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I have been living in a house we bought 6 months ago. The original owner had it built in 1988. He installed the sprinkler system himself..it's a great system. He also mowed the lawn himself. When I moved in, I hired someone to do it since the price was right and I am too busy to mow it myself. Throughout the past 6 months, I have probably replaced 10-13 sprinkler heads. I tell him about it...and he says he is sorry and will try to be more careful. Last cut, I found 2 more broken heads. As you may know, replacing them is a pain in the butt...especially in 95 degree, 90% humidity weather like we have down here in south florida.
Just the other day, I got a letter from the landscaper telling me he sold his business and a new person would be handling my grass....same price and same cut schedule (every 7 days). I am seriousely considering cutting my lawn by myself. Most of my sprinkler heads are small pop up heads. You have to remember that the original owner 20 years ago designed the sprinkler system knowing he would cut using a push mower. I don't think he ever anticipated a large and heavy commercial riding mower would be cutting the grass....until I moved in of course. The heads are hidden underneath the grass and very hard to see. The pop up about an inch. I do NOT have donuts and don't really want to get them since I find them unattractive and I have about 10 heads on the front lawn alone....so it would look weird. I found this doing a search : SprinklerDonut - Sprinkler Saver - Best protection available for your Sprinkler Heads Looks awesome, but they are very expensive. Anyone have experience with these donuts ?
So it's either get these expensive sprinkler donut protectors and wonder if they work or start doing my lawn myself..which means buying a lawnmower, an edger and a weedeater which is expensive....plus spending my precious free time doing something I could be paying someone else to do.
Well, you can either keep replacing the sprinkler heads, put little raised flags on them for the landscaper, or fire him and do the lawn yourself. I'm a woman and do ours with a push mower, it's not that hard. We have an acre (although a lot of it is wooded), and much of the property slopes. Who knows, you may actually enjoy doing it. You might not like the cost of the mower etc. up front, but in the long run it's MUCH cheaper than paying someone else to do it. I do ours in the late afternoon or early evening, when it isn't quite so hot.
So it's either get these expensive sprinkler donut protectors and wonder if they work or start doing my lawn myself..which means buying a lawnmower, an edger and a weedeater which is expensive....plus spending my precious free time doing something I could be paying someone else to do.
So what does a guy do ?
The Sprinkler Donut's you refered to are about $3 EACH. I don't think that is very expensive like you said. Maybe just buy a few for now and use them on the sprinklers that get busted the most. I'm sure your time and cost to replace those sprinklers are more than $3.00!
It's a one time deal, buy the donuts and keep the lawn mower service, or cancel the service and buy a mower and mow yourself.
I work about 60 hours a week, so I'd rather pay someone. If you read the post carefully, you will see I am asking if anyone has actual personal experience with the sprinkler donut I am referring and left a link to. Grandmas cabin....If you don't have anything nice to say, shut your mouth.
Tell the new landscaper where they are and tell him if he breaks it he buys it. If he won't do that fire him and either find one that will or find a neighborhood kid with a decent IQ that wants to make some money.
It's either that or go out and mark them with flags every time they come to cut...
I'm with Tek_Freek on this one. If your lawn guy is breaking stuff it should be your lawn guy who is fixing it. Maybe once he would have gotten away with it, but after that he would be both buying and replacing broken parts.
Now, to answer your question. I have had similar things installed around my sprinkler heads. They do work, but if the head fails to retract when the system shuts off they don't help any.
Check out the new sprinkler buddy, it's user friendly. Got a pack of 7 for under 20. Great product!
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