Foundation Zone

Schedules & Zones Set Up & Edit Zones
1

I’m in DFW where we have clay soil. What vegetation should I assign the zone to during setup? I selected xeriscape since most of my soil next to the house is mostly dirt rather than shrubs etc…

Should the foundation have a veg option in future updates or am I overthinking?

2

Hi @mnj-

I think I am confused a bit by your question- what do you mean by “foundation zone”? You will enter “clay” for soil type for your zones, but vegetation should be whatever is growing in each particular zone. Let me know!

McKynzee :rachio:

3

For my system, I have a zone for my foundation that is drip. My question centered around which xeriscape to label a foundation drip zone.

4

Hey @mnj-

My mistake, I didn’t realize the benefit of watering your foundation until I did some research! Learning something new every day. Vegetation determines two advanced settings, crop coefficient and root zone depth, and these are both customizable. Therefore, we can just work on tailoring those to the foundation, and basically disregard the actual vegetation selection.

How were you previously watering your foundation before Rachio? I’m trying to determine how deeply you would want to water this each time… this would drive how we set your root zone depth. For crop coefficient, I would crank that way way down (maybe even 0%). Crop coefficient determines how much water is “consumed” by your vegetation each day. Since there’s no vegetation here, it’s consuming nothing! Let me know what you think.

McKynzee :rachio:

1 Like
5

Has there been an answer to this question? As a piggyback I run the foundation drip on my old system for 30 min 3 days a week. What would the recommendation be?

6

@mnj I’m in Collin County. I always set up foundation/perimeter drip zones as emitter and warm season turf. Then, determine slope, shade, etc. Remember too, your sprays will also water around the house. So, you’ll have spray and drip watering in the same area.

Keep in mind, the drip zone is only going to water so deep using warm season turf. Most contractors around here just lay the drip line on the ground next to the house. If you’re lucky they buried it a few inches. Your foundation is a lot deeper than turf roots, so the drip watering really never gets to the base of the foundation.

7

I have a new home build in Denton county near ft worth. I don’t see any drip line on the ground, and the home builder advised the drip line is buried next to foundation. So that what I will still assume when doing the settings.

Would there be any other settings in regards available water and crop coefficient?

8

@desibrainp Builder advised you? The irrigator that installed the system is required by law in Texas to walk through the system with you and explain everything, not the builder. Including a watering schedule. I advise you to contact the licensed irrigator that installed the system and request a walk through. There should be a sticker on the controller you removed or some info near the controller. You should also have an irrigation design showing you a layout, including your drip around the foundation.

Here’s a link to the state code that irrigators are to follow: Completion of Irrigation System Installation

9

I do have the paperwork from the the company that installed the sprinkler with all the specs and was given a walkthru of the system setup.

The specification shows the drip irrigation is in the ground around the enitre home with a .91 gpm rating. As I said earlier I was running the drip system for 30 min per day for 3 days per week.