random questions. I wasn’t even bored I just saw some on a blog so here we go

Forgot to save the link for the post it came on, so sorry if you wanted to do this too! >^<

1. favorite season?

Hmm, spring and fall. Though I like spring more than fall

 2. prettiest thing u own?

My Zelda necklace/choker, which is just some basic woven bracelet (brown with a gold Zelda emblem), but my wrists were too bony to actually wear it (it kept fallin’ over D: ) so my friend modified it to be a choker for me! It’s my favorite thing. And also, a silver pendant necklace that’s little gem-covered (fake gems, obvi) lock with a tiny key. I used to like collecting keys as a child, and often thought of myself as a lock and key when I was little, so it’s one of my favorite things as well. :3

 3. do u prefer to be outside or inside?

I prefer to be outside. I was always a dirt child growing up, and I love being outside in the sun or clouds or rain, in the grass or up in trees. However, since I currently live in the city, I prefer the inside, because there’s no people. So basically: when there’s no people/it’s nature-y, outside. When there’s people/it’s a city, inside.

 4. furthest ever traveled?

I went to the Bahamas for my sister’s wedding. Hoo was that quite a lot of saving, but I made it, and it was such an experience. I’m so lucky to have been able to go

 5. what’s your aesthetic in 3 words?

Animal nature fandom

 6 favorite gemstone?

Larimar, for sure! I don’t know that it’s technically a gemstone, but it’s a pretty rock and that’s all I care about.

 7 best thing about yourself, in your opinion

Everything obvi

No no. But hmm. I guess I’d say my athletic prowess. I love moving around and going places (as in, climbing up rocks or something). And I love that I’m naturally inclined to be rather strong, flexible, and dexterous, despite the fact that I’m out of shape as hell

 8 best thing about yourself, in other’s opinion

I. Hm. I’m not sure, as I haven’t asked that kind of question (despite desperately wanting to). I think my friend TH said it was great how everything could be a game for me. My other friend T said he liked that I could easily switch with being an adult and being a kid. So my childlike sense of the world, I suppose.

 9 what’s your weirdest fear?

I don’t know that it’s weird or that I have a really ‘weird’ fear. I had a fear of mirrors at night, once, because I was afraid if I looked in one I’d see the Chuckie doll in the reflection. I’m incredibly creeped out by intestinal parasites, but I mean, who wouldn’t be, you know? Unless that’s your jam, that is. If it is, dang do I wish I could be u cause u got some nerve

 10 weirdest dream you’ve ever had?

It started off on what would seem to be a sex dream, and then I turned away from the random dude my brain conjured up for one second for it to be replaced with my mom. And I was like. So disappointed. And she was just like “:D Hey sweetheart, what’chya doin’?” I woke up and was very annoyed.

And to be fair, this isn’t exactly a “weird” dream, but 90% of my dreams are absolutely off the wall and make no sense, so the fact that this one was mostly coherent was the weirdest thing about it tbh

 11 go-to hiding place

Up a tree

 12 favorite place in your house

Wherever my laptop or games are

 13 earliest memory

Racing my old cat home down the hill we lived on

 14 do you believe in ghosts?

Yes, but at the same time if someone told me they could see/speak to ghosts, or that there was a ghost haunting my house right now, I tell them that was bullshit. So basically I’m open to the possibility, but probably wouldn’t believe someone saying they’re supernaturally gifted XD

 15 favorite sea creature?

Beluga whales, hands down. I’ve been in love with them since I was 6 years old and they’re my favorite animal period.

 16 cold showers or hot baths?

Cold shower, but don’t get me wrong, hot baths are great too

 17 satin or lace?

Satin is comfy, lace is sexy ;D

 18 gold or silver?

Silver. I don’t understand why people like gold so much. Yellow is an alright color, and gold is basically just yellow. Silver is just so much prettier and goes with 10x more colors honestly smh

 19 hoops or pearl earrings?

Pearls!

 20 aesthetic song

Fireflies by Owl City

 21 top 5 songs

Fireflies by Owl City

Aaaand

Not gonna lie, Fireflies is my favorite song, and the other four songs tend to change to whatever I like at the time, so I don’t really have a top 5 favorite. So here’s my favorite songs right now

Enchanted by Taylor Swift (Owl City Cover)

Louder Than Thunder by the Devil Wears Prada (I just rediscovered this song recently. It’s so fricken emotional and it makes me laugh so much. I love the instrumentals and the dude’s voice).

Violet Hill by Coldplay

Jenny by Studio Killers

Sad Machine by Porter Robinson

 22 favorite time of the day?

Dawn, like literally when the sun is just barely showing in the sky and the skies and clouds are washed with pinks and blues and no one else in the world has quite woken up yet. A prerequisite to enjoying this time of day is having pulled an all-nighter, of course, because I am morning person, but not a “waking up” person. Other than that, midnight, when the moon is high and the world is quite.

Basically any time of day when everyone is clocked the fudge out and I can be alone without anyone expecting anything of me

 23 favorite part of your body?

When I was little my friend told me I had a really nice collarbone, and that has been my favorite part of my body since lol

 24 do you drink alcohol?

Naaah. Other than being pretty uninterested in being drunk in general, I also hate the taste of 99.9% of any alcohol. Beer is the taste I hate the least, but I still don’t like the taste. The only alcoholic drink I can say actually like the taste of was Red’s Apple Ale, and no I was sponsored to say that :P My friend coaxed me into taking and sip and I was like ‘welp, get ready for the bitterness’ and then I was like ‘that was pretty good wtf’

 25 dream job from when u were a kid

Working on a TV show about animals, like Steve Irwin, or Jeff Corwin, or the Kratt brothers. It still technically is my dream job, but I will be satisfied with anything that allows me to make an improvement in the animal community

 26 messy or clean?

Depends on my mood and the location. My room? Messy. My laptop icons/folders? Clean. At my friend’s house? Clean. My computer desk? Kinda messy, but with an intent to be organized.

 27 tea or coffee?

Water

28 favorite book

Forest Born by Shannon Hale.

Ps read her whole series it’s called the Books of Bayern and the first one is the Goose Girl and they’re beautiful they’re literally my favorite series go read them

 29 zodiac sign?

Scorpio!

 30 extrovert or introvert?

Mega introvert, but I’m one of those people that’s like really shy and quiet and calm at first/if I don’t like or know you well, and then I get loud and weird and spazzy when I’m comfortable around you

 31 celebrity crush?

None, actually. I’ve never had a celebrity crush. I feel like knowing their personality is kinda required to get a crush, you know? I can’t really crush based on faces alone

 32 early bird or night owl?

Night Owl for sure

 33 do you believe in love at first sight?

Nah, that’s infatuation man. Love only comes from understanding one another, time, and effort. You can’t actually fall in love with that person the first time you see them. Attraction at first sight, absolutely. Love? Nope

 34 favorite book quote

Uhhhhh. Hm.

Honestly, I don’t think I have one. And if I do, and I’m not going to look for one right now cause I’m lazy, then it’ll probably be something dumb the character said.

 35 three wishes you have  

Can they be unrealistic wishes?

Shapeshifting

Speak any language

Visit the loved ones who have passed on

 36 do you believe in magic?

100%

 37 do you believe in soulmates?

0%

 38 zoo or aquarium?

D: I

Can I have both

If not aquariums I suppose, since I’m more likely to see my favorite animal there

 39 cats or dogs?

Cats. I love puppers though! I’d just rather have cats as pets :3

 40 how many languages do you speak?

Just English, though I know a few phrases in Spanish that my mom will say at me, and I hope to learn sign language one day soon!

41 how has your life changed from last year?

I’m in college now. Community college, but still

42 why do you have your name/url?

My nickname is Moon, and honestly all of my unimportant usernames are moon-related in some way

 43 do you keep secrets? how well?

Super well, cause I hate gossip. The exceptions are that I may talk to my mom or best friend if it bothers me. Exception from that being if the secret-sharer explicitly asks me not to talk to those people about it

 44 favorite animal

Beluga whales, white lions, sugar gliders

 45 what is love to you?

A feeling/person that makes your life better overall. That the two of you will talk and support each other when things are rough, and someone that you want to be with you on your journey in life, and they want you in theirs. Close friends and romantic love are very similar to each other, to me, with a few differences of course

 46 future children name?

Devon or Aiden for a boy

Anaise or Astrid for a girl

 47 favorite color

Blue! Cerulean blue, specifically

And silver

 48 favorite movie

Bambi, Jurassic Park, Jumanji

49 cuddles or kisses?

Fade in and out from both

 50 if you could have any person in the world over for dinner, who would be?

My best friend’s in florida!

 51 someone to bring back from the dead

If there were absolutely no downsides to bringing them back and the person in question wanted to be brought back, my old cat Princess. Life just… looks less colorful since she left.

 52 lipstick or lipgloss?

Chapstick

 53 are you street smart or book smart?

Book Smart for sure. I wish I could be street smart, but I’m an awkward sausage

 54 your biggest strength

I… am not sure. I don’t know what I’d consider my biggest strength. Looking at both sides of an argument, perhaps?

 55 favorite sport

I hate sports because there’s too many rules. That’s annoying. I want to kick someone in the shins and not get a penalty for it

 56 favorite drink?

Cactus Cooler and Shirly Temples (sans alcohol)

57 favorite winter activity

Staying the fuck inside with a fire

Where I’m from it doesn’t know, it just rains

 58 last time you went abroad

My sister’s wedding, august 2016!

 59 favorite dessert

Strawberry shortcake!

 60 favorite artist

You know, I thought this meant song artist, but considering singer/band is right underneath, then maybe it means like art artist? I dunno man, I don’t pay attention to art much.

 61 favorite singer/band

Owl City

 62 favorite dancing song

Single Ladies by Beyoncé

 63 favorite crying song

The Last Unicorn by America

U asked for a crying song and that’s like literally the only song that can actually make me cry for some reason

 64 do you wear glasses?

Thankfully not! I don’t have a problem with other people who wear glasses, it just seems like such a pain

 65 first thing you do when you wake up

Say good morning to my old cat in heaven

 66 how long do u usually sleep for?

Though my friend said 8 hours is actually too much for most people, and most people should typically get 7 hours, I’m an outlier and should not have been counted cause if I wanna wake up without feeling sleepy still for a few hours then 8 hours is the way to go

 67 one thing you lost and you want back

My old teddy bear named Rose. I was kidnapped when I was younger (long story) and my brother’s old army friends pulled together money to get me a red teddy bear with a rose on the neck. It was/is my favorite stuffed animal. When my mom and I moved apartments I was being taken on vacation with my friends to her grandmother’s ranch. I put Rose in my mom’s purse for her to make sure it didn’t get thrown away or lost. She lost it though, and I never saw Rose again. I miss her very much

 68 biggest fear

Losing my loved ones

 69 favorite carnival ride

That ride where it spins you around and you stick to the walls

 70 do u have birthmarks or scars?

I have some stretch marks on my thighs which I actually quite like the look of, and a slightly darker blotch on my lower left-side of my stomach. It’s not really noticeable at all, but you can see it just fine when I point it out

 71 favorite childhood memory

Anything with my old cat Princess

 72 what do u think about during a storm?

If there’s thunder, I think about how I can almost feel it rumbling in my chest. Otherwise I think about how if I didn’t have neighbors and people around to see me, I’d 100% go outside and play in the rain

 73 one word to describe your life?

Downhill

 74 craziest thing ever done

Mmm. When I was younger I got to go be “zookeeper for a day” and I got to pet one of the baby alligators (two of them! They’re names were Hugs and Kisses!) and see all the snakes and other animals!

 75 do u have piercings or tattoos?

I do not. I had my ears pierced when I was younger, but it was so annoying to keep up with since it would always close, so I just. Let it

 76 favorite flower

*googles*

Oh my goodness.

Dahlia flowers. Dahlia flowers are goregeous

(Orchids too!)

 77 do u have any pets?

I do. I have two kittens (eh, they’re not kittens anymore. But they’re kinda small and fluffy cats, so they’ll always be kittens), named Canyon and India!

 78 describe your style

Casual, bright colors

 79 choose one thing to change about yourself

Be more sure of myself

 80 do u play any musical instruments?

Does your voice count?

 81 if your life was a movie would it be a comedy, a rom-com, action film or drama?

Tragedy

 82 do u prefer dark, dramatic makeup or natural makeup?

No makeup, but if I must choose, natural

 83 favorite perfume

Anything cherry blossom

 84 biggest fandom

Keeping in mind that, despite being apart of many fandoms, I never actually participate in anything other than the consuming of other people’s works

 Undertale, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe

 85 favorite YouTuber(s)

Chuggaaconroy: A+++ let’s player. He’s very detailed and thorough in his let’s play, which are basically let’s plays and walkthroughs combined. He can get loud, but he seems very sincere and his videos are a lot of fun.

Vintagebeef: A+ let’s player. He’s got a nice calm voice, he’s funny, and plays a variety games (though mostly minecraft). My favorite thing is that he doesn’t talk over cutscenes and whatnot

Cryaotic: Another great let’s player. My god I could swim in that voice. I don’t watch a lot of his videos (mostly the sprite games he plays), but when I do I fricken’ binge. His reactions are very genuine and he’s funny too

Versus (Aka AttackingTucans/Tyler Sederwall and Josh Jepson): They run a let’s play versus channel where they race each other in single player games. They’re conversation can get a little (a lot) innapropriate, but I love watching their videos

My god I have a lot of let’s players

 Swoozie: A funny artist who tells a lot of stories from his personal life, usually including drawings

JaidenAnimation: I love her videos and her art style is so adorable and she’s hilarious. Another artist who tells stories using art

TheOdd1sout: Another another art-life-story-teller type youtuber. He has a tumblr that he posts comics on too and they’re great!

Anna Akana: A young lady that shares stories and thoughts from her own life, very funny and it’s obvious she puts a lot of work in her videos

Daniel Howell/danisnotonfire: A british lad that shares stories and thoughts from his own life, usually at his expense. He’s hilarious and I relate to a lot of his videos, which probably isn’t a good thing honestly like my god he has a lot of existential crisis’

Channel Awesome/Nostalgia Critic/Doug Walker: He does reviews and whatnot on mostly movies and occasionally tv shows. Mostly I like his reviews and little. I dunno, side things where he asks a question/opinion on the nature of media? But I surprisingly enjoyed his and his brother’s Gravity Falls and Steven Universe vlogs. Thinking about picking up his Avatar the Last Airbender vlogs to!

  86 OTP

Kisshu and Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew. My first OTP and somehow no one has ever beat them for all these years

Shion and Nezumi from No. 6. Honestly, I did not read the whole synopsis for No. 6, so I had no idea it was even a romance, but they’re so cute together and they’re just a really nice couple to see

 87 country, state where you were born

U.S.A.

 88 your parent’s name

Suzanne :3 (though that’s not technically her name, it’s what everyone calls her).

 89 favorite snack

Raspberries!

 90 pasta or pizza

Depends on the mood

 91 pen or pencil

Pencil

 92 blue or black ink

Blue, but only if it’s good blue ink

 93 paper books or electronic books? 

Paper! Electronic books just don’t hold the same feel. I feel like I’m reading a fanfiction and I just can’t get into it as much

 94 history or geography? 

History! Native Americans, Mayans, and Aztecs were the only times I was ever honestly interested in history

 95 pastel or neon

Pastel for day, neon for nights

 97  soap or body wash

Body wash

 98  conditioner, no conditioner, or 2 in 1 shampoo & conditioner

I

Honestly only guys could use 2 in 1 shampoo/condition. And I don’t even think it’s that great for them

I have African hair, so I need conditioner man, or my hair would die

 99 singing in the shower or not

I kill it in the shower

 100  listen to music while bathing or silence

Usually music, but sometimes I enjoy silence

 101  blow dry, towel dry, or air dry your hair

Towel/air dry. My hair gets put into braids while wet, so the water drips to the end hours after getting out (and is still wet for a few days even after it stops dripping), so it’s air-dried but there’s a towel around my neck and I sometimes squeeze/wring it out

 102 morning or night showers?

If I’m allowed to pass out immediately, night showers

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How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It)

Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below.

Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two  (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough makes it all worth it.

In our past ten years of DIYing tons of things, this has been the case… but while this project left me with traces of that satisfaction, it just didn’t feel like it made up for the time, stress, and pain that ended up being involved in this particular project. So I’m keeping it real with you guys and saying it like it is: ultimately I think it was the steep learning curve (this was my first big plumbing project) and large scale (our yard never felt so big) that nearly did me in.

BUT the job did finally get done, despite several hiccups (more on that later), and the silver lining is that now I know HOW an irrigation system works and I can hopefully save myself some money down the road if I ever need to troubleshoot or reconfigure the system. Well, and now our landscaping will finally have a fighting chance against the summer heat.

So I figured I’d share how I did it so anyone else who is considering the project can make an educated decision about whether they want to take it on (like if you had a smaller yard or more previous plumbing experience).

The Background

For our anniversary last year, we got ourselves a landscape plan from a landscape architect (it was around $300) because we felt like we needed a professional to set us on a course for the yard we wanted. She drew us this plan below, but she advised us not to put any money into new plants until we solved our water issue (the summer sun basically bakes everything in July and August). So I’m sharing her diagram here for reference, but we’ve made basically ZERO progress on it – and in the year since getting it, we already have a couple of things we’re thinking of changing. So our property DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS, but the general lawn areas are close enough – so I’m going to use this to show how the system is arranged.

So based on her recommendation, we got a few estimates from professionals to install an irrigation system. The costs were about $3,500. We were juuuust about to pull the trigger on one when a neighbor caught wind of our plan and offered to help me install my own. He had done a couple in his previous homes (his current home had one when he moved in) and said it was a pretty doable. Even may have described it as “easy.” After showing me the basics, he offered to help knock it out with me. So last September we finally got the ball rolling.

Getting A Companion Meter

The first step was going to our county’s utility office and requesting the installation of a “companion meter.” This is basically a separate water meter from the one that provides water to the rest of the house. The reason for this is that we only get charged for water on this meter, not water and sewer like our other meter. That’s because the county knows all of the water from this meter is ending up in the yard, not going back into their sewer system. Everyone we talked to said this extra step saves a lot of money over time and is definitely worth it (even the pros who quoted installations for us). The separate meter also allows us to turn it off during the winter when the irrigation system isn’t in use, without affecting the rest of our home’s water. This cost us $500 and it took a couple of weeks of waiting for it to get installed. So while we waited, my neighbor helped me plan our system.

Planning The Irrigation System Layout

We actually picked up a couple of layout ideas from getting those prior professional estimates, but our main goal was to get water where we needed it in the least complicated route possible. For starters, you have to identify two important sources: (1) where your water is coming from and (2) where your power is coming from. The county determined the placement of the companion meter, and since we wanted to control the system from our garage, that would be our power source.

From the water source, we’d install a “main line” to supply water to each of the “zones.” These zones are basically groups of sprinkler heads that turn on or off together. The zones serve a couple of purposes. For one, depending on the size of your yard, you may not have enough water pressure to get ALL of your sprinkler heads to spray simultaneously. Creating zones also gives you more control of your watering – like if you have an area that gets drier than another, you can run just that area longer or more often (and save water/money on all the others). Each zone is fed by its own water line that branches off the main line. Ours looks a little something like this:

Once we had a general idea of where we’d run our water lines, we used some orange flags to mark exactly where the sprinkler heads would go. We just walked off our distances between heads (about 8-10 large steps between each one). We placed most around the perimeter of the yard, trying to limit overspray into areas that wouldn’t need watering (the woods, the driveway) or things that shouldn’t get wet unnecessarily (the deck, the house). You can adjust the arc and spray distance later to make sure you contain the water to the yard, while also creating some overlap to enough to sufficiently water the grass.

Buying Irrigation System Materials

With a general idea of the layout, I could start shopping for my materials. So let me go over what I needed (besides yards and yards of PVC pipe and a smorgasbord of PVC fittings and connectors). First up, the sprinkler heads. I went with these Hunter Rotor heads at my neighbor’s recommendation for most of the yard, and some smaller mister heads from Lowe’s for our front mulch bed. In both cases, most of it is buried underground and sits just barely above the dirt line. When the water turns on, the pressure pops it up (as shown below) and rotates back-and-forth in whatever arc you determine, or in a full 360 degree function.

image source

Each head attaches to the PVC water line via some flexible swing pipe (also called “funny pipe”) and some swing pipe elbows on either end (one screws into the bottom of the sprinkler head, the other into a threaded tee installed in your line). I’ll show you how this works later, but know that for each sprinkler head, you’ll need these as well.

Each zone is controlled by a valve. It’s a little electronic device that is installed at the start of each of your zone water lines, and controls when water flows into that zone. So you need one valve per zone, along with a valve box for each one. Since the valves live underground, the box keeps dirt off the valve and gives you access to it without having to dig.

The valves are controlled by a controller, which is where you’ll program your watering schedule (aka: when each zone turns on, and for how long). We chose this “smart” Racchio sprinkler controller and we LOVE it. All the programming is done via an app on your phone (or even your Alexa!), so it’s much easier than deciphering knobs or buttons on the actual box. Plus, it connects to a local weather station so it will skip a scheduled watering when it knows it has recently rained OR if rain is in the forecast (meaning you don’t have to buy and wire your own personal rain gauge – it’s so smart and has already saved us a ton of water on days we don’t need it).

You also can opt in to get a text or an email notification when a scheduled watering starts, stops, or is skipped. It’s a bit more expensive than a basic controller, but it’s been WELL WORTH IT. Just make sure you buy a version with enough zones for your yard (we have 6 zones, so I bought the 8 zone version – which gives us room to grow if we ever need to add more).

The controller plugs in near your power source (again, ours is in the garage) and is wired underground to each of the valves. So you’ll need some underground wire with enough strands so each zone has it’s own dedicated line (we got this 10-conductor version, since 10 strands were plenty for our 6 zones). It’s fine if it’s got extra, you just don’t want too few. The last item on the list is a backflow preventer, which is a device our county requires you to install to prevent water in your system from flowing back into the water main. It’s one of the few above-ground parts of an irrigation system, so you may have noticed them in yards with a sprinkler system.

Digging Your Trenches

The first step in installing your system is digging trenches for your pipes to run. CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG ANYTHING. They will come mark your property for utility lines so you don’t damage anything or hurt yourself. As we detailed in our podcast (Episode #21) our local utility failed to mark a gas line that we knew ran along our yard, so I ended up having to dig a large section by hand so that I could be extra vigilant for any utility lines. A neighborhood kid happened to be testing his new drone when I was doing this, so I have overhead evidence of some of my work!

For the rest of the yard, I rented a trencher from our local Home Depot (it was $88/day). I also had to rent their truck to get it home, since it wouldn’t fit in my car. So I used that as a chance to also buy loads and loads of PVC pipe (both 1″ and 3/4″ widths).

The trencher was VERY heavy and it took me and two other guys to get it in and out of the truck. Even once it was down, it was quite a beast to maneuver. You basically pull it backward steadily and the “blade,” which you can set to plunge into the earth at various depths, churns the dirt up, and leaves a narrow trench. The trencher is a bit tedious/slow to use and it still proved to be pretty exhausting, between yanking its weight and the vibration of you felt through your bones the whole time.

In fact, my neighbor (who I’ll be the first to admit is much stronger than me) ended up doing most of the trenching because he had better control over it than I did. Can I blame all my shovel digging earlier in the day for not being up to the task? While he did that, I wasn’t off the hook though. I shoveled the trench alongside our front walkway (as not to damage it with the machine) and I worked on running a pipe under the sidewalk itself (for the “mulch bed zone”). I did this by ramming a PVC piece through the dirt with a sledgehammer.

Digging – including renting & returning the trencher – ended up consuming most of the first day, which was a surprise to all of us. My neighbor thinks last time he did this he rented a smaller cable installer which digs a 4″ deep trench. I can’t speak to whether that would’ve worked or not, but it might be worth asking at your tool rental place – since it does appear to be easier and faster to maneuver.

Laying Your Irrigation System Pipes

Once your channels are all dug, it’s really just about connecting everything together. This is a straightforward process, but – depending on the size of your system – can be tedious and time-consuming. I started by loosely laying out my PVC along my trenches. I used 1″ for my main water line and for the first 2 or 3 sprinkler heads on each zone line, at which point I reduced it 3/4″. This was just a cost savings suggestion from my neighbor since 3/4″ is slightly cheaper.

To connect all of the pipes together, you use various couplings and elbows that get cemented in place. The process looks a little something like this. Start with this primer, like this purple guy.

Using the built-in brush, coat the ends of the PVC pieces you’ll be connecting, making sure to go all the way around – it’s very thin, so try not to drip on anything like sidewalks or driveways. Your pipe should be clean and dry too.

The primer dries within a couple of seconds, at which point you can apply your cement. We used this blue kind.

Same deal: use the brush to coat all sides with it. It’s pretty gooey, but again try not to drip it on anything you don’t want a blue stain on.

Repeat this process on the other surface you’ll be attaching it to – in this case, the inside of a coupling I had already cemented to the other pipe.

Then you push the pieces together, giving it a slight twist and holding for about 30 seconds. I usually do this with two hands to apply pressure from both sides, but one hand was occupied with a camera phone for this pic.

If ever I needed to cut a piece of PVC, I used this ratcheting pipe cutter.  It’s super easy to use, so well worth the $25 price tag.

I know this doesn’t seem like a difficult task, and it’s not. But I had LOTS of connections to create and working hunched over (dare I say “in the trenches”?) and repeatedly pushing pipes together with some force slowly took a toll on my back and shoulders. I had some of the worst sleeps of my life during this project because I had tweaked my shoulder in a way that didn’t allow me to lay on it. #sidesleeperproblems

Installing Your Valves

Again, the valves are the devices that need to be placed at the start of each zone because they control when water is allowed through to that zone. To install into your piping, the valves I used took some threaded couplings that I tightly secured with some plumbers tape and a couple of tightening twists of my wrench.

I don’t have any picture of the installation, but I used the same cementing process to attach the couplings to the rest of my pipe, right where each of my zone water lines branched off the main line. Just be sure to install it facing the right direction (mine had arrows to indicate the direction of water flow) and don’t forget to put a valve box around them too. Mine had to be added during the pipe install, but some can lay over your pipe afterward.

The valves need to be wired to your controller, so I’ll show you this part now, but I actually did my wiring after all of my piping was completed. Again, I’m using a 10-conductor underground wire that, when cut open, has 10 strands of different colors.

I first installed one cut end into my Racchio controller. I made black the common wire and then just went in “rainbow order” to help me keep my zones straight. The gray and brown wires could be used later if I wanted to add two more zones. And long story short, the zone 2 wire (red) jammed as I tried to put it in, so it didn’t connect fully…. buuuuut I can’t get it lose. Rather than buy a replacement controller, I just bypassed Zone #2. That means I’m using Zone #1, then Zones #3-7 to control my six zones. One of the many small annoyances of this project, but at the end of the day, no biggie.

With my controller wired (but still not plugged in) I then threaded the wire across the yard, through my main line trench, all the way to my first valve. I left excess as I went, since it was better to have extra than not enough.

At each valve, I had to connect one of the vavle’s red wires to the black (common) wire and the other to the color that would control that zone (this would be my Zone #5, so I used green to correspond with the wiring at the controller). This would literally be the end of the line for the green wire, since it’s not needed on the valves further down the line.

But in order to continue all of the other colors down the system, I wired them one-by-one (using waterproof wirecaps) to the same color strand on my next section of wire. Same goes for the black common wire, which is why you see two black strands going into the wirecap pictured above. In retrospect, I probably could’ve figured out a way to not cut all of the colors at each valve and just extract the colors needed – which would’ve saved lots of time. Maybe next time (ha! NEVER!).

By the last valve the only strands left were the Zone #1 color (pink), the common (black), and my two unused colors (gray and brown). I continued my unused colors throughout the thing so that I could add a new zone at any point within the system without having to rebury a whole new line.

Installing Your Backflow Preventer

This is probably where I encountered the most hiccups, so forgive my lack of photographs (I tend to slack on documenting when things aren’t going my way). This diagram shows pretty much what I was aiming for, based on what I had seen on other houses in the area.

(image source)

The only thing not shown is also a blowout, which is a pipe that sticks out from the main line that remains capped all year, until the fall when you need to winterize your system (aka, get all the water out of the lines so they don’t freeze and bust things up). To do this you attach an air compressor to the blowout and literally blow water out of the pipes through the sprinkler heads.

So here’s what mine looked like at one point – sorry my only pic is from when I had taped off the backflow device in order to spray the exposed PVC brown to blend in with its natural surroundings. You can see my blowout there on the bottom right. Spoiler alert: there are some mistakes here, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Actually, my first “saga” with the backflow installation was literally getting the darn thing connected to the county water line. Their pipe was copper, so I had to buy a special SharkBite coupling that would connect copper to PVC. The connection was about 2.5 feet in the ground, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to work on – and after a couple attempts, I just couldn’t get the lines to connect without leaking. We eventually called a plumber, and even his first guy couldn’t get it to work either. The next guy finally got it, and determined there was a gash on the underside of the county’s pipe (which none of us could see) and it wasn’t until he cut that part of the copper pipe off did we get a leak-free connection. It was super annoying and cost us about $150 to resolve.

So all seemed good in the backflow preventer department from there on out. But fast-forward to this spring when I finally get my system inspected (you can hear why it took that long in podcast Episode #49) and I find out THE REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED and my install is now incorrect. In fact, I fail the inspection in three different spectacular ways. So I have to dig it back out again. Which, as you can imagine, I was REALLY excited about.

Here were my three errors (which previously had been permitted since our neighbor has his system configured this way):

I hadn’t installed a main shut-off valve before my backflow device (I thought the county shut-off was sufficient, but apparently not)

I hadn’t installed couplings on either side of the device, which can be unscrewed for winter storage of the backflow preventer

I had put my blowout before the backflow preventer when instead it should go after so you’re not blowing pressurized air through the backflow

Again, what I did matched how others looked along my street (and even what is still shown in some of our county’s documentation) but it wasn’t gonna pass anymore. Times had changed. I had changed. My opinions of DIYing an irrigation system had definitely changed.

It took me a couple of hours to reconfigure everything and now it looks a little something like this.

So I’m certainly not the authority on backflow preventer installation (and it likely varies from county to county), but now you know at least as much as I do.

Installing Your Sprinkler Heads

With my valves and backflow preventer installed, I moved on to installing my sprinkler heads. Previously, as I had laid my zoned water lines, I had incorporated one of these set-ups whenever I came upon one of my orange flags.

This follows this schematic that I showed earlier (and again below). To create a spot in my line for a sprinkler head, I incorporated a threaded tee connection into my line. This is basically the same as a straight coupling but with a third hole on the top where I could twist in a threaded swing pipe elbow.

I assembled these connections in bulk one night on the couch – twisting the swing pipe elbows into a couple dozen tees, as well into some white elbows that would go at the end of each zone’s water line. They were pretty easy to thread by hand, but then I stuck a screwdriver in the end of the gray elbow to give me leverage to tighten them a couple more turns. I also cut small (18″-ish) sections of funny pipe in bulk and attached them. They just twisted on with a bit of pressure.

That same night on the couch I also one prepared my sprinkler heads in bulk (I had 27 in total, including misters). This meant twisting the small gray elbows into the back of each one…

…and installing red nozzles into each one based on the type of spray I wanted. This took longer than you’d expect, since I had to use that special white “key” to pull the sprinkler head out of its chamber to access the nozzle hole. It took a surprising amount of force to keep it from snapping back in (note my white-fingertip grip).

The next day I was able to install all of my sprinkler heads to the other end of the funny pipe, cutting it to the desired length so that I could position my sprinkler head exactly where I wanted it in the ground.

I hand dug holes for the pipe and sprinkler heads to be buried, so that just the very top of the each spinkler head would be exposed. You want it low enough that you won’t catch your mower blade on them.

Then it was time to go to each head and set the spray arc. I won’t get into the detail of this (just follow your manufacturer’s instructions) but it did involve some more yanking with that special key tool, so I’m not going to say it was fast and easy (I’d best describe it as tedious, especially since we have 27 sprinkler heads!). Oh and it’s helpful to do it with the system running so you can watch exactly what your water hits and make adjustments as you go.

Finishing Touches

The last few steps were, for one, filling in all the holes and trenches that had crisscrossed our yard for three weeks. Thanks to some heavy rains in there at some point, my dirt piles had turned into dried, muddy clumps so it took a bit of effort to get everything filled in, but we eventually got it done.

It was mid-October by this point, so I was running short on time to regrow grass on those dirt spots, so I tossed down some grass seed and let the new irrigation system do its thing.

We’ll still need to overseed this fall, but that last-ditch-effort seeds last fall actually did a pretty good job considering their late start. Phew! I’ll take all the good news I can get!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I do feel accomplished for having completed this project. But between the barrage of hiccups, the tedious physical exertion, and the general stress I put myself under during this task – it will go down in history as the DIY project I most regret not hiring out (and I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they have a smaller yard or more previous plumbing/irrigation experience). Not counting my backflow prevention revision this spring, it took me about a month from planning to completion. That’s not working non-stop on it for that time period, of course, but still much longer than the 2 or 3 days my neighbor had originally predicted. And I don’t blame him for “getting me into this mess” by any means. He couldn’t have anticipated some of the challenges (the slow-to-use trencher, the copper pipe connection, the changes to the inspection requirements, etc) and I’m very grateful for his help that first weekend.

The silver lining is that I went back through our receipts and it looks like our grand total was around the $1,800 mark, so we did save about $1,700 versus the professional estimates. And that doesn’t include the fact that I now know how to winterize it in the late fall and how to get it ready each spring (something that people often pay $75-$150 a year to have an irrigation company do). It also stands to reason that since I know how the system works, I should theoretically be able to repair things or add onto it should I ever need to. So yes, that money saved is satisfying, and these skills will definitely come in handy over the years of maintaining it and draining it and all that stuff. But yeah, not the smoothest project I’ve ever done. Perhaps I should dip into that savings for a massage to try to work out that persistent shoulder kink…

The post How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) appeared first on Young House Love.

How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

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How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It)

Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below.

Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two  (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough makes it all worth it.

In our past ten years of DIYing tons of things, this has been the case… but while this project left me with traces of that satisfaction, it just didn’t feel like it made up for the time, stress, and pain that ended up being involved in this particular project. So I’m keeping it real with you guys and saying it like it is: ultimately I think it was the steep learning curve (this was my first big plumbing project) and large scale (our yard never felt so big) that nearly did me in.

BUT the job did finally get done, despite several hiccups (more on that later), and the silver lining is that now I know HOW an irrigation system works and I can hopefully save myself some money down the road if I ever need to troubleshoot or reconfigure the system. Well, and now our landscaping will finally have a fighting chance against the summer heat.

So I figured I’d share how I did it so anyone else who is considering the project can make an educated decision about whether they want to take it on (like if you had a smaller yard or more previous plumbing experience).

The Background

For our anniversary last year, we got ourselves a landscape plan from a landscape architect (it was around $300) because we felt like we needed a professional to set us on a course for the yard we wanted. She drew us this plan below, but she advised us not to put any money into new plants until we solved our water issue (the summer sun basically bakes everything in July and August). So I’m sharing her diagram here for reference, but we’ve made basically ZERO progress on it – and in the year since getting it, we already have a couple of things we’re thinking of changing. So our property DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS, but the general lawn areas are close enough – so I’m going to use this to show how the system is arranged.

So based on her recommendation, we got a few estimates from professionals to install an irrigation system. The costs were about $3,500. We were juuuust about to pull the trigger on one when a neighbor caught wind of our plan and offered to help me install my own. He had done a couple in his previous homes (his current home had one when he moved in) and said it was a pretty doable. Even may have described it as “easy.” After showing me the basics, he offered to help knock it out with me. So last September we finally got the ball rolling.

Getting A Companion Meter

The first step was going to our county’s utility office and requesting the installation of a “companion meter.” This is basically a separate water meter from the one that provides water to the rest of the house. The reason for this is that we only get charged for water on this meter, not water and sewer like our other meter. That’s because the county knows all of the water from this meter is ending up in the yard, not going back into their sewer system. Everyone we talked to said this extra step saves a lot of money over time and is definitely worth it (even the pros who quoted installations for us). The separate meter also allows us to turn it off during the winter when the irrigation system isn’t in use, without affecting the rest of our home’s water. This cost us $500 and it took a couple of weeks of waiting for it to get installed. So while we waited, my neighbor helped me plan our system.

Planning The Irrigation System Layout

We actually picked up a couple of layout ideas from getting those prior professional estimates, but our main goal was to get water where we needed it in the least complicated route possible. For starters, you have to identify two important sources: (1) where your water is coming from and (2) where your power is coming from. The county determined the placement of the companion meter, and since we wanted to control the system from our garage, that would be our power source.

From the water source, we’d install a “main line” to supply water to each of the “zones.” These zones are basically groups of sprinkler heads that turn on or off together. The zones serve a couple of purposes. For one, depending on the size of your yard, you may not have enough water pressure to get ALL of your sprinkler heads to spray simultaneously. Creating zones also gives you more control of your watering – like if you have an area that gets drier than another, you can run just that area longer or more often (and save water/money on all the others). Each zone is fed by its own water line that branches off the main line. Ours looks a little something like this:

Once we had a general idea of where we’d run our water lines, we used some orange flags to mark exactly where the sprinkler heads would go. We just walked off our distances between heads (about 8-10 large steps between each one). We placed most around the perimeter of the yard, trying to limit overspray into areas that wouldn’t need watering (the woods, the driveway) or things that shouldn’t get wet unnecessarily (the deck, the house). You can adjust the arc and spray distance later to make sure you contain the water to the yard, while also creating some overlap to enough to sufficiently water the grass.

Buying Irrigation System Materials

With a general idea of the layout, I could start shopping for my materials. So let me go over what I needed (besides yards and yards of PVC pipe and a smorgasbord of PVC fittings and connectors). First up, the sprinkler heads. I went with these Hunter Rotor heads at my neighbor’s recommendation for most of the yard, and some smaller mister heads from Lowe’s for our front mulch bed. In both cases, most of it is buried underground and sits just barely above the dirt line. When the water turns on, the pressure pops it up (as shown below) and rotates back-and-forth in whatever arc you determine, or in a full 360 degree function.

image source

Each head attaches to the PVC water line via some flexible swing pipe (also called “funny pipe”) and some swing pipe elbows on either end (one screws into the bottom of the sprinkler head, the other into a threaded tee installed in your line). I’ll show you how this works later, but know that for each sprinkler head, you’ll need these as well.

Each zone is controlled by a valve. It’s a little electronic device that is installed at the start of each of your zone water lines, and controls when water flows into that zone. So you need one valve per zone, along with a valve box for each one. Since the valves live underground, the box keeps dirt off the valve and gives you access to it without having to dig.

The valves are controlled by a controller, which is where you’ll program your watering schedule (aka: when each zone turns on, and for how long). We chose this “smart” Racchio sprinkler controller and we LOVE it. All the programming is done via an app on your phone (or even your Alexa!), so it’s much easier than deciphering knobs or buttons on the actual box. Plus, it connects to a local weather station so it will skip a scheduled watering when it knows it has recently rained OR if rain is in the forecast (meaning you don’t have to buy and wire your own personal rain gauge – it’s so smart and has already saved us a ton of water on days we don’t need it).

You also can opt in to get a text or an email notification when a scheduled watering starts, stops, or is skipped. It’s a bit more expensive than a basic controller, but it’s been WELL WORTH IT. Just make sure you buy a version with enough zones for your yard (we have 6 zones, so I bought the 8 zone version – which gives us room to grow if we ever need to add more).

The controller plugs in near your power source (again, ours is in the garage) and is wired underground to each of the valves. So you’ll need some underground wire with enough strands so each zone has it’s own dedicated line (we got this 10-conductor version, since 10 strands were plenty for our 6 zones). It’s fine if it’s got extra, you just don’t want too few. The last item on the list is a backflow preventer, which is a device our county requires you to install to prevent water in your system from flowing back into the water main. It’s one of the few above-ground parts of an irrigation system, so you may have noticed them in yards with a sprinkler system.

Digging Your Trenches

The first step in installing your system is digging trenches for your pipes to run. CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG ANYTHING. They will come mark your property for utility lines so you don’t damage anything or hurt yourself. As we detailed in our podcast (Episode #21) our local utility failed to mark a gas line that we knew ran along our yard, so I ended up having to dig a large section by hand so that I could be extra vigilant for any utility lines. A neighborhood kid happened to be testing his new drone when I was doing this, so I have overhead evidence of some of my work!

For the rest of the yard, I rented a trencher from our local Home Depot (it was $88/day). I also had to rent their truck to get it home, since it wouldn’t fit in my car. So I used that as a chance to also buy loads and loads of PVC pipe (both 1″ and 3/4″ widths).

The trencher was VERY heavy and it took me and two other guys to get it in and out of the truck. Even once it was down, it was quite a beast to maneuver. You basically pull it backward steadily and the “blade,” which you can set to plunge into the earth at various depths, churns the dirt up, and leaves a narrow trench. The trencher is a bit tedious/slow to use and it still proved to be pretty exhausting, between yanking its weight and the vibration of you felt through your bones the whole time.

In fact, my neighbor (who I’ll be the first to admit is much stronger than me) ended up doing most of the trenching because he had better control over it than I did. Can I blame all my shovel digging earlier in the day for not being up to the task? While he did that, I wasn’t off the hook though. I shoveled the trench alongside our front walkway (as not to damage it with the machine) and I worked on running a pipe under the sidewalk itself (for the “mulch bed zone”). I did this by ramming a PVC piece through the dirt with a sledgehammer.

Digging – including renting & returning the trencher – ended up consuming most of the first day, which was a surprise to all of us. My neighbor thinks last time he did this he rented a smaller cable installer which digs a 4″ deep trench. I can’t speak to whether that would’ve worked or not, but it might be worth asking at your tool rental place – since it does appear to be easier and faster to maneuver.

Laying Your Irrigation System Pipes

Once your channels are all dug, it’s really just about connecting everything together. This is a straightforward process, but – depending on the size of your system – can be tedious and time-consuming. I started by loosely laying out my PVC along my trenches. I used 1″ for my main water line and for the first 2 or 3 sprinkler heads on each zone line, at which point I reduced it 3/4″. This was just a cost savings suggestion from my neighbor since 3/4″ is slightly cheaper.

To connect all of the pipes together, you use various couplings and elbows that get cemented in place. The process looks a little something like this. Start with this primer, like this purple guy.

Using the built-in brush, coat the ends of the PVC pieces you’ll be connecting, making sure to go all the way around – it’s very thin, so try not to drip on anything like sidewalks or driveways. Your pipe should be clean and dry too.

The primer dries within a couple of seconds, at which point you can apply your cement. We used this blue kind.

Same deal: use the brush to coat all sides with it. It’s pretty gooey, but again try not to drip it on anything you don’t want a blue stain on.

Repeat this process on the other surface you’ll be attaching it to – in this case, the inside of a coupling I had already cemented to the other pipe.

Then you push the pieces together, giving it a slight twist and holding for about 30 seconds. I usually do this with two hands to apply pressure from both sides, but one hand was occupied with a camera phone for this pic.

If ever I needed to cut a piece of PVC, I used this ratcheting pipe cutter.  It’s super easy to use, so well worth the $25 price tag.

I know this doesn’t seem like a difficult task, and it’s not. But I had LOTS of connections to create and working hunched over (dare I say “in the trenches”?) and repeatedly pushing pipes together with some force slowly took a toll on my back and shoulders. I had some of the worst sleeps of my life during this project because I had tweaked my shoulder in a way that didn’t allow me to lay on it. #sidesleeperproblems

Installing Your Valves

Again, the valves are the devices that need to be placed at the start of each zone because they control when water is allowed through to that zone. To install into your piping, the valves I used took some threaded couplings that I tightly secured with some plumbers tape and a couple of tightening twists of my wrench.

I don’t have any picture of the installation, but I used the same cementing process to attach the couplings to the rest of my pipe, right where each of my zone water lines branched off the main line. Just be sure to install it facing the right direction (mine had arrows to indicate the direction of water flow) and don’t forget to put a valve box around them too. Mine had to be added during the pipe install, but some can lay over your pipe afterward.

The valves need to be wired to your controller, so I’ll show you this part now, but I actually did my wiring after all of my piping was completed. Again, I’m using a 10-conductor underground wire that, when cut open, has 10 strands of different colors.

I first installed one cut end into my Racchio controller. I made black the common wire and then just went in “rainbow order” to help me keep my zones straight. The gray and brown wires could be used later if I wanted to add two more zones. And long story short, the zone 2 wire (red) jammed as I tried to put it in, so it didn’t connect fully…. buuuuut I can’t get it lose. Rather than buy a replacement controller, I just bypassed Zone #2. That means I’m using Zone #1, then Zones #3-7 to control my six zones. One of the many small annoyances of this project, but at the end of the day, no biggie.

With my controller wired (but still not plugged in) I then threaded the wire across the yard, through my main line trench, all the way to my first valve. I left excess as I went, since it was better to have extra than not enough.

At each valve, I had to connect one of the vavle’s red wires to the black (common) wire and the other to the color that would control that zone (this would be my Zone #5, so I used green to correspond with the wiring at the controller). This would literally be the end of the line for the green wire, since it’s not needed on the valves further down the line.

But in order to continue all of the other colors down the system, I wired them one-by-one (using waterproof wirecaps) to the same color strand on my next section of wire. Same goes for the black common wire, which is why you see two black strands going into the wirecap pictured above. In retrospect, I probably could’ve figured out a way to not cut all of the colors at each valve and just extract the colors needed – which would’ve saved lots of time. Maybe next time (ha! NEVER!).

By the last valve the only strands left were the Zone #1 color (pink), the common (black), and my two unused colors (gray and brown). I continued my unused colors throughout the thing so that I could add a new zone at any point within the system without having to rebury a whole new line.

Installing Your Backflow Preventer

This is probably where I encountered the most hiccups, so forgive my lack of photographs (I tend to slack on documenting when things aren’t going my way). This diagram shows pretty much what I was aiming for, based on what I had seen on other houses in the area.

(image source)

The only thing not shown is also a blowout, which is a pipe that sticks out from the main line that remains capped all year, until the fall when you need to winterize your system (aka, get all the water out of the lines so they don’t freeze and bust things up). To do this you attach an air compressor to the blowout and literally blow water out of the pipes through the sprinkler heads.

So here’s what mine looked like at one point – sorry my only pic is from when I had taped off the backflow device in order to spray the exposed PVC brown to blend in with its natural surroundings. You can see my blowout there on the bottom right. Spoiler alert: there are some mistakes here, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Actually, my first “saga” with the backflow installation was literally getting the darn thing connected to the county water line. Their pipe was copper, so I had to buy a special SharkBite coupling that would connect copper to PVC. The connection was about 2.5 feet in the ground, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to work on – and after a couple attempts, I just couldn’t get the lines to connect without leaking. We eventually called a plumber, and even his first guy couldn’t get it to work either. The next guy finally got it, and determined there was a gash on the underside of the county’s pipe (which none of us could see) and it wasn’t until he cut that part of the copper pipe off did we get a leak-free connection. It was super annoying and cost us about $150 to resolve.

So all seemed good in the backflow preventer department from there on out. But fast-forward to this spring when I finally get my system inspected (you can hear why it took that long in podcast Episode #49) and I find out THE REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED and my install is now incorrect. In fact, I fail the inspection in three different spectacular ways. So I have to dig it back out again. Which, as you can imagine, I was REALLY excited about.

Here were my three errors (which previously had been permitted since our neighbor has his system configured this way):

I hadn’t installed a main shut-off valve before my backflow device (I thought the county shut-off was sufficient, but apparently not)

I hadn’t installed couplings on either side of the device, which can be unscrewed for winter storage of the backflow preventer

I had put my blowout before the backflow preventer when instead it should go after so you’re not blowing pressurized air through the backflow

Again, what I did matched how others looked along my street (and even what is still shown in some of our county’s documentation) but it wasn’t gonna pass anymore. Times had changed. I had changed. My opinions of DIYing an irrigation system had definitely changed.

It took me a couple of hours to reconfigure everything and now it looks a little something like this.

So I’m certainly not the authority on backflow preventer installation (and it likely varies from county to county), but now you know at least as much as I do.

Installing Your Sprinkler Heads

With my valves and backflow preventer installed, I moved on to installing my sprinkler heads. Previously, as I had laid my zoned water lines, I had incorporated one of these set-ups whenever I came upon one of my orange flags.

This follows this schematic that I showed earlier (and again below). To create a spot in my line for a sprinkler head, I incorporated a threaded tee connection into my line. This is basically the same as a straight coupling but with a third hole on the top where I could twist in a threaded swing pipe elbow.

I assembled these connections in bulk one night on the couch – twisting the swing pipe elbows into a couple dozen tees, as well into some white elbows that would go at the end of each zone’s water line. They were pretty easy to thread by hand, but then I stuck a screwdriver in the end of the gray elbow to give me leverage to tighten them a couple more turns. I also cut small (18″-ish) sections of funny pipe in bulk and attached them. They just twisted on with a bit of pressure.

That same night on the couch I also one prepared my sprinkler heads in bulk (I had 27 in total, including misters). This meant twisting the small gray elbows into the back of each one…

…and installing red nozzles into each one based on the type of spray I wanted. This took longer than you’d expect, since I had to use that special white “key” to pull the sprinkler head out of its chamber to access the nozzle hole. It took a surprising amount of force to keep it from snapping back in (note my white-fingertip grip).

The next day I was able to install all of my sprinkler heads to the other end of the funny pipe, cutting it to the desired length so that I could position my sprinkler head exactly where I wanted it in the ground.

I hand dug holes for the pipe and sprinkler heads to be buried, so that just the very top of the each spinkler head would be exposed. You want it low enough that you won’t catch your mower blade on them.

Then it was time to go to each head and set the spray arc. I won’t get into the detail of this (just follow your manufacturer’s instructions) but it did involve some more yanking with that special key tool, so I’m not going to say it was fast and easy (I’d best describe it as tedious, especially since we have 27 sprinkler heads!). Oh and it’s helpful to do it with the system running so you can watch exactly what your water hits and make adjustments as you go.

Finishing Touches

The last few steps were, for one, filling in all the holes and trenches that had crisscrossed our yard for three weeks. Thanks to some heavy rains in there at some point, my dirt piles had turned into dried, muddy clumps so it took a bit of effort to get everything filled in, but we eventually got it done.

It was mid-October by this point, so I was running short on time to regrow grass on those dirt spots, so I tossed down some grass seed and let the new irrigation system do its thing.

We’ll still need to overseed this fall, but that last-ditch-effort seeds last fall actually did a pretty good job considering their late start. Phew! I’ll take all the good news I can get!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I do feel accomplished for having completed this project. But between the barrage of hiccups, the tedious physical exertion, and the general stress I put myself under during this task – it will go down in history as the DIY project I most regret not hiring out (and I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they have a smaller yard or more previous plumbing/irrigation experience). Not counting my backflow prevention revision this spring, it took me about a month from planning to completion. That’s not working non-stop on it for that time period, of course, but still much longer than the 2 or 3 days my neighbor had originally predicted. And I don’t blame him for “getting me into this mess” by any means. He couldn’t have anticipated some of the challenges (the slow-to-use trencher, the copper pipe connection, the changes to the inspection requirements, etc) and I’m very grateful for his help that first weekend.

The silver lining is that I went back through our receipts and it looks like our grand total was around the $1,800 mark, so we did save about $1,700 versus the professional estimates. And that doesn’t include the fact that I now know how to winterize it in the late fall and how to get it ready each spring (something that people often pay $75-$150 a year to have an irrigation company do). It also stands to reason that since I know how the system works, I should theoretically be able to repair things or add onto it should I ever need to. So yes, that money saved is satisfying, and these skills will definitely come in handy over the years of maintaining it and draining it and all that stuff. But yeah, not the smoothest project I’ve ever done. Perhaps I should dip into that savings for a massage to try to work out that persistent shoulder kink…

The post How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) appeared first on Young House Love.

How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

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How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It)

Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below.

Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two  (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough makes it all worth it.

In our past ten years of DIYing tons of things, this has been the case… but while this project left me with traces of that satisfaction, it just didn’t feel like it made up for the time, stress, and pain that ended up being involved in this particular project. So I’m keeping it real with you guys and saying it like it is: ultimately I think it was the steep learning curve (this was my first big plumbing project) and large scale (our yard never felt so big) that nearly did me in.

BUT the job did finally get done, despite several hiccups (more on that later), and the silver lining is that now I know HOW an irrigation system works and I can hopefully save myself some money down the road if I ever need to troubleshoot or reconfigure the system. Well, and now our landscaping will finally have a fighting chance against the summer heat.

So I figured I’d share how I did it so anyone else who is considering the project can make an educated decision about whether they want to take it on (like if you had a smaller yard or more previous plumbing experience).

The Background

For our anniversary last year, we got ourselves a landscape plan from a landscape architect (it was around $300) because we felt like we needed a professional to set us on a course for the yard we wanted. She drew us this plan below, but she advised us not to put any money into new plants until we solved our water issue (the summer sun basically bakes everything in July and August). So I’m sharing her diagram here for reference, but we’ve made basically ZERO progress on it – and in the year since getting it, we already have a couple of things we’re thinking of changing. So our property DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS, but the general lawn areas are close enough – so I’m going to use this to show how the system is arranged.

So based on her recommendation, we got a few estimates from professionals to install an irrigation system. The costs were about $3,500. We were juuuust about to pull the trigger on one when a neighbor caught wind of our plan and offered to help me install my own. He had done a couple in his previous homes (his current home had one when he moved in) and said it was a pretty doable. Even may have described it as “easy.” After showing me the basics, he offered to help knock it out with me. So last September we finally got the ball rolling.

Getting A Companion Meter

The first step was going to our county’s utility office and requesting the installation of a “companion meter.” This is basically a separate water meter from the one that provides water to the rest of the house. The reason for this is that we only get charged for water on this meter, not water and sewer like our other meter. That’s because the county knows all of the water from this meter is ending up in the yard, not going back into their sewer system. Everyone we talked to said this extra step saves a lot of money over time and is definitely worth it (even the pros who quoted installations for us). The separate meter also allows us to turn it off during the winter when the irrigation system isn’t in use, without affecting the rest of our home’s water. This cost us $500 and it took a couple of weeks of waiting for it to get installed. So while we waited, my neighbor helped me plan our system.

Planning The Irrigation System Layout

We actually picked up a couple of layout ideas from getting those prior professional estimates, but our main goal was to get water where we needed it in the least complicated route possible. For starters, you have to identify two important sources: (1) where your water is coming from and (2) where your power is coming from. The county determined the placement of the companion meter, and since we wanted to control the system from our garage, that would be our power source.

From the water source, we’d install a “main line” to supply water to each of the “zones.” These zones are basically groups of sprinkler heads that turn on or off together. The zones serve a couple of purposes. For one, depending on the size of your yard, you may not have enough water pressure to get ALL of your sprinkler heads to spray simultaneously. Creating zones also gives you more control of your watering – like if you have an area that gets drier than another, you can run just that area longer or more often (and save water/money on all the others). Each zone is fed by its own water line that branches off the main line. Ours looks a little something like this:

Once we had a general idea of where we’d run our water lines, we used some orange flags to mark exactly where the sprinkler heads would go. We just walked off our distances between heads (about 8-10 large steps between each one). We placed most around the perimeter of the yard, trying to limit overspray into areas that wouldn’t need watering (the woods, the driveway) or things that shouldn’t get wet unnecessarily (the deck, the house). You can adjust the arc and spray distance later to make sure you contain the water to the yard, while also creating some overlap to enough to sufficiently water the grass.

Buying Irrigation System Materials

With a general idea of the layout, I could start shopping for my materials. So let me go over what I needed (besides yards and yards of PVC pipe and a smorgasbord of PVC fittings and connectors). First up, the sprinkler heads. I went with these Hunter Rotor heads at my neighbor’s recommendation for most of the yard, and some smaller mister heads from Lowe’s for our front mulch bed. In both cases, most of it is buried underground and sits just barely above the dirt line. When the water turns on, the pressure pops it up (as shown below) and rotates back-and-forth in whatever arc you determine, or in a full 360 degree function.

image source

Each head attaches to the PVC water line via some flexible swing pipe (also called “funny pipe”) and some swing pipe elbows on either end (one screws into the bottom of the sprinkler head, the other into a threaded tee installed in your line). I’ll show you how this works later, but know that for each sprinkler head, you’ll need these as well.

Each zone is controlled by a valve. It’s a little electronic device that is installed at the start of each of your zone water lines, and controls when water flows into that zone. So you need one valve per zone, along with a valve box for each one. Since the valves live underground, the box keeps dirt off the valve and gives you access to it without having to dig.

The valves are controlled by a controller, which is where you’ll program your watering schedule (aka: when each zone turns on, and for how long). We chose this “smart” Racchio sprinkler controller and we LOVE it. All the programming is done via an app on your phone (or even your Alexa!), so it’s much easier than deciphering knobs or buttons on the actual box. Plus, it connects to a local weather station so it will skip a scheduled watering when it knows it has recently rained OR if rain is in the forecast (meaning you don’t have to buy and wire your own personal rain gauge – it’s so smart and has already saved us a ton of water on days we don’t need it).

You also can opt in to get a text or an email notification when a scheduled watering starts, stops, or is skipped. It’s a bit more expensive than a basic controller, but it’s been WELL WORTH IT. Just make sure you buy a version with enough zones for your yard (we have 6 zones, so I bought the 8 zone version – which gives us room to grow if we ever need to add more).

The controller plugs in near your power source (again, ours is in the garage) and is wired underground to each of the valves. So you’ll need some underground wire with enough strands so each zone has it’s own dedicated line (we got this 10-conductor version, since 10 strands were plenty for our 6 zones). It’s fine if it’s got extra, you just don’t want too few. The last item on the list is a backflow preventer, which is a device our county requires you to install to prevent water in your system from flowing back into the water main. It’s one of the few above-ground parts of an irrigation system, so you may have noticed them in yards with a sprinkler system.

Digging Your Trenches

The first step in installing your system is digging trenches for your pipes to run. CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG ANYTHING. They will come mark your property for utility lines so you don’t damage anything or hurt yourself. As we detailed in our podcast (Episode #21) our local utility failed to mark a gas line that we knew ran along our yard, so I ended up having to dig a large section by hand so that I could be extra vigilant for any utility lines. A neighborhood kid happened to be testing his new drone when I was doing this, so I have overhead evidence of some of my work!

For the rest of the yard, I rented a trencher from our local Home Depot (it was $88/day). I also had to rent their truck to get it home, since it wouldn’t fit in my car. So I used that as a chance to also buy loads and loads of PVC pipe (both 1″ and 3/4″ widths).

The trencher was VERY heavy and it took me and two other guys to get it in and out of the truck. Even once it was down, it was quite a beast to maneuver. You basically pull it backward steadily and the “blade,” which you can set to plunge into the earth at various depths, churns the dirt up, and leaves a narrow trench. The trencher is a bit tedious/slow to use and it still proved to be pretty exhausting, between yanking its weight and the vibration of you felt through your bones the whole time.

In fact, my neighbor (who I’ll be the first to admit is much stronger than me) ended up doing most of the trenching because he had better control over it than I did. Can I blame all my shovel digging earlier in the day for not being up to the task? While he did that, I wasn’t off the hook though. I shoveled the trench alongside our front walkway (as not to damage it with the machine) and I worked on running a pipe under the sidewalk itself (for the “mulch bed zone”). I did this by ramming a PVC piece through the dirt with a sledgehammer.

Digging – including renting & returning the trencher – ended up consuming most of the first day, which was a surprise to all of us. My neighbor thinks last time he did this he rented a smaller cable installer which digs a 4″ deep trench. I can’t speak to whether that would’ve worked or not, but it might be worth asking at your tool rental place – since it does appear to be easier and faster to maneuver.

Laying Your Irrigation System Pipes

Once your channels are all dug, it’s really just about connecting everything together. This is a straightforward process, but – depending on the size of your system – can be tedious and time-consuming. I started by loosely laying out my PVC along my trenches. I used 1″ for my main water line and for the first 2 or 3 sprinkler heads on each zone line, at which point I reduced it 3/4″. This was just a cost savings suggestion from my neighbor since 3/4″ is slightly cheaper.

To connect all of the pipes together, you use various couplings and elbows that get cemented in place. The process looks a little something like this. Start with this primer, like this purple guy.

Using the built-in brush, coat the ends of the PVC pieces you’ll be connecting, making sure to go all the way around – it’s very thin, so try not to drip on anything like sidewalks or driveways. Your pipe should be clean and dry too.

The primer dries within a couple of seconds, at which point you can apply your cement. We used this blue kind.

Same deal: use the brush to coat all sides with it. It’s pretty gooey, but again try not to drip it on anything you don’t want a blue stain on.

Repeat this process on the other surface you’ll be attaching it to – in this case, the inside of a coupling I had already cemented to the other pipe.

Then you push the pieces together, giving it a slight twist and holding for about 30 seconds. I usually do this with two hands to apply pressure from both sides, but one hand was occupied with a camera phone for this pic.

If ever I needed to cut a piece of PVC, I used this ratcheting pipe cutter.  It’s super easy to use, so well worth the $25 price tag.

I know this doesn’t seem like a difficult task, and it’s not. But I had LOTS of connections to create and working hunched over (dare I say “in the trenches”?) and repeatedly pushing pipes together with some force slowly took a toll on my back and shoulders. I had some of the worst sleeps of my life during this project because I had tweaked my shoulder in a way that didn’t allow me to lay on it. #sidesleeperproblems

Installing Your Valves

Again, the valves are the devices that need to be placed at the start of each zone because they control when water is allowed through to that zone. To install into your piping, the valves I used took some threaded couplings that I tightly secured with some plumbers tape and a couple of tightening twists of my wrench.

I don’t have any picture of the installation, but I used the same cementing process to attach the couplings to the rest of my pipe, right where each of my zone water lines branched off the main line. Just be sure to install it facing the right direction (mine had arrows to indicate the direction of water flow) and don’t forget to put a valve box around them too. Mine had to be added during the pipe install, but some can lay over your pipe afterward.

The valves need to be wired to your controller, so I’ll show you this part now, but I actually did my wiring after all of my piping was completed. Again, I’m using a 10-conductor underground wire that, when cut open, has 10 strands of different colors.

I first installed one cut end into my Racchio controller. I made black the common wire and then just went in “rainbow order” to help me keep my zones straight. The gray and brown wires could be used later if I wanted to add two more zones. And long story short, the zone 2 wire (red) jammed as I tried to put it in, so it didn’t connect fully…. buuuuut I can’t get it lose. Rather than buy a replacement controller, I just bypassed Zone #2. That means I’m using Zone #1, then Zones #3-7 to control my six zones. One of the many small annoyances of this project, but at the end of the day, no biggie.

With my controller wired (but still not plugged in) I then threaded the wire across the yard, through my main line trench, all the way to my first valve. I left excess as I went, since it was better to have extra than not enough.

At each valve, I had to connect one of the vavle’s red wires to the black (common) wire and the other to the color that would control that zone (this would be my Zone #5, so I used green to correspond with the wiring at the controller). This would literally be the end of the line for the green wire, since it’s not needed on the valves further down the line.

But in order to continue all of the other colors down the system, I wired them one-by-one (using waterproof wirecaps) to the same color strand on my next section of wire. Same goes for the black common wire, which is why you see two black strands going into the wirecap pictured above. In retrospect, I probably could’ve figured out a way to not cut all of the colors at each valve and just extract the colors needed – which would’ve saved lots of time. Maybe next time (ha! NEVER!).

By the last valve the only strands left were the Zone #1 color (pink), the common (black), and my two unused colors (gray and brown). I continued my unused colors throughout the thing so that I could add a new zone at any point within the system without having to rebury a whole new line.

Installing Your Backflow Preventer

This is probably where I encountered the most hiccups, so forgive my lack of photographs (I tend to slack on documenting when things aren’t going my way). This diagram shows pretty much what I was aiming for, based on what I had seen on other houses in the area.

(image source)

The only thing not shown is also a blowout, which is a pipe that sticks out from the main line that remains capped all year, until the fall when you need to winterize your system (aka, get all the water out of the lines so they don’t freeze and bust things up). To do this you attach an air compressor to the blowout and literally blow water out of the pipes through the sprinkler heads.

So here’s what mine looked like at one point – sorry my only pic is from when I had taped off the backflow device in order to spray the exposed PVC brown to blend in with its natural surroundings. You can see my blowout there on the bottom right. Spoiler alert: there are some mistakes here, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Actually, my first “saga” with the backflow installation was literally getting the darn thing connected to the county water line. Their pipe was copper, so I had to buy a special SharkBite coupling that would connect copper to PVC. The connection was about 2.5 feet in the ground, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to work on – and after a couple attempts, I just couldn’t get the lines to connect without leaking. We eventually called a plumber, and even his first guy couldn’t get it to work either. The next guy finally got it, and determined there was a gash on the underside of the county’s pipe (which none of us could see) and it wasn’t until he cut that part of the copper pipe off did we get a leak-free connection. It was super annoying and cost us about $150 to resolve.

So all seemed good in the backflow preventer department from there on out. But fast-forward to this spring when I finally get my system inspected (you can hear why it took that long in podcast Episode #49) and I find out THE REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED and my install is now incorrect. In fact, I fail the inspection in three different spectacular ways. So I have to dig it back out again. Which, as you can imagine, I was REALLY excited about.

Here were my three errors (which previously had been permitted since our neighbor has his system configured this way):

I hadn’t installed a main shut-off valve before my backflow device (I thought the county shut-off was sufficient, but apparently not)

I hadn’t installed couplings on either side of the device, which can be unscrewed for winter storage of the backflow preventer

I had put my blowout before the backflow preventer when instead it should go after so you’re not blowing pressurized air through the backflow

Again, what I did matched how others looked along my street (and even what is still shown in some of our county’s documentation) but it wasn’t gonna pass anymore. Times had changed. I had changed. My opinions of DIYing an irrigation system had definitely changed.

It took me a couple of hours to reconfigure everything and now it looks a little something like this.

So I’m certainly not the authority on backflow preventer installation (and it likely varies from county to county), but now you know at least as much as I do.

Installing Your Sprinkler Heads

With my valves and backflow preventer installed, I moved on to installing my sprinkler heads. Previously, as I had laid my zoned water lines, I had incorporated one of these set-ups whenever I came upon one of my orange flags.

This follows this schematic that I showed earlier (and again below). To create a spot in my line for a sprinkler head, I incorporated a threaded tee connection into my line. This is basically the same as a straight coupling but with a third hole on the top where I could twist in a threaded swing pipe elbow.

I assembled these connections in bulk one night on the couch – twisting the swing pipe elbows into a couple dozen tees, as well into some white elbows that would go at the end of each zone’s water line. They were pretty easy to thread by hand, but then I stuck a screwdriver in the end of the gray elbow to give me leverage to tighten them a couple more turns. I also cut small (18″-ish) sections of funny pipe in bulk and attached them. They just twisted on with a bit of pressure.

That same night on the couch I also one prepared my sprinkler heads in bulk (I had 27 in total, including misters). This meant twisting the small gray elbows into the back of each one…

…and installing red nozzles into each one based on the type of spray I wanted. This took longer than you’d expect, since I had to use that special white “key” to pull the sprinkler head out of its chamber to access the nozzle hole. It took a surprising amount of force to keep it from snapping back in (note my white-fingertip grip).

The next day I was able to install all of my sprinkler heads to the other end of the funny pipe, cutting it to the desired length so that I could position my sprinkler head exactly where I wanted it in the ground.

I hand dug holes for the pipe and sprinkler heads to be buried, so that just the very top of the each spinkler head would be exposed. You want it low enough that you won’t catch your mower blade on them.

Then it was time to go to each head and set the spray arc. I won’t get into the detail of this (just follow your manufacturer’s instructions) but it did involve some more yanking with that special key tool, so I’m not going to say it was fast and easy (I’d best describe it as tedious, especially since we have 27 sprinkler heads!). Oh and it’s helpful to do it with the system running so you can watch exactly what your water hits and make adjustments as you go.

Finishing Touches

The last few steps were, for one, filling in all the holes and trenches that had crisscrossed our yard for three weeks. Thanks to some heavy rains in there at some point, my dirt piles had turned into dried, muddy clumps so it took a bit of effort to get everything filled in, but we eventually got it done.

It was mid-October by this point, so I was running short on time to regrow grass on those dirt spots, so I tossed down some grass seed and let the new irrigation system do its thing.

We’ll still need to overseed this fall, but that last-ditch-effort seeds last fall actually did a pretty good job considering their late start. Phew! I’ll take all the good news I can get!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I do feel accomplished for having completed this project. But between the barrage of hiccups, the tedious physical exertion, and the general stress I put myself under during this task – it will go down in history as the DIY project I most regret not hiring out (and I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they have a smaller yard or more previous plumbing/irrigation experience). Not counting my backflow prevention revision this spring, it took me about a month from planning to completion. That’s not working non-stop on it for that time period, of course, but still much longer than the 2 or 3 days my neighbor had originally predicted. And I don’t blame him for “getting me into this mess” by any means. He couldn’t have anticipated some of the challenges (the slow-to-use trencher, the copper pipe connection, the changes to the inspection requirements, etc) and I’m very grateful for his help that first weekend.

The silver lining is that I went back through our receipts and it looks like our grand total was around the $1,800 mark, so we did save about $1,700 versus the professional estimates. And that doesn’t include the fact that I now know how to winterize it in the late fall and how to get it ready each spring (something that people often pay $75-$150 a year to have an irrigation company do). It also stands to reason that since I know how the system works, I should theoretically be able to repair things or add onto it should I ever need to. So yes, that money saved is satisfying, and these skills will definitely come in handy over the years of maintaining it and draining it and all that stuff. But yeah, not the smoothest project I’ve ever done. Perhaps I should dip into that savings for a massage to try to work out that persistent shoulder kink…

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Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below.

Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two  (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough makes it all worth it.

In our past ten years of DIYing tons of things, this has been the case… but while this project left me with traces of that satisfaction, it just didn’t feel like it made up for the time, stress, and pain that ended up being involved in this particular project. So I’m keeping it real with you guys and saying it like it is: ultimately I think it was the steep learning curve (this was my first big plumbing project) and large scale (our yard never felt so big) that nearly did me in.

BUT the job did finally get done, despite several hiccups (more on that later), and the silver lining is that now I know HOW an irrigation system works and I can hopefully save myself some money down the road if I ever need to troubleshoot or reconfigure the system. Well, and now our landscaping will finally have a fighting chance against the summer heat.

So I figured I’d share how I did it so anyone else who is considering the project can make an educated decision about whether they want to take it on (like if you had a smaller yard or more previous plumbing experience).

The Background

For our anniversary last year, we got ourselves a landscape plan from a landscape architect (it was around $300) because we felt like we needed a professional to set us on a course for the yard we wanted. She drew us this plan below, but she advised us not to put any money into new plants until we solved our water issue (the summer sun basically bakes everything in July and August). So I’m sharing her diagram here for reference, but we’ve made basically ZERO progress on it – and in the year since getting it, we already have a couple of things we’re thinking of changing. So our property DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS, but the general lawn areas are close enough – so I’m going to use this to show how the system is arranged.

So based on her recommendation, we got a few estimates from professionals to install an irrigation system. The costs were about $3,500. We were juuuust about to pull the trigger on one when a neighbor caught wind of our plan and offered to help me install my own. He had done a couple in his previous homes (his current home had one when he moved in) and said it was a pretty doable. Even may have described it as “easy.” After showing me the basics, he offered to help knock it out with me. So last September we finally got the ball rolling.

Getting A Companion Meter

The first step was going to our county’s utility office and requesting the installation of a “companion meter.” This is basically a separate water meter from the one that provides water to the rest of the house. The reason for this is that we only get charged for water on this meter, not water and sewer like our other meter. That’s because the county knows all of the water from this meter is ending up in the yard, not going back into their sewer system. Everyone we talked to said this extra step saves a lot of money over time and is definitely worth it (even the pros who quoted installations for us). The separate meter also allows us to turn it off during the winter when the irrigation system isn’t in use, without affecting the rest of our home’s water. This cost us $500 and it took a couple of weeks of waiting for it to get installed. So while we waited, my neighbor helped me plan our system.

Planning The Irrigation System Layout

We actually picked up a couple of layout ideas from getting those prior professional estimates, but our main goal was to get water where we needed it in the least complicated route possible. For starters, you have to identify two important sources: (1) where your water is coming from and (2) where your power is coming from. The county determined the placement of the companion meter, and since we wanted to control the system from our garage, that would be our power source.

From the water source, we’d install a “main line” to supply water to each of the “zones.” These zones are basically groups of sprinkler heads that turn on or off together. The zones serve a couple of purposes. For one, depending on the size of your yard, you may not have enough water pressure to get ALL of your sprinkler heads to spray simultaneously. Creating zones also gives you more control of your watering – like if you have an area that gets drier than another, you can run just that area longer or more often (and save water/money on all the others). Each zone is fed by its own water line that branches off the main line. Ours looks a little something like this:

Once we had a general idea of where we’d run our water lines, we used some orange flags to mark exactly where the sprinkler heads would go. We just walked off our distances between heads (about 8-10 large steps between each one). We placed most around the perimeter of the yard, trying to limit overspray into areas that wouldn’t need watering (the woods, the driveway) or things that shouldn’t get wet unnecessarily (the deck, the house). You can adjust the arc and spray distance later to make sure you contain the water to the yard, while also creating some overlap to enough to sufficiently water the grass.

Buying Irrigation System Materials

With a general idea of the layout, I could start shopping for my materials. So let me go over what I needed (besides yards and yards of PVC pipe and a smorgasbord of PVC fittings and connectors). First up, the sprinkler heads. I went with these Hunter Rotor heads at my neighbor’s recommendation for most of the yard, and some smaller mister heads from Lowe’s for our front mulch bed. In both cases, most of it is buried underground and sits just barely above the dirt line. When the water turns on, the pressure pops it up (as shown below) and rotates back-and-forth in whatever arc you determine, or in a full 360 degree function.

image source

Each head attaches to the PVC water line via some flexible swing pipe (also called “funny pipe”) and some swing pipe elbows on either end (one screws into the bottom of the sprinkler head, the other into a threaded tee installed in your line). I’ll show you how this works later, but know that for each sprinkler head, you’ll need these as well.

Each zone is controlled by a valve. It’s a little electronic device that is installed at the start of each of your zone water lines, and controls when water flows into that zone. So you need one valve per zone, along with a valve box for each one. Since the valves live underground, the box keeps dirt off the valve and gives you access to it without having to dig.

The valves are controlled by a controller, which is where you’ll program your watering schedule (aka: when each zone turns on, and for how long). We chose this “smart” Racchio sprinkler controller and we LOVE it. All the programming is done via an app on your phone (or even your Alexa!), so it’s much easier than deciphering knobs or buttons on the actual box. Plus, it connects to a local weather station so it will skip a scheduled watering when it knows it has recently rained OR if rain is in the forecast (meaning you don’t have to buy and wire your own personal rain gauge – it’s so smart and has already saved us a ton of water on days we don’t need it).

You also can opt in to get a text or an email notification when a scheduled watering starts, stops, or is skipped. It’s a bit more expensive than a basic controller, but it’s been WELL WORTH IT. Just make sure you buy a version with enough zones for your yard (we have 6 zones, so I bought the 8 zone version – which gives us room to grow if we ever need to add more).

The controller plugs in near your power source (again, ours is in the garage) and is wired underground to each of the valves. So you’ll need some underground wire with enough strands so each zone has it’s own dedicated line (we got this 10-conductor version, since 10 strands were plenty for our 6 zones). It’s fine if it’s got extra, you just don’t want too few. The last item on the list is a backflow preventer, which is a device our county requires you to install to prevent water in your system from flowing back into the water main. It’s one of the few above-ground parts of an irrigation system, so you may have noticed them in yards with a sprinkler system.

Digging Your Trenches

The first step in installing your system is digging trenches for your pipes to run. CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG ANYTHING. They will come mark your property for utility lines so you don’t damage anything or hurt yourself. As we detailed in our podcast (Episode #21) our local utility failed to mark a gas line that we knew ran along our yard, so I ended up having to dig a large section by hand so that I could be extra vigilant for any utility lines. A neighborhood kid happened to be testing his new drone when I was doing this, so I have overhead evidence of some of my work!

For the rest of the yard, I rented a trencher from our local Home Depot (it was $88/day). I also had to rent their truck to get it home, since it wouldn’t fit in my car. So I used that as a chance to also buy loads and loads of PVC pipe (both 1″ and 3/4″ widths).

The trencher was VERY heavy and it took me and two other guys to get it in and out of the truck. Even once it was down, it was quite a beast to maneuver. You basically pull it backward steadily and the “blade,” which you can set to plunge into the earth at various depths, churns the dirt up, and leaves a narrow trench. The trencher is a bit tedious/slow to use and it still proved to be pretty exhausting, between yanking its weight and the vibration of you felt through your bones the whole time.

In fact, my neighbor (who I’ll be the first to admit is much stronger than me) ended up doing most of the trenching because he had better control over it than I did. Can I blame all my shovel digging earlier in the day for not being up to the task? While he did that, I wasn’t off the hook though. I shoveled the trench alongside our front walkway (as not to damage it with the machine) and I worked on running a pipe under the sidewalk itself (for the “mulch bed zone”). I did this by ramming a PVC piece through the dirt with a sledgehammer.

Digging – including renting & returning the trencher – ended up consuming most of the first day, which was a surprise to all of us. My neighbor thinks last time he did this he rented a smaller cable installer which digs a 4″ deep trench. I can’t speak to whether that would’ve worked or not, but it might be worth asking at your tool rental place – since it does appear to be easier and faster to maneuver.

Laying Your Irrigation System Pipes

Once your channels are all dug, it’s really just about connecting everything together. This is a straightforward process, but – depending on the size of your system – can be tedious and time-consuming. I started by loosely laying out my PVC along my trenches. I used 1″ for my main water line and for the first 2 or 3 sprinkler heads on each zone line, at which point I reduced it 3/4″. This was just a cost savings suggestion from my neighbor since 3/4″ is slightly cheaper.

To connect all of the pipes together, you use various couplings and elbows that get cemented in place. The process looks a little something like this. Start with this primer, like this purple guy.

Using the built-in brush, coat the ends of the PVC pieces you’ll be connecting, making sure to go all the way around – it’s very thin, so try not to drip on anything like sidewalks or driveways. Your pipe should be clean and dry too.

The primer dries within a couple of seconds, at which point you can apply your cement. We used this blue kind.

Same deal: use the brush to coat all sides with it. It’s pretty gooey, but again try not to drip it on anything you don’t want a blue stain on.

Repeat this process on the other surface you’ll be attaching it to – in this case, the inside of a coupling I had already cemented to the other pipe.

Then you push the pieces together, giving it a slight twist and holding for about 30 seconds. I usually do this with two hands to apply pressure from both sides, but one hand was occupied with a camera phone for this pic.

If ever I needed to cut a piece of PVC, I used this ratcheting pipe cutter.  It’s super easy to use, so well worth the $25 price tag.

I know this doesn’t seem like a difficult task, and it’s not. But I had LOTS of connections to create and working hunched over (dare I say “in the trenches”?) and repeatedly pushing pipes together with some force slowly took a toll on my back and shoulders. I had some of the worst sleeps of my life during this project because I had tweaked my shoulder in a way that didn’t allow me to lay on it. #sidesleeperproblems

Installing Your Valves

Again, the valves are the devices that need to be placed at the start of each zone because they control when water is allowed through to that zone. To install into your piping, the valves I used took some threaded couplings that I tightly secured with some plumbers tape and a couple of tightening twists of my wrench.

I don’t have any picture of the installation, but I used the same cementing process to attach the couplings to the rest of my pipe, right where each of my zone water lines branched off the main line. Just be sure to install it facing the right direction (mine had arrows to indicate the direction of water flow) and don’t forget to put a valve box around them too. Mine had to be added during the pipe install, but some can lay over your pipe afterward.

The valves need to be wired to your controller, so I’ll show you this part now, but I actually did my wiring after all of my piping was completed. Again, I’m using a 10-conductor underground wire that, when cut open, has 10 strands of different colors.

I first installed one cut end into my Racchio controller. I made black the common wire and then just went in “rainbow order” to help me keep my zones straight. The gray and brown wires could be used later if I wanted to add two more zones. And long story short, the zone 2 wire (red) jammed as I tried to put it in, so it didn’t connect fully…. buuuuut I can’t get it lose. Rather than buy a replacement controller, I just bypassed Zone #2. That means I’m using Zone #1, then Zones #3-7 to control my six zones. One of the many small annoyances of this project, but at the end of the day, no biggie.

With my controller wired (but still not plugged in) I then threaded the wire across the yard, through my main line trench, all the way to my first valve. I left excess as I went, since it was better to have extra than not enough.

At each valve, I had to connect one of the vavle’s red wires to the black (common) wire and the other to the color that would control that zone (this would be my Zone #5, so I used green to correspond with the wiring at the controller). This would literally be the end of the line for the green wire, since it’s not needed on the valves further down the line.

But in order to continue all of the other colors down the system, I wired them one-by-one (using waterproof wirecaps) to the same color strand on my next section of wire. Same goes for the black common wire, which is why you see two black strands going into the wirecap pictured above. In retrospect, I probably could’ve figured out a way to not cut all of the colors at each valve and just extract the colors needed – which would’ve saved lots of time. Maybe next time (ha! NEVER!).

By the last valve the only strands left were the Zone #1 color (pink), the common (black), and my two unused colors (gray and brown). I continued my unused colors throughout the thing so that I could add a new zone at any point within the system without having to rebury a whole new line.

Installing Your Backflow Preventer

This is probably where I encountered the most hiccups, so forgive my lack of photographs (I tend to slack on documenting when things aren’t going my way). This diagram shows pretty much what I was aiming for, based on what I had seen on other houses in the area.

(image source)

The only thing not shown is also a blowout, which is a pipe that sticks out from the main line that remains capped all year, until the fall when you need to winterize your system (aka, get all the water out of the lines so they don’t freeze and bust things up). To do this you attach an air compressor to the blowout and literally blow water out of the pipes through the sprinkler heads.

So here’s what mine looked like at one point – sorry my only pic is from when I had taped off the backflow device in order to spray the exposed PVC brown to blend in with its natural surroundings. You can see my blowout there on the bottom right. Spoiler alert: there are some mistakes here, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Actually, my first “saga” with the backflow installation was literally getting the darn thing connected to the county water line. Their pipe was copper, so I had to buy a special SharkBite coupling that would connect copper to PVC. The connection was about 2.5 feet in the ground, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to work on – and after a couple attempts, I just couldn’t get the lines to connect without leaking. We eventually called a plumber, and even his first guy couldn’t get it to work either. The next guy finally got it, and determined there was a gash on the underside of the county’s pipe (which none of us could see) and it wasn’t until he cut that part of the copper pipe off did we get a leak-free connection. It was super annoying and cost us about $150 to resolve.

So all seemed good in the backflow preventer department from there on out. But fast-forward to this spring when I finally get my system inspected (you can hear why it took that long in podcast Episode #49) and I find out THE REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED and my install is now incorrect. In fact, I fail the inspection in three different spectacular ways. So I have to dig it back out again. Which, as you can imagine, I was REALLY excited about.

Here were my three errors (which previously had been permitted since our neighbor has his system configured this way):

I hadn’t installed a main shut-off valve before my backflow device (I thought the county shut-off was sufficient, but apparently not)

I hadn’t installed couplings on either side of the device, which can be unscrewed for winter storage of the backflow preventer

I had put my blowout before the backflow preventer when instead it should go after so you’re not blowing pressurized air through the backflow

Again, what I did matched how others looked along my street (and even what is still shown in some of our county’s documentation) but it wasn’t gonna pass anymore. Times had changed. I had changed. My opinions of DIYing an irrigation system had definitely changed.

It took me a couple of hours to reconfigure everything and now it looks a little something like this.

So I’m certainly not the authority on backflow preventer installation (and it likely varies from county to county), but now you know at least as much as I do.

Installing Your Sprinkler Heads

With my valves and backflow preventer installed, I moved on to installing my sprinkler heads. Previously, as I had laid my zoned water lines, I had incorporated one of these set-ups whenever I came upon one of my orange flags.

This follows this schematic that I showed earlier (and again below). To create a spot in my line for a sprinkler head, I incorporated a threaded tee connection into my line. This is basically the same as a straight coupling but with a third hole on the top where I could twist in a threaded swing pipe elbow.

I assembled these connections in bulk one night on the couch – twisting the swing pipe elbows into a couple dozen tees, as well into some white elbows that would go at the end of each zone’s water line. They were pretty easy to thread by hand, but then I stuck a screwdriver in the end of the gray elbow to give me leverage to tighten them a couple more turns. I also cut small (18″-ish) sections of funny pipe in bulk and attached them. They just twisted on with a bit of pressure.

That same night on the couch I also one prepared my sprinkler heads in bulk (I had 27 in total, including misters). This meant twisting the small gray elbows into the back of each one…

…and installing red nozzles into each one based on the type of spray I wanted. This took longer than you’d expect, since I had to use that special white “key” to pull the sprinkler head out of its chamber to access the nozzle hole. It took a surprising amount of force to keep it from snapping back in (note my white-fingertip grip).

The next day I was able to install all of my sprinkler heads to the other end of the funny pipe, cutting it to the desired length so that I could position my sprinkler head exactly where I wanted it in the ground.

I hand dug holes for the pipe and sprinkler heads to be buried, so that just the very top of the each spinkler head would be exposed. You want it low enough that you won’t catch your mower blade on them.

Then it was time to go to each head and set the spray arc. I won’t get into the detail of this (just follow your manufacturer’s instructions) but it did involve some more yanking with that special key tool, so I’m not going to say it was fast and easy (I’d best describe it as tedious, especially since we have 27 sprinkler heads!). Oh and it’s helpful to do it with the system running so you can watch exactly what your water hits and make adjustments as you go.

Finishing Touches

The last few steps were, for one, filling in all the holes and trenches that had crisscrossed our yard for three weeks. Thanks to some heavy rains in there at some point, my dirt piles had turned into dried, muddy clumps so it took a bit of effort to get everything filled in, but we eventually got it done.

It was mid-October by this point, so I was running short on time to regrow grass on those dirt spots, so I tossed down some grass seed and let the new irrigation system do its thing.

We’ll still need to overseed this fall, but that last-ditch-effort seeds last fall actually did a pretty good job considering their late start. Phew! I’ll take all the good news I can get!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I do feel accomplished for having completed this project. But between the barrage of hiccups, the tedious physical exertion, and the general stress I put myself under during this task – it will go down in history as the DIY project I most regret not hiring out (and I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they have a smaller yard or more previous plumbing/irrigation experience). Not counting my backflow prevention revision this spring, it took me about a month from planning to completion. That’s not working non-stop on it for that time period, of course, but still much longer than the 2 or 3 days my neighbor had originally predicted. And I don’t blame him for “getting me into this mess” by any means. He couldn’t have anticipated some of the challenges (the slow-to-use trencher, the copper pipe connection, the changes to the inspection requirements, etc) and I’m very grateful for his help that first weekend.

The silver lining is that I went back through our receipts and it looks like our grand total was around the $1,800 mark, so we did save about $1,700 versus the professional estimates. And that doesn’t include the fact that I now know how to winterize it in the late fall and how to get it ready each spring (something that people often pay $75-$150 a year to have an irrigation company do). It also stands to reason that since I know how the system works, I should theoretically be able to repair things or add onto it should I ever need to. So yes, that money saved is satisfying, and these skills will definitely come in handy over the years of maintaining it and draining it and all that stuff. But yeah, not the smoothest project I’ve ever done. Perhaps I should dip into that savings for a massage to try to work out that persistent shoulder kink…

The post How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) appeared first on Young House Love.

[lukerhill]

How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It)

Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below.

Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two  (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough makes it all worth it.

In our past ten years of DIYing tons of things, this has been the case… but while this project left me with traces of that satisfaction, it just didn’t feel like it made up for the time, stress, and pain that ended up being involved in this particular project. So I’m keeping it real with you guys and saying it like it is: ultimately I think it was the steep learning curve (this was my first big plumbing project) and large scale (our yard never felt so big) that nearly did me in.

BUT the job did finally get done, despite several hiccups (more on that later), and the silver lining is that now I know HOW an irrigation system works and I can hopefully save myself some money down the road if I ever need to troubleshoot or reconfigure the system. Well, and now our landscaping will finally have a fighting chance against the summer heat.

So I figured I’d share how I did it so anyone else who is considering the project can make an educated decision about whether they want to take it on (like if you had a smaller yard or more previous plumbing experience).

The Background

For our anniversary last year, we got ourselves a landscape plan from a landscape architect (it was around $300) because we felt like we needed a professional to set us on a course for the yard we wanted. She drew us this plan below, but she advised us not to put any money into new plants until we solved our water issue (the summer sun basically bakes everything in July and August). So I’m sharing her diagram here for reference, but we’ve made basically ZERO progress on it – and in the year since getting it, we already have a couple of things we’re thinking of changing. So our property DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS, but the general lawn areas are close enough – so I’m going to use this to show how the system is arranged.

So based on her recommendation, we got a few estimates from professionals to install an irrigation system. The costs were about $3,500. We were juuuust about to pull the trigger on one when a neighbor caught wind of our plan and offered to help me install my own. He had done a couple in his previous homes (his current home had one when he moved in) and said it was a pretty doable. Even may have described it as “easy.” After showing me the basics, he offered to help knock it out with me. So last September we finally got the ball rolling.

Getting A Companion Meter

The first step was going to our county’s utility office and requesting the installation of a “companion meter.” This is basically a separate water meter from the one that provides water to the rest of the house. The reason for this is that we only get charged for water on this meter, not water and sewer like our other meter. That’s because the county knows all of the water from this meter is ending up in the yard, not going back into their sewer system. Everyone we talked to said this extra step saves a lot of money over time and is definitely worth it (even the pros who quoted installations for us). The separate meter also allows us to turn it off during the winter when the irrigation system isn’t in use, without affecting the rest of our home’s water. This cost us $500 and it took a couple of weeks of waiting for it to get installed. So while we waited, my neighbor helped me plan our system.

Planning The Irrigation System Layout

We actually picked up a couple of layout ideas from getting those prior professional estimates, but our main goal was to get water where we needed it in the least complicated route possible. For starters, you have to identify two important sources: (1) where your water is coming from and (2) where your power is coming from. The county determined the placement of the companion meter, and since we wanted to control the system from our garage, that would be our power source.

From the water source, we’d install a “main line” to supply water to each of the “zones.” These zones are basically groups of sprinkler heads that turn on or off together. The zones serve a couple of purposes. For one, depending on the size of your yard, you may not have enough water pressure to get ALL of your sprinkler heads to spray simultaneously. Creating zones also gives you more control of your watering – like if you have an area that gets drier than another, you can run just that area longer or more often (and save water/money on all the others). Each zone is fed by its own water line that branches off the main line. Ours looks a little something like this:

Once we had a general idea of where we’d run our water lines, we used some orange flags to mark exactly where the sprinkler heads would go. We just walked off our distances between heads (about 8-10 large steps between each one). We placed most around the perimeter of the yard, trying to limit overspray into areas that wouldn’t need watering (the woods, the driveway) or things that shouldn’t get wet unnecessarily (the deck, the house). You can adjust the arc and spray distance later to make sure you contain the water to the yard, while also creating some overlap to enough to sufficiently water the grass.

Buying Irrigation System Materials

With a general idea of the layout, I could start shopping for my materials. So let me go over what I needed (besides yards and yards of PVC pipe and a smorgasbord of PVC fittings and connectors). First up, the sprinkler heads. I went with these Hunter Rotor heads at my neighbor’s recommendation for most of the yard, and some smaller mister heads from Lowe’s for our front mulch bed. In both cases, most of it is buried underground and sits just barely above the dirt line. When the water turns on, the pressure pops it up (as shown below) and rotates back-and-forth in whatever arc you determine, or in a full 360 degree function.

image source

Each head attaches to the PVC water line via some flexible swing pipe (also called “funny pipe”) and some swing pipe elbows on either end (one screws into the bottom of the sprinkler head, the other into a threaded tee installed in your line). I’ll show you how this works later, but know that for each sprinkler head, you’ll need these as well.

Each zone is controlled by a valve. It’s a little electronic device that is installed at the start of each of your zone water lines, and controls when water flows into that zone. So you need one valve per zone, along with a valve box for each one. Since the valves live underground, the box keeps dirt off the valve and gives you access to it without having to dig.

The valves are controlled by a controller, which is where you’ll program your watering schedule (aka: when each zone turns on, and for how long). We chose this “smart” Racchio sprinkler controller and we LOVE it. All the programming is done via an app on your phone (or even your Alexa!), so it’s much easier than deciphering knobs or buttons on the actual box. Plus, it connects to a local weather station so it will skip a scheduled watering when it knows it has recently rained OR if rain is in the forecast (meaning you don’t have to buy and wire your own personal rain gauge – it’s so smart and has already saved us a ton of water on days we don’t need it).

You also can opt in to get a text or an email notification when a scheduled watering starts, stops, or is skipped. It’s a bit more expensive than a basic controller, but it’s been WELL WORTH IT. Just make sure you buy a version with enough zones for your yard (we have 6 zones, so I bought the 8 zone version – which gives us room to grow if we ever need to add more).

The controller plugs in near your power source (again, ours is in the garage) and is wired underground to each of the valves. So you’ll need some underground wire with enough strands so each zone has it’s own dedicated line (we got this 10-conductor version, since 10 strands were plenty for our 6 zones). It’s fine if it’s got extra, you just don’t want too few. The last item on the list is a backflow preventer, which is a device our county requires you to install to prevent water in your system from flowing back into the water main. It’s one of the few above-ground parts of an irrigation system, so you may have noticed them in yards with a sprinkler system.

Digging Your Trenches

The first step in installing your system is digging trenches for your pipes to run. CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG ANYTHING. They will come mark your property for utility lines so you don’t damage anything or hurt yourself. As we detailed in our podcast (Episode #21) our local utility failed to mark a gas line that we knew ran along our yard, so I ended up having to dig a large section by hand so that I could be extra vigilant for any utility lines. A neighborhood kid happened to be testing his new drone when I was doing this, so I have overhead evidence of some of my work!

For the rest of the yard, I rented a trencher from our local Home Depot (it was $88/day). I also had to rent their truck to get it home, since it wouldn’t fit in my car. So I used that as a chance to also buy loads and loads of PVC pipe (both 1″ and 3/4″ widths).

The trencher was VERY heavy and it took me and two other guys to get it in and out of the truck. Even once it was down, it was quite a beast to maneuver. You basically pull it backward steadily and the “blade,” which you can set to plunge into the earth at various depths, churns the dirt up, and leaves a narrow trench. The trencher is a bit tedious/slow to use and it still proved to be pretty exhausting, between yanking its weight and the vibration of you felt through your bones the whole time.

In fact, my neighbor (who I’ll be the first to admit is much stronger than me) ended up doing most of the trenching because he had better control over it than I did. Can I blame all my shovel digging earlier in the day for not being up to the task? While he did that, I wasn’t off the hook though. I shoveled the trench alongside our front walkway (as not to damage it with the machine) and I worked on running a pipe under the sidewalk itself (for the “mulch bed zone”). I did this by ramming a PVC piece through the dirt with a sledgehammer.

Digging – including renting & returning the trencher – ended up consuming most of the first day, which was a surprise to all of us. My neighbor thinks last time he did this he rented a smaller cable installer which digs a 4″ deep trench. I can’t speak to whether that would’ve worked or not, but it might be worth asking at your tool rental place – since it does appear to be easier and faster to maneuver.

Laying Your Irrigation System Pipes

Once your channels are all dug, it’s really just about connecting everything together. This is a straightforward process, but – depending on the size of your system – can be tedious and time-consuming. I started by loosely laying out my PVC along my trenches. I used 1″ for my main water line and for the first 2 or 3 sprinkler heads on each zone line, at which point I reduced it 3/4″. This was just a cost savings suggestion from my neighbor since 3/4″ is slightly cheaper.

To connect all of the pipes together, you use various couplings and elbows that get cemented in place. The process looks a little something like this. Start with this primer, like this purple guy.

Using the built-in brush, coat the ends of the PVC pieces you’ll be connecting, making sure to go all the way around – it’s very thin, so try not to drip on anything like sidewalks or driveways. Your pipe should be clean and dry too.

The primer dries within a couple of seconds, at which point you can apply your cement. We used this blue kind.

Same deal: use the brush to coat all sides with it. It’s pretty gooey, but again try not to drip it on anything you don’t want a blue stain on.

Repeat this process on the other surface you’ll be attaching it to – in this case, the inside of a coupling I had already cemented to the other pipe.

Then you push the pieces together, giving it a slight twist and holding for about 30 seconds. I usually do this with two hands to apply pressure from both sides, but one hand was occupied with a camera phone for this pic.

If ever I needed to cut a piece of PVC, I used this ratcheting pipe cutter.  It’s super easy to use, so well worth the $25 price tag.

I know this doesn’t seem like a difficult task, and it’s not. But I had LOTS of connections to create and working hunched over (dare I say “in the trenches”?) and repeatedly pushing pipes together with some force slowly took a toll on my back and shoulders. I had some of the worst sleeps of my life during this project because I had tweaked my shoulder in a way that didn’t allow me to lay on it. #sidesleeperproblems

Installing Your Valves

Again, the valves are the devices that need to be placed at the start of each zone because they control when water is allowed through to that zone. To install into your piping, the valves I used took some threaded couplings that I tightly secured with some plumbers tape and a couple of tightening twists of my wrench.

I don’t have any picture of the installation, but I used the same cementing process to attach the couplings to the rest of my pipe, right where each of my zone water lines branched off the main line. Just be sure to install it facing the right direction (mine had arrows to indicate the direction of water flow) and don’t forget to put a valve box around them too. Mine had to be added during the pipe install, but some can lay over your pipe afterward.

The valves need to be wired to your controller, so I’ll show you this part now, but I actually did my wiring after all of my piping was completed. Again, I’m using a 10-conductor underground wire that, when cut open, has 10 strands of different colors.

I first installed one cut end into my Racchio controller. I made black the common wire and then just went in “rainbow order” to help me keep my zones straight. The gray and brown wires could be used later if I wanted to add two more zones. And long story short, the zone 2 wire (red) jammed as I tried to put it in, so it didn’t connect fully…. buuuuut I can’t get it lose. Rather than buy a replacement controller, I just bypassed Zone #2. That means I’m using Zone #1, then Zones #3-7 to control my six zones. One of the many small annoyances of this project, but at the end of the day, no biggie.

With my controller wired (but still not plugged in) I then threaded the wire across the yard, through my main line trench, all the way to my first valve. I left excess as I went, since it was better to have extra than not enough.

At each valve, I had to connect one of the vavle’s red wires to the black (common) wire and the other to the color that would control that zone (this would be my Zone #5, so I used green to correspond with the wiring at the controller). This would literally be the end of the line for the green wire, since it’s not needed on the valves further down the line.

But in order to continue all of the other colors down the system, I wired them one-by-one (using waterproof wirecaps) to the same color strand on my next section of wire. Same goes for the black common wire, which is why you see two black strands going into the wirecap pictured above. In retrospect, I probably could’ve figured out a way to not cut all of the colors at each valve and just extract the colors needed – which would’ve saved lots of time. Maybe next time (ha! NEVER!).

By the last valve the only strands left were the Zone #1 color (pink), the common (black), and my two unused colors (gray and brown). I continued my unused colors throughout the thing so that I could add a new zone at any point within the system without having to rebury a whole new line.

Installing Your Backflow Preventer

This is probably where I encountered the most hiccups, so forgive my lack of photographs (I tend to slack on documenting when things aren’t going my way). This diagram shows pretty much what I was aiming for, based on what I had seen on other houses in the area.

(image source)

The only thing not shown is also a blowout, which is a pipe that sticks out from the main line that remains capped all year, until the fall when you need to winterize your system (aka, get all the water out of the lines so they don’t freeze and bust things up). To do this you attach an air compressor to the blowout and literally blow water out of the pipes through the sprinkler heads.

So here’s what mine looked like at one point – sorry my only pic is from when I had taped off the backflow device in order to spray the exposed PVC brown to blend in with its natural surroundings. You can see my blowout there on the bottom right. Spoiler alert: there are some mistakes here, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Actually, my first “saga” with the backflow installation was literally getting the darn thing connected to the county water line. Their pipe was copper, so I had to buy a special SharkBite coupling that would connect copper to PVC. The connection was about 2.5 feet in the ground, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to work on – and after a couple attempts, I just couldn’t get the lines to connect without leaking. We eventually called a plumber, and even his first guy couldn’t get it to work either. The next guy finally got it, and determined there was a gash on the underside of the county’s pipe (which none of us could see) and it wasn’t until he cut that part of the copper pipe off did we get a leak-free connection. It was super annoying and cost us about $150 to resolve.

So all seemed good in the backflow preventer department from there on out. But fast-forward to this spring when I finally get my system inspected (you can hear why it took that long in podcast Episode #49) and I find out THE REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED and my install is now incorrect. In fact, I fail the inspection in three different spectacular ways. So I have to dig it back out again. Which, as you can imagine, I was REALLY excited about.

Here were my three errors (which previously had been permitted since our neighbor has his system configured this way):

I hadn’t installed a main shut-off valve before my backflow device (I thought the county shut-off was sufficient, but apparently not)

I hadn’t installed couplings on either side of the device, which can be unscrewed for winter storage of the backflow preventer

I had put my blowout before the backflow preventer when instead it should go after so you’re not blowing pressurized air through the backflow

Again, what I did matched how others looked along my street (and even what is still shown in some of our county’s documentation) but it wasn’t gonna pass anymore. Times had changed. I had changed. My opinions of DIYing an irrigation system had definitely changed.

It took me a couple of hours to reconfigure everything and now it looks a little something like this.

So I’m certainly not the authority on backflow preventer installation (and it likely varies from county to county), but now you know at least as much as I do.

Installing Your Sprinkler Heads

With my valves and backflow preventer installed, I moved on to installing my sprinkler heads. Previously, as I had laid my zoned water lines, I had incorporated one of these set-ups whenever I came upon one of my orange flags.

This follows this schematic that I showed earlier (and again below). To create a spot in my line for a sprinkler head, I incorporated a threaded tee connection into my line. This is basically the same as a straight coupling but with a third hole on the top where I could twist in a threaded swing pipe elbow.

I assembled these connections in bulk one night on the couch – twisting the swing pipe elbows into a couple dozen tees, as well into some white elbows that would go at the end of each zone’s water line. They were pretty easy to thread by hand, but then I stuck a screwdriver in the end of the gray elbow to give me leverage to tighten them a couple more turns. I also cut small (18″-ish) sections of funny pipe in bulk and attached them. They just twisted on with a bit of pressure.

That same night on the couch I also one prepared my sprinkler heads in bulk (I had 27 in total, including misters). This meant twisting the small gray elbows into the back of each one…

…and installing red nozzles into each one based on the type of spray I wanted. This took longer than you’d expect, since I had to use that special white “key” to pull the sprinkler head out of its chamber to access the nozzle hole. It took a surprising amount of force to keep it from snapping back in (note my white-fingertip grip).

The next day I was able to install all of my sprinkler heads to the other end of the funny pipe, cutting it to the desired length so that I could position my sprinkler head exactly where I wanted it in the ground.

I hand dug holes for the pipe and sprinkler heads to be buried, so that just the very top of the each spinkler head would be exposed. You want it low enough that you won’t catch your mower blade on them.

Then it was time to go to each head and set the spray arc. I won’t get into the detail of this (just follow your manufacturer’s instructions) but it did involve some more yanking with that special key tool, so I’m not going to say it was fast and easy (I’d best describe it as tedious, especially since we have 27 sprinkler heads!). Oh and it’s helpful to do it with the system running so you can watch exactly what your water hits and make adjustments as you go.

Finishing Touches

The last few steps were, for one, filling in all the holes and trenches that had crisscrossed our yard for three weeks. Thanks to some heavy rains in there at some point, my dirt piles had turned into dried, muddy clumps so it took a bit of effort to get everything filled in, but we eventually got it done.

It was mid-October by this point, so I was running short on time to regrow grass on those dirt spots, so I tossed down some grass seed and let the new irrigation system do its thing.

We’ll still need to overseed this fall, but that last-ditch-effort seeds last fall actually did a pretty good job considering their late start. Phew! I’ll take all the good news I can get!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I do feel accomplished for having completed this project. But between the barrage of hiccups, the tedious physical exertion, and the general stress I put myself under during this task – it will go down in history as the DIY project I most regret not hiring out (and I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they have a smaller yard or more previous plumbing/irrigation experience). Not counting my backflow prevention revision this spring, it took me about a month from planning to completion. That’s not working non-stop on it for that time period, of course, but still much longer than the 2 or 3 days my neighbor had originally predicted. And I don’t blame him for “getting me into this mess” by any means. He couldn’t have anticipated some of the challenges (the slow-to-use trencher, the copper pipe connection, the changes to the inspection requirements, etc) and I’m very grateful for his help that first weekend.

The silver lining is that I went back through our receipts and it looks like our grand total was around the $1,800 mark, so we did save about $1,700 versus the professional estimates. And that doesn’t include the fact that I now know how to winterize it in the late fall and how to get it ready each spring (something that people often pay $75-$150 a year to have an irrigation company do). It also stands to reason that since I know how the system works, I should theoretically be able to repair things or add onto it should I ever need to. So yes, that money saved is satisfying, and these skills will definitely come in handy over the years of maintaining it and draining it and all that stuff. But yeah, not the smoothest project I’ve ever done. Perhaps I should dip into that savings for a massage to try to work out that persistent shoulder kink…

The post How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) appeared first on Young House Love.

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How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It)

Welp, I’ve found it guys – the DIY project I most regret undertaking: installing an irrigation system in our yard. Don’t be fooled by my friendly wave below.

Why? The short answer is that it was much more exhausting and took much longer than I expected. A professional crew could’ve knocked it out in a day or two  (I know this because I watched two neighbors get theirs installed in no time while I sweated and stressed through my own installation over a three-week period). Sure, DIY projects almost always take more time and elbow grease than just writing a check – but usually, the satisfaction of doing it yourself, learning a new skill, or saving some dough makes it all worth it.

In our past ten years of DIYing tons of things, this has been the case… but while this project left me with traces of that satisfaction, it just didn’t feel like it made up for the time, stress, and pain that ended up being involved in this particular project. So I’m keeping it real with you guys and saying it like it is: ultimately I think it was the steep learning curve (this was my first big plumbing project) and large scale (our yard never felt so big) that nearly did me in.

BUT the job did finally get done, despite several hiccups (more on that later), and the silver lining is that now I know HOW an irrigation system works and I can hopefully save myself some money down the road if I ever need to troubleshoot or reconfigure the system. Well, and now our landscaping will finally have a fighting chance against the summer heat.

So I figured I’d share how I did it so anyone else who is considering the project can make an educated decision about whether they want to take it on (like if you had a smaller yard or more previous plumbing experience).

The Background

For our anniversary last year, we got ourselves a landscape plan from a landscape architect (it was around $300) because we felt like we needed a professional to set us on a course for the yard we wanted. She drew us this plan below, but she advised us not to put any money into new plants until we solved our water issue (the summer sun basically bakes everything in July and August). So I’m sharing her diagram here for reference, but we’ve made basically ZERO progress on it – and in the year since getting it, we already have a couple of things we’re thinking of changing. So our property DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS, but the general lawn areas are close enough – so I’m going to use this to show how the system is arranged.

So based on her recommendation, we got a few estimates from professionals to install an irrigation system. The costs were about $3,500. We were juuuust about to pull the trigger on one when a neighbor caught wind of our plan and offered to help me install my own. He had done a couple in his previous homes (his current home had one when he moved in) and said it was a pretty doable. Even may have described it as “easy.” After showing me the basics, he offered to help knock it out with me. So last September we finally got the ball rolling.

Getting A Companion Meter

The first step was going to our county’s utility office and requesting the installation of a “companion meter.” This is basically a separate water meter from the one that provides water to the rest of the house. The reason for this is that we only get charged for water on this meter, not water and sewer like our other meter. That’s because the county knows all of the water from this meter is ending up in the yard, not going back into their sewer system. Everyone we talked to said this extra step saves a lot of money over time and is definitely worth it (even the pros who quoted installations for us). The separate meter also allows us to turn it off during the winter when the irrigation system isn’t in use, without affecting the rest of our home’s water. This cost us $500 and it took a couple of weeks of waiting for it to get installed. So while we waited, my neighbor helped me plan our system.

Planning The Irrigation System Layout

We actually picked up a couple of layout ideas from getting those prior professional estimates, but our main goal was to get water where we needed it in the least complicated route possible. For starters, you have to identify two important sources: (1) where your water is coming from and (2) where your power is coming from. The county determined the placement of the companion meter, and since we wanted to control the system from our garage, that would be our power source.

From the water source, we’d install a “main line” to supply water to each of the “zones.” These zones are basically groups of sprinkler heads that turn on or off together. The zones serve a couple of purposes. For one, depending on the size of your yard, you may not have enough water pressure to get ALL of your sprinkler heads to spray simultaneously. Creating zones also gives you more control of your watering – like if you have an area that gets drier than another, you can run just that area longer or more often (and save water/money on all the others). Each zone is fed by its own water line that branches off the main line. Ours looks a little something like this:

Once we had a general idea of where we’d run our water lines, we used some orange flags to mark exactly where the sprinkler heads would go. We just walked off our distances between heads (about 8-10 large steps between each one). We placed most around the perimeter of the yard, trying to limit overspray into areas that wouldn’t need watering (the woods, the driveway) or things that shouldn’t get wet unnecessarily (the deck, the house). You can adjust the arc and spray distance later to make sure you contain the water to the yard, while also creating some overlap to enough to sufficiently water the grass.

Buying Irrigation System Materials

With a general idea of the layout, I could start shopping for my materials. So let me go over what I needed (besides yards and yards of PVC pipe and a smorgasbord of PVC fittings and connectors). First up, the sprinkler heads. I went with these Hunter Rotor heads at my neighbor’s recommendation for most of the yard, and some smaller mister heads from Lowe’s for our front mulch bed. In both cases, most of it is buried underground and sits just barely above the dirt line. When the water turns on, the pressure pops it up (as shown below) and rotates back-and-forth in whatever arc you determine, or in a full 360 degree function.

image source

Each head attaches to the PVC water line via some flexible swing pipe (also called “funny pipe”) and some swing pipe elbows on either end (one screws into the bottom of the sprinkler head, the other into a threaded tee installed in your line). I’ll show you how this works later, but know that for each sprinkler head, you’ll need these as well.

Each zone is controlled by a valve. It’s a little electronic device that is installed at the start of each of your zone water lines, and controls when water flows into that zone. So you need one valve per zone, along with a valve box for each one. Since the valves live underground, the box keeps dirt off the valve and gives you access to it without having to dig.

The valves are controlled by a controller, which is where you’ll program your watering schedule (aka: when each zone turns on, and for how long). We chose this “smart” Racchio sprinkler controller and we LOVE it. All the programming is done via an app on your phone (or even your Alexa!), so it’s much easier than deciphering knobs or buttons on the actual box. Plus, it connects to a local weather station so it will skip a scheduled watering when it knows it has recently rained OR if rain is in the forecast (meaning you don’t have to buy and wire your own personal rain gauge – it’s so smart and has already saved us a ton of water on days we don’t need it).

You also can opt in to get a text or an email notification when a scheduled watering starts, stops, or is skipped. It’s a bit more expensive than a basic controller, but it’s been WELL WORTH IT. Just make sure you buy a version with enough zones for your yard (we have 6 zones, so I bought the 8 zone version – which gives us room to grow if we ever need to add more).

The controller plugs in near your power source (again, ours is in the garage) and is wired underground to each of the valves. So you’ll need some underground wire with enough strands so each zone has it’s own dedicated line (we got this 10-conductor version, since 10 strands were plenty for our 6 zones). It’s fine if it’s got extra, you just don’t want too few. The last item on the list is a backflow preventer, which is a device our county requires you to install to prevent water in your system from flowing back into the water main. It’s one of the few above-ground parts of an irrigation system, so you may have noticed them in yards with a sprinkler system.

Digging Your Trenches

The first step in installing your system is digging trenches for your pipes to run. CALL 811 BEFORE YOU DIG ANYTHING. They will come mark your property for utility lines so you don’t damage anything or hurt yourself. As we detailed in our podcast (Episode #21) our local utility failed to mark a gas line that we knew ran along our yard, so I ended up having to dig a large section by hand so that I could be extra vigilant for any utility lines. A neighborhood kid happened to be testing his new drone when I was doing this, so I have overhead evidence of some of my work!

For the rest of the yard, I rented a trencher from our local Home Depot (it was $88/day). I also had to rent their truck to get it home, since it wouldn’t fit in my car. So I used that as a chance to also buy loads and loads of PVC pipe (both 1″ and 3/4″ widths).

The trencher was VERY heavy and it took me and two other guys to get it in and out of the truck. Even once it was down, it was quite a beast to maneuver. You basically pull it backward steadily and the “blade,” which you can set to plunge into the earth at various depths, churns the dirt up, and leaves a narrow trench. The trencher is a bit tedious/slow to use and it still proved to be pretty exhausting, between yanking its weight and the vibration of you felt through your bones the whole time.

In fact, my neighbor (who I’ll be the first to admit is much stronger than me) ended up doing most of the trenching because he had better control over it than I did. Can I blame all my shovel digging earlier in the day for not being up to the task? While he did that, I wasn’t off the hook though. I shoveled the trench alongside our front walkway (as not to damage it with the machine) and I worked on running a pipe under the sidewalk itself (for the “mulch bed zone”). I did this by ramming a PVC piece through the dirt with a sledgehammer.

Digging – including renting & returning the trencher – ended up consuming most of the first day, which was a surprise to all of us. My neighbor thinks last time he did this he rented a smaller cable installer which digs a 4″ deep trench. I can’t speak to whether that would’ve worked or not, but it might be worth asking at your tool rental place – since it does appear to be easier and faster to maneuver.

Laying Your Irrigation System Pipes

Once your channels are all dug, it’s really just about connecting everything together. This is a straightforward process, but – depending on the size of your system – can be tedious and time-consuming. I started by loosely laying out my PVC along my trenches. I used 1″ for my main water line and for the first 2 or 3 sprinkler heads on each zone line, at which point I reduced it 3/4″. This was just a cost savings suggestion from my neighbor since 3/4″ is slightly cheaper.

To connect all of the pipes together, you use various couplings and elbows that get cemented in place. The process looks a little something like this. Start with this primer, like this purple guy.

Using the built-in brush, coat the ends of the PVC pieces you’ll be connecting, making sure to go all the way around – it’s very thin, so try not to drip on anything like sidewalks or driveways. Your pipe should be clean and dry too.

The primer dries within a couple of seconds, at which point you can apply your cement. We used this blue kind.

Same deal: use the brush to coat all sides with it. It’s pretty gooey, but again try not to drip it on anything you don’t want a blue stain on.

Repeat this process on the other surface you’ll be attaching it to – in this case, the inside of a coupling I had already cemented to the other pipe.

Then you push the pieces together, giving it a slight twist and holding for about 30 seconds. I usually do this with two hands to apply pressure from both sides, but one hand was occupied with a camera phone for this pic.

If ever I needed to cut a piece of PVC, I used this ratcheting pipe cutter.  It’s super easy to use, so well worth the $25 price tag.

I know this doesn’t seem like a difficult task, and it’s not. But I had LOTS of connections to create and working hunched over (dare I say “in the trenches”?) and repeatedly pushing pipes together with some force slowly took a toll on my back and shoulders. I had some of the worst sleeps of my life during this project because I had tweaked my shoulder in a way that didn’t allow me to lay on it. #sidesleeperproblems

Installing Your Valves

Again, the valves are the devices that need to be placed at the start of each zone because they control when water is allowed through to that zone. To install into your piping, the valves I used took some threaded couplings that I tightly secured with some plumbers tape and a couple of tightening twists of my wrench.

I don’t have any picture of the installation, but I used the same cementing process to attach the couplings to the rest of my pipe, right where each of my zone water lines branched off the main line. Just be sure to install it facing the right direction (mine had arrows to indicate the direction of water flow) and don’t forget to put a valve box around them too. Mine had to be added during the pipe install, but some can lay over your pipe afterward.

The valves need to be wired to your controller, so I’ll show you this part now, but I actually did my wiring after all of my piping was completed. Again, I’m using a 10-conductor underground wire that, when cut open, has 10 strands of different colors.

I first installed one cut end into my Racchio controller. I made black the common wire and then just went in “rainbow order” to help me keep my zones straight. The gray and brown wires could be used later if I wanted to add two more zones. And long story short, the zone 2 wire (red) jammed as I tried to put it in, so it didn’t connect fully…. buuuuut I can’t get it lose. Rather than buy a replacement controller, I just bypassed Zone #2. That means I’m using Zone #1, then Zones #3-7 to control my six zones. One of the many small annoyances of this project, but at the end of the day, no biggie.

With my controller wired (but still not plugged in) I then threaded the wire across the yard, through my main line trench, all the way to my first valve. I left excess as I went, since it was better to have extra than not enough.

At each valve, I had to connect one of the vavle’s red wires to the black (common) wire and the other to the color that would control that zone (this would be my Zone #5, so I used green to correspond with the wiring at the controller). This would literally be the end of the line for the green wire, since it’s not needed on the valves further down the line.

But in order to continue all of the other colors down the system, I wired them one-by-one (using waterproof wirecaps) to the same color strand on my next section of wire. Same goes for the black common wire, which is why you see two black strands going into the wirecap pictured above. In retrospect, I probably could’ve figured out a way to not cut all of the colors at each valve and just extract the colors needed – which would’ve saved lots of time. Maybe next time (ha! NEVER!).

By the last valve the only strands left were the Zone #1 color (pink), the common (black), and my two unused colors (gray and brown). I continued my unused colors throughout the thing so that I could add a new zone at any point within the system without having to rebury a whole new line.

Installing Your Backflow Preventer

This is probably where I encountered the most hiccups, so forgive my lack of photographs (I tend to slack on documenting when things aren’t going my way). This diagram shows pretty much what I was aiming for, based on what I had seen on other houses in the area.

(image source)

The only thing not shown is also a blowout, which is a pipe that sticks out from the main line that remains capped all year, until the fall when you need to winterize your system (aka, get all the water out of the lines so they don’t freeze and bust things up). To do this you attach an air compressor to the blowout and literally blow water out of the pipes through the sprinkler heads.

So here’s what mine looked like at one point – sorry my only pic is from when I had taped off the backflow device in order to spray the exposed PVC brown to blend in with its natural surroundings. You can see my blowout there on the bottom right. Spoiler alert: there are some mistakes here, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Actually, my first “saga” with the backflow installation was literally getting the darn thing connected to the county water line. Their pipe was copper, so I had to buy a special SharkBite coupling that would connect copper to PVC. The connection was about 2.5 feet in the ground, which made it EXTREMELY difficult to work on – and after a couple attempts, I just couldn’t get the lines to connect without leaking. We eventually called a plumber, and even his first guy couldn’t get it to work either. The next guy finally got it, and determined there was a gash on the underside of the county’s pipe (which none of us could see) and it wasn’t until he cut that part of the copper pipe off did we get a leak-free connection. It was super annoying and cost us about $150 to resolve.

So all seemed good in the backflow preventer department from there on out. But fast-forward to this spring when I finally get my system inspected (you can hear why it took that long in podcast Episode #49) and I find out THE REQUIREMENTS HAVE CHANGED and my install is now incorrect. In fact, I fail the inspection in three different spectacular ways. So I have to dig it back out again. Which, as you can imagine, I was REALLY excited about.

Here were my three errors (which previously had been permitted since our neighbor has his system configured this way):

I hadn’t installed a main shut-off valve before my backflow device (I thought the county shut-off was sufficient, but apparently not)

I hadn’t installed couplings on either side of the device, which can be unscrewed for winter storage of the backflow preventer

I had put my blowout before the backflow preventer when instead it should go after so you’re not blowing pressurized air through the backflow

Again, what I did matched how others looked along my street (and even what is still shown in some of our county’s documentation) but it wasn’t gonna pass anymore. Times had changed. I had changed. My opinions of DIYing an irrigation system had definitely changed.

It took me a couple of hours to reconfigure everything and now it looks a little something like this.

So I’m certainly not the authority on backflow preventer installation (and it likely varies from county to county), but now you know at least as much as I do.

Installing Your Sprinkler Heads

With my valves and backflow preventer installed, I moved on to installing my sprinkler heads. Previously, as I had laid my zoned water lines, I had incorporated one of these set-ups whenever I came upon one of my orange flags.

This follows this schematic that I showed earlier (and again below). To create a spot in my line for a sprinkler head, I incorporated a threaded tee connection into my line. This is basically the same as a straight coupling but with a third hole on the top where I could twist in a threaded swing pipe elbow.

I assembled these connections in bulk one night on the couch – twisting the swing pipe elbows into a couple dozen tees, as well into some white elbows that would go at the end of each zone’s water line. They were pretty easy to thread by hand, but then I stuck a screwdriver in the end of the gray elbow to give me leverage to tighten them a couple more turns. I also cut small (18″-ish) sections of funny pipe in bulk and attached them. They just twisted on with a bit of pressure.

That same night on the couch I also one prepared my sprinkler heads in bulk (I had 27 in total, including misters). This meant twisting the small gray elbows into the back of each one…

…and installing red nozzles into each one based on the type of spray I wanted. This took longer than you’d expect, since I had to use that special white “key” to pull the sprinkler head out of its chamber to access the nozzle hole. It took a surprising amount of force to keep it from snapping back in (note my white-fingertip grip).

The next day I was able to install all of my sprinkler heads to the other end of the funny pipe, cutting it to the desired length so that I could position my sprinkler head exactly where I wanted it in the ground.

I hand dug holes for the pipe and sprinkler heads to be buried, so that just the very top of the each spinkler head would be exposed. You want it low enough that you won’t catch your mower blade on them.

Then it was time to go to each head and set the spray arc. I won’t get into the detail of this (just follow your manufacturer’s instructions) but it did involve some more yanking with that special key tool, so I’m not going to say it was fast and easy (I’d best describe it as tedious, especially since we have 27 sprinkler heads!). Oh and it’s helpful to do it with the system running so you can watch exactly what your water hits and make adjustments as you go.

Finishing Touches

The last few steps were, for one, filling in all the holes and trenches that had crisscrossed our yard for three weeks. Thanks to some heavy rains in there at some point, my dirt piles had turned into dried, muddy clumps so it took a bit of effort to get everything filled in, but we eventually got it done.

It was mid-October by this point, so I was running short on time to regrow grass on those dirt spots, so I tossed down some grass seed and let the new irrigation system do its thing.

We’ll still need to overseed this fall, but that last-ditch-effort seeds last fall actually did a pretty good job considering their late start. Phew! I’ll take all the good news I can get!

Conclusion

At the end of the day, I do feel accomplished for having completed this project. But between the barrage of hiccups, the tedious physical exertion, and the general stress I put myself under during this task – it will go down in history as the DIY project I most regret not hiring out (and I probably wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they have a smaller yard or more previous plumbing/irrigation experience). Not counting my backflow prevention revision this spring, it took me about a month from planning to completion. That’s not working non-stop on it for that time period, of course, but still much longer than the 2 or 3 days my neighbor had originally predicted. And I don’t blame him for “getting me into this mess” by any means. He couldn’t have anticipated some of the challenges (the slow-to-use trencher, the copper pipe connection, the changes to the inspection requirements, etc) and I’m very grateful for his help that first weekend.

The silver lining is that I went back through our receipts and it looks like our grand total was around the $1,800 mark, so we did save about $1,700 versus the professional estimates. And that doesn’t include the fact that I now know how to winterize it in the late fall and how to get it ready each spring (something that people often pay $75-$150 a year to have an irrigation company do). It also stands to reason that since I know how the system works, I should theoretically be able to repair things or add onto it should I ever need to. So yes, that money saved is satisfying, and these skills will definitely come in handy over the years of maintaining it and draining it and all that stuff. But yeah, not the smoothest project I’ve ever done. Perhaps I should dip into that savings for a massage to try to work out that persistent shoulder kink…

The post How To Install An Irrigation System (But Why You Maybe Shouldn’t Do It) appeared first on Young House Love.