Irrigation in North Hills, CA

Usually a mix of replacement and correction. We begin at the point of connection, check static pressure and available flow, then work outward through valves, mainline, laterals and heads. On a typical property that means new valves in an accessible box, pipe replaced where it has gone brittle, heads reset to grade and respaced so coverage overlaps, nozzles matched across each station, drip added in the beds, and a modern controller programmed for real conditions. Compact lots make this manageable, since there is less pipe to open and fewer stations to rebuild.

Once pipe from the original construction starts failing, it rarely fails only once. Old lines go brittle, crack at fittings, and split again a few feet from the previous repair, so a season of patching often costs more than the replacement would have. We judge by what turns up in the trench. If the pipe is sound and a single fitting let go, we repair it. If it snaps in hand and the breaks keep spreading down the line, we recommend replacing that section or that zone outright and putting the money somewhere permanent.

Diaphragms harden and grit gets under the seat. A valve seals by pressure holding a rubber diaphragm against a seat, and after enough years in the ground that rubber loses its flexibility, while sand and scale from an aging system prevent the seat from closing cleanly. The result is a station that trickles constantly, a head that never quite stops dripping, or a zone that will not open at all. Occasionally a rebuild kit solves it. On a manifold where every valve is the same age, replacing the whole group is the smarter move.

Fewer than a sprawling property, which is one of the genuine advantages of these lots. Zone count is set by available flow and pressure rather than by acreage, so a compact yard with a front lawn, a parkway strip, foundation beds and a small rear area might run a handful of stations instead of a dozen. What we will not do is stretch a station past what the water supply can serve, because an overloaded zone starves the heads at the far end. We measure flow first and build the zone count from that number.

In most cases it delivers the highest value of anything in the project. An old mechanical or basic digital timer repeats the same schedule in January that it runs in July, which means months of watering nobody needs. A weather based controller adjusts run times from local evapotranspiration data, and a rain sensor stands the system down during a storm. Programming matters as much as the hardware, so we enter accurate plant type, soil and nozzle information for each station instead of accepting factory defaults that suit no yard in particular.

Yes, though for a different reason than a hillside. On level ground water does not run off, it stands, and one long run time leaves puddles sitting on saturated soil that evaporate in the sun without ever reaching roots. Splitting the run into several shorter cycles with rest between them lets each application move down into the ground before the next arrives. That schedule also exposes low spots quickly, so we can regrade or relocate a head rather than watching the same corner stay soggy every week.

Front lawns on these tracts are generally small and regular in shape, which is exactly what fixed spray heads were designed for. They throw a fan a short distance and cover tight rectangles and parkway strips without soaking the sidewalk. Rotors suit large open turf and are usually more head than these yards call for. Rotary nozzles fit a standard spray body and throw slow rotating streams at a much lower application rate, which helps on heavier soil and where water tends to stand. We mix families by area, never within a single zone.

Head to head spacing means water from one sprinkler reaches the next sprinkler. Coverage runs heaviest near a head and thinnest at the end of its throw, so that deliberate overlap is what produces an even result. Matched precipitation means every nozzle on a station applies the same depth per hour no matter what arc it covers. On a small lawn these details show immediately, since there is nowhere for a dry crescent or a drowned corner to hide. Correct spacing usually calls for more heads, not fewer.

Anywhere the target is a plant instead of an open surface. Foundation beds along the house, shrub borders, the strip beside a driveway, planters and individual trees all take drip well, because emitters deliver water at the root zone with almost nothing lost to sun and wind. Drip also keeps overspray off stucco, fencing and flatwork, which counts for a lot on lots where beds sit tight against the building. It does require filtration, pressure regulation and an occasional inspection, since emitters clog and tubing takes the odd hit from a shovel.

That conversion ranks among the most practical upgrades available on an older system, because the valve, wire and buried mainline already exist. We fit a conversion assembly at the riser with filtration and pressure regulation, run distribution tubing through the bed, and set emitters plant by plant according to what each one needs. Run times then have to change completely, since drip applies water slowly over a much longer period. We reprogram the station rather than leaving an old spray schedule in place, which would either flood the bed or starve it.

It matters more, not less. When there are only a few stations to work with, putting turf and established shrubs on the same valve guarantees one of them is always watered wrong, and there is no spare zone available to fix it later. We separate lawn from beds, sun from shade, and trees from everything shallow rooted, then set independent run times per station. A yard grouped this way comes through a restriction season with the planting intact, because you can cut the lawn back without punishing the rest of it.

They raise demand precisely when California restrictions limit when and how long you may water, so the system has to deliver what the landscape needs inside a narrow window. That pushes design toward efficient nozzles, drip in the beds, tight hydrozoning, and a controller that adjusts on its own as conditions and rules change. Deep infrequent watering in the early morning beats short daily cycles regardless, since it wets the root zone and loses less to evaporation. Local water agencies sometimes run rebate programs for qualifying upgrades. We will point you to your provider to check, without promising eligibility.

It depends on what the gauge reads, and we check rather than assume. Where static pressure sits above what the nozzles were designed for, spray leaves the head as fine mist instead of droplets, and that mist drifts off the yard entirely before it lands. The same excess pressure keeps working on aging fittings until something splits, which is a genuine concern on original pipe. Pressure regulating heads or a regulator at the point of connection hold working pressure in the right band, so the system uses less water while covering better.

It is the assembly that stops irrigation water from being pulled back into the drinking supply if pressure in the main drops. Water sitting in buried lateral pipe shares space with soil, fertilizer and whatever else is in the ground, and none of that belongs inside the house. Backflow protection is a code requirement, not an optional upgrade. On older properties we sometimes find an assembly that was never installed, was removed at some point, or no longer functions. We set it where it stays accessible for testing rather than buried behind planting.

By reading what the system already tells us. A water meter creeping with every valve closed indicates a mainline leak, while a soggy patch appearing only after one station runs points at a lateral or a cracked fitting on that zone. From there we isolate valve by valve, watch how pressure behaves, and follow surface evidence, which on a level lot shows up as standing water or a bright green stripe rather than a wash running downhill. Then we open a small area, make the repair, pressure test, and backfill.

Phasing works well here, and plenty of clients take that route. The usual order is to fix whatever wastes the most first: a leaking valve manifold, broken or sunken heads, and the controller. That alone changes the water bill and stops ongoing damage. Converting beds to drip is a natural second stage, and replacing tired lateral pipe zone by zone follows as budget allows. We plan the entire system on paper at the start, so each stage connects into the next instead of being torn out and redone.

Our own employees, start to finish. Daniels Landscaping installs, repairs and programs irrigation with one licensed contractor. Buried work is where shortcuts hide best, because once a trench is closed nobody can see the depth of the pipe, the quality of the glue joints, or how the wire was spliced. The people digging on your property work for us, answer to us, and follow the same methods on every job we take on.

Call (818) 443-9300 and we will schedule a walk of the property, whether you call the neighborhood North Hills or Sepulveda as many longtime residents still do. We check pressure and flow at the source, open the valve boxes, run every station, and note what is broken, misaimed or simply obsolete. You receive a free written estimate covering design, materials and scope in plain language, with staging options if you want them. Daniels Landscaping holds California license 1138709, and the installation stays under one licensed contractor.