Get water where you need it with clever rerouting
You’ve installed a sprinkler system, but you notice that the sprinkler heads along one water line aren’t reaching a far corner of your lawn, leaving the grass wilted and yellow. What if you could reroute the sprinkler lines to make sure every part of your lawn gets the water it needs to grow lush and green? Follow this guide to learn how to move sprinkler lines in your yard to help your lawn look its best.
Note that if you plan to DIY, moving a shorter line is easiest. If you have a long sprinkler line attached to several different sprinkler heads or multiple sprinkler lines that need to be relocated, leave this job to the pros to minimize damage to your lawn and avoid any potential leaks from rerouting your sprinkler system.
Any time you plan to do digging in your yard, like when you’re going to move sprinkler lines or replace a sprinkler valve, you should call the Call Before You Dig hotline at 811. This is important, as it can help you locate and avoid utility lines while digging. Outdoor construction, like moving sprinkler lines, may require a permit from your local building and planning office.
It’s also helpful to know how deep sprinkler lines are before you start digging. Sprinkler lines are typically 7 to 10 inches underground, although they may be as shallow as 4 inches or as deep as 12 inches.
The other major task to check off before you start learning how to move sprinkler lines is designing the new layout. Make sure you have a plan for where you’ll be rerouting the sprinkler lines, and place markers along the new route. Otherwise, you could be stuck with doing this job all over again in a year or two when you realize the sprinklers still aren’t watering the lawn where it needs water most.
It’s easiest to start laying pipe near where it will connect to the sprinkler valves, so locate your sprinkler valve box and mark it with a flag, stake, or other marker. The valve box is usually buried mostly or completely underground in a container with a black, plastic base and a green lid.
Next, shut off the water supply to your sprinkler system to prevent water from spraying out while you work. You can find the irrigation shut-off valve location in a few different places. It may be located near your water heater, outside in a protective box near your water meter or well, or even hidden inside an artificial rock protective cover somewhere in your yard. The irrigation shut-off valve may also be inside the valve box that you marked in step one.
Once you’ve found the valve, turn it until it stops to shut off the water to the sprinkler system. The handle will be perpendicular to the pipe when it is off.
Using a shovel, begin carefully digging out the soil around the existing line. As you get closer to the line, you can switch to a trowel to carefully remove soil without accidentally piercing the line and causing a leak. Make the trench for the entire length of the line, from where it connects at the valve box to the final sprinkler head at the end of the line.
Use pipe cutters to cut the length of the water line every few feet to make removal easier. Pull out the old pipes one section at a time. When removing the sprinkler heads, be sure to carefully twist them off counterclockwise to avoid damaging the threads, since you’ll need to reinstall them again on the rerouted line.
With the pipes removed from the former line’s location, you can now cap where the old line connected to the valves. Clean the remaining pipe, and apply PVC cement to a pipe end cap. Then, hold the end cap in place in the old pipe for about 30 seconds to allow it to adhere.
Now, lay out your irrigation pipes next to the location of the new pipes, where you placed your markers. Make sure they are off to the side enough that you have space to dig, but having them close by will make for easier installation.
Following along the new sprinkler line location you outlined, and after receiving the green light from your municipality and the 811 hotline, use the shovel to carefully dig the trench for your new pipes. They should sit between four and 12 inches deep, so dig according to your preferred depth.
Starting near the valve box where the new line will connect to the existing sprinkler system, begin installing the pipes in the trench. Use PVC cement to attach pipes as you go. You'll use PVC elbows to make these connections if you need to turn a corner along the line.
Work your way along the line until it’s time to attach risers and sprinkler heads, two important parts of a sprinkler system that serve as the end of the sprinkler line. Connect a tee fitting to the sprinkler line, then thread the riser to the tee fitting. Finally, screw on the sprinkler head to the riser.
Before you cover the newly laid pipes, you should test that the sprinklers work as expected. That way, you can easily make adjustments if needed. Go back to the water shut-off valve and turn it until it is parallel to the pipes. If the sprinkler system is turned off, go to the controller and power it on.
Let the sprinklers run and inspect the area where you removed the old line for any leaks. Check that the sprinkler heads' new location gives your lawn adequate watering coverage.
Wait about 15 minutes or up to two hours to give the PVC cement time to dry. If the rerouted sprinkler line works as you intended, go ahead and cover the pipes with the soil. Make sure to fill in the trench where the former line was removed at this stage, too. The fresh soil may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, so consider laying sod or planting grass seed to make your lawn look like new again.
Repairing a sprinkler system costs about $100 to $410, depending on the problem. The cost of moving a sprinkler line will vary based on how long the line runs across your yard. You can expect to spend about $0.50 to $1 per linear foot of pipe, about $10 to $25 for PVC cement, and about $1 to $10 per tee fitting.
Hiring a pro to move sprinkler lines for you costs about $50 to $100 per hour, plus the cost of materials, but the amount of time this project takes again depends on the size of the sprinkler line.
No matter how short or long the sprinkler line you want to reroute is, hiring a local sprinkler installer is the best option for moving sprinkler lines. If you tackle this yourself and make any mistakes along the way, from not properly fitting the end cap on the old line to installing the new line incorrectly, you risk damaging your sprinkler system and lawn. If the system leaks, you could also be left with a muddy and expensive mess.
Relocating sprinkler heads will cost about $0.50 to $1 per linear foot for new pipes, and you’ll need to connect the sprinkler heads in their new location to the rest of the sprinkler system. Additionally, if you need to replace the sprinkler heads, expect to spend about $2.50 to $30 for each new sprinkler head.
Moving a sprinkler zone involves moving multiple sprinkler heads and rerouting multiple lines from one area of your lawn to another. Because this is an even bigger project than removing a sprinkler line, a job that is already best left to the pros, you should hire a local sprinkler installation pro to help you move, add, or remove sprinkler zones.
You can rent or purchase a pipe locator tool to help you estimate sprinkler line locations without digging. A no- to low-cost method to find sprinkler lines without digging is to tie a string from the sprinkler head at the end of the line to the preceding sprinkler lines until you reach the valve box, although this won’t be a very accurate method if you’re sprinkler line has a lot of twists and turns in the pipes.
