As the third owners of our Spokane, Washington, home, we’re planning to expand our back yard patio into the lawn area. How do we locate the irrigation lines that run through the proposed patio without trenching up the whole yard?
Viktor ~ Spokane, Washington
There is no sure fire way to locate the irrigation lines without some digging. I would start with the sprinklers, dig down and try to identify which way the lines are running. If they appear to run under your new patio location, all of your digging will be covered by patio. If there are no sprinklers or surface irrigation in your new patio location, and there is no reason to believe that your irrigation lines need replacing, then I would not be too worried about locating your lines. Placing a patio over existing irrigation lines is okay. It is nice to know where your pipes are buried, but you will need to decide at what point is it not worth mapping out your irrigation lines. Good Luck!
You need to find the local “water witch”, who wil mostly likely be someone over the age of 75 who has a “special” set of rods that locate water. I have also seen home made divining rods, made from metal coat hangers, which are can be very accurate when locating water lines.