How To Measure Your Yard

Are you planning to install an inground irrigation or sprinkling system? If so, one of the first thing you will need to do is measure your yard. Do not dismiss the importance of this task. It is without a doubt one of the most important jobs you must do before you begin the process of ordering materials and digging trenches. Here are some tips on how to measure your yard accurately.

You want to measure your yard anytime you are planning to design either an irrigation system or an inground sprinkler system. A mistake in the measurements will affect everything else, so accuracy and care are important.

1. You want to use a measuring tape or other measuring device that is accurate. Most sprinkler system problems can be traced back to inaccurate measurements. Write your measurement down on paper, do not rely on memory.

2. The thing to do is to make a scale drawing of your yard. Draw the area to be irrigated on a piece of graph paper. The easiest method for this is to use a scale of 1 square = 1 foot. If the area is really large, you can use 1 square = 5 feet.

Many landscape designers and contractors will actually draw the picture as they take the measurements. This allows you to see any mistakes right away. If, for example, you have measured the perimeter of your yard and you get back to where you started from and see that the lines do not match up, you know you made an error somewhere.

3. Many times you will have a building next to the area that you want to irrigate. If this is the case, start by measuring the perimeter of the building. Generally, buildings have square corners and straight sides, which you can use to help you get an accurate baseline reading for the rest of your measurements.

4. Here is how you can use the straight sides of the building to help you: Measure in a straight line the distance from each corner of the building to the edge of the irrigated area or property.

Make sure that you use the straight edge of the building to line up your measurements.

Once you have this done, you begin to draw in the property lines on your graph paper using these measurements. Always make sure that you double check by measuring the length of each property line. It should match exactly what you have drawn. Keep in mind that you may not see a perfect rectangle.

5. The last thing you need to do with your drawing is to fill in the other details that are in the area. You may need to draw in the edges of your lawn, or draw in tree locations, swimming pools, outbuildings, etc. Again, you have to precise with your measurements.

You now have an accurate drawing of your proposed irrigation area. You can take this to a landscaping contractor or to a sprinkler installation contractor to get a very accurate bid on both materials and labor.