meirman wrote:
In alt.home.repair on Fri, 29 Jul 2005 02:58:04 GMT Chris Jarshant
posted:

We had a home built by a local builder about 3 years ago, and
now want to put in a pool. I took pictures of almost everything
during construction except for the sprinkler layout (I was out


Call the sprinkler company that did the work and get a copy of the
plans.

That is a fantastic idea. I am normally skeptical of the
subs that build homes around here, somehow I doubt they
keep blueprints. Case in point, we had a fence installed
a few years ago. Before the fence could go in, the utility
companies had to come out and mark where the buried utility
(water, electric, phone, cable) lines were. I knew where
they all were (except for water of course), and when the guys
came out to spray paint my grass, they were *waaay* off.
Luckily I didn't care 'cause the fence was going in the
backyard and both the actual lines and the waaay off
painted lines were on the side of the yard. But it just
shot to hell my confidence in construction subs to accurately
document what they do except when it a) costs a lof of money,
or b) lives are at stake if the result of what they do is
misused.

Anyway, I'll give them a call and see what I can "dig up"
so to speak.


of town). Now we want to put in a pool, and I want to cap one
of the 5 zones of the sprinkler system (as the pool's decking


The whole zone? Won't that be at the water valve and isn't that a
known location?

Umm.. you're talking to a sprinkler idiot. I know what a "valve"
is but I don't know where the valves are in my system. I assumed
they were in some nether region in one of my walls. I'll see
what the contractor says.

Any tips on locating buried water lines (aside from "going
caddyshack" on the backyard!). Any pointers to a typical


Are you supposed to drain them every winter? Does that mean you know
where the far ends are? Open one drain at a time and see which heads
are on the same line, because they are the ones that won't have much
pressure, or which will stop spraying first when the water turns off.
Or disconnect/turn off one zone or all but one zone at the valve, if
that is possible (surely it is) and learn which heads are in the same
zone that way.

No winter draining, why would one want to do that anyway? If it's
for protection from freezing/bursting, no issues here, I'm in
central florida and the ground never freezes. As for the zones,
I can map them (as you suggest below) as I have independent control
over all zones. I know which heads are on which zones. I just
wonder how the pipes snake from the main water supply around to
the heads. For example, the one zone that I want to preserve costs
of 4 rotary heads, all at the back fence in the back yard. Does
the supply line cut straight back in the middle of the backyard,
form a "T", with each end of the T supplying 2 heads? Or does the
supply line come up the side of the backyard, and run across the
whole back fence?

cj