Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 May 23, 2009 2:14 pm Hi all, My gf and I will be going for prestart in the next couple of weeks and we're going through all the bits and pieces we need to decide for it. As far as landscaping and gardening goes, I think it's a good idea to get some junction boxes installed, probably close to the taps, so we can have external lighting through the garden which is switched on and off with the other lights. Is there any other considerations anyone can think of which should be done at pre-start? Should the position of the tap be central or hidden away down the side, stuff like that. Building with RedInk at Waterhall in WA, check out our blog: http://justinandashlyshouse.blogspot.com/ Re: Things to get done at pre-start 2May 23, 2009 5:18 pm Add extra outdoor taps - it's a nuisance to have to drag hoses long distances, and most won't be long enough to cover the entire back yard. I'd put one on each of the back corners (or at the side of you have an outdoor entertaining area there) and another at the front, on the side of the house. That way you can get rid of the tap in the middle of the yard, so it's easier to landscape. Also think about running some PVC pipe under your driveway for electrical conduit and/or irrigation. There's usually a strip of garden next to the driveway and you may want to add garden lights or a dripper system. Think about future location of: Watering systems Water feature Feature lights Path lights Barbecue area (lighting and power?) Anywhere you might want to operate power tools outdoors and need to plug something in Lighting for outdoor entertaining Bug zapper? Ceiling fan in al fresco? Security lighting General lighting if you need to hang out washing or trek out to the shed at night Re: Things to get done at pre-start 3May 24, 2009 8:02 pm try and get 20mm pipe for the taps or at least one near the front on 20mm. It makes installing retic easier. Which is another consideration, retic. Try and get water to a point out the way but where you can have all the valves and the master valve together. Makes things easy later on. A double power point for an irrigation controller and also outdoor lighting inside the garage. install some conduit for feeding garden lighting wire and irrigation wire through from the garage to the garden is very handy A tap down each side, a tap out the back and a tap near the garage (or in the garage so people can't turn on the tap or steal your water, it keeps the hose inside and away from cluttering up the front.) Power point in the garage, or better still is a double power outlet on each side of the garage. Also a power outlet in the ceiling of the garage for connection of a garage door. A double outlet there is very handy too Re: Things to get done at pre-start 4Jun 07, 2009 6:15 pm I think we have outdoor lighting sorted now(There was one outdoor light included, which was in the porch). The electrical stuff is really pushing our budget. Are additional taps really necessary? I thought by having a fairly well thought out reticulation system, watering by hand should be mostly unnecessary? Also we don't really have much yard anyway. PVC pipe under the driveway is a good idea, I will get that done. Feature lighting I hope to have covered by having a junction box installed near each tap, which at the moment are the front right and the rear left. Is the 20mm pipe for the taps to allow greater flow rates? I can see how that would be useful. I'll ask about that. I'm going to install the retic myself, it's something that I really want to do properly and obviously preparation such as placement of taps and power points is important, unfortunately prestart is in 2 days so we have to have everything sorted for that. I don't really know how retic systems are set up, I imagine you would want only one controller, but you would have the sprinklers for the backyard connected to the rear tap and the sprinklers for the front year connected to the front tap so there's going to be wiring going everywhere. Fu, would you mind letting me know roughly what you would do on our plan? Just the main parts like the placement of the controller and the connection to the taps and control valves. I'm having difficulty finding anything useful on the net. Our floorplan on our block is here: http://forum.homeone.com.au/download/file.php?id=2995&mode=view I've tried finding some info on retic systems, but I just can't find anything. I have so much that I need to get sorted for prestart I'm starting to stress(well, more than normal anyway ) ANY help will be greatly appreciated, this is starting to feel like a huge school assignment that I've left later than I should have to finish. Building with RedInk at Waterhall in WA, check out our blog: http://justinandashlyshouse.blogspot.com/ Re: Things to get done at pre-start 5Jun 07, 2009 7:27 pm Oh it's around I am still gathering photos of my jobs as I go. I will be putting together a few how tos for you guys that shows nearly everything and with pretty pictures. Be very careful where you get your irrigation advice! Be very careful where you buy your irrigation parts. Go to a Doing it yourself is a very good idea because you will get an understanding of how it all works, and how to fix things later. Servicing is something you will encounter and anything that makes that easy is important. I will also mention while on the topic of irrigation that handwatering is not more water efficient than irrigating! Big fallacy! It saves water because they trust that everyone doesn't do it. It uses a much much much more per square metre than irrigation but the right irrigation. Lawn areas, use pop ups but fit them with MP rotators This improves water efficiency by a heap. Subsurface is good under lawns but fertilising is a hazard and it can be expensive. In garden beds go 13mm netafim subsurface. running off 19mm black poly pipe for supply of water. Use white PVC under drives, and paths. class 12 or 18 is best and under driveways have it 400mm deep. Even a length of 90mm storm pipe 400mm deep is going to be good to have to feed pipe and wire through under the drive Re: Things to get done at pre-start 6Jun 07, 2009 8:22 pm It is a bit rough from that plan but lets go with a few options Water source? This will be the point where the water is accessed from. Your best location will be the right side of the property near the main bedroom, down that side. Have a tap near there so there will be a copper pipe to have an irrigation take off put in by a plumber. I would say that if it isn't near where the mains is, then have a 20mm copper pipe to that area for the tap if you can. Just hope the mains is on that northern boundary. water pressure is important. If it isn't the master valve really needs to be as close to the mains as possible and so does the take off. Be great to get all the valves and the take off up near the bedroom on the north side The controller would be good in the garage ideally, cost would be in the extra irrigation wire through the roof space across to the northern side.(or the right hand side on the plan). Conduit as well, but there might even be enough left around to do it once the house is getting built I would say comparatively it would be trivial in comparison to long term benefits. Then you need a power point on one of the sides in the garage. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ If you really want the controller on an external wall near the bedroom then have it hard wired into your homes power. Don't even have a power point for it. Get a sparkie to drill the wall and feed a wire through. This shows behind that little grey cover in the bottom left of the last photo. This is on another one I did, mine No power point Drilled a hole through the back and into the wall, wire straight through. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Things to get done at pre-start 7Jun 07, 2009 9:08 pm Ok, well that clears most things up. The place the tap was put on the drawings from the builder is exactly where you mentioned, the meter box is there also, so I assume that's the main section. I'll ask for the pipe to the tap to be 20mm. From your description it sounds like the whole retic system would ideally be piped from that one point, I plan to have some running along the opposite side of the house which would require running tube all the way around the house. I plan to move the rear tap(Currently in the centre of the house at the rear) to the rear of the side wall(south most corner). Would it be better to put some control valves near that tap and connect into that pipe and run wiring to them, or is it best to keep all the valves together and just run the extra tubing? I think I'll put the controller in the garage next to a power point and hard wire it in with the wiring from the power point so I still get the use of my $69 power point . I mean get a sparky to wire it in of course Building with RedInk at Waterhall in WA, check out our blog: http://justinandashlyshouse.blogspot.com/ Re: Things to get done at pre-start 8Jun 07, 2009 9:33 pm Keep it all in the one spot. It isn't always done but my reasons are for practicality in the future not cost right now. Then you don't have some here and some there. Everything together in one place. takeoff, master valve and the valves for each station. It is extra pipe but in the end, better. Poly isn't expensive. Running some off the back tap is no good, water pressure won't be as good. It needs to run from a point as close as possible to the mains. Re: Things to get done at pre-start 9Jun 07, 2009 9:56 pm Ok, sounds good to me. Thank you so much for your help, I have the starting point I needed now. Now hopefully one of those free Great Gardens Workshops you mentioned in the other thread will be running somewhere nearby in the next few months so I can go learn some things. Building with RedInk at Waterhall in WA, check out our blog: http://justinandashlyshouse.blogspot.com/ Re: Things to get done at pre-start 10Jun 07, 2009 10:09 pm Learn some things! Mate you will learn some things alright Yeah keep an eye on the website. The Cottesloe workshop is booked out. The rest are in Albany, Denmark, Walpole etc. Jeeze I'd drive down there just for these Any excuse to visit that area of WA! One of the best areas in Australia. Might be a few months before they are back in Perth and I do suggest it worth while travelling to them if you have to. Take a pen and note book and a bottle of water Depends what you're current inclusions are, but we're not including wardrobes and will just use second hand ones until we can save later on to get them built. Also have a… 3 11630 I work with owner, he/she is my man on the ground and I instruct them when to visit the site and take photos and I have other tools in the bag. 4 15265 I am in the same situation, would you be able to give some insights in to this? I am in SA 8 17047 |