Done: Put in Sprinkler System

Part of redoing the entire backyard was making sure our atomic ranch had authentic mid-century landscaping with GRACE and the other, more practical, part is making sure that everything we do stays alive and looking good.

So before we lay down the new grass we put in a sprinkler system. Grass does pretty well in our yard because there's a good amount of shade, but this is Austin so you have to be sure every inch gets water in the summer or spots will die. So this sprinkler system ensures that.

And because there's always one problem on a big job like totally redoing a backyard, so we predictively ran into a bit of an issue. There was an old plumbing permit still active on the house and we had to get that permit inspected and closed before the city would inspect and approve the sprinkler system. That meant tracking down a plumber who worked on the house sometime in the '90s (when the old permit was from) or hiring a new plumber to look over the work, fix anything that might be wrong, open a new permit and then get both permits closed. Luckily, I was able to track down the original plumber and he was nice enough to come out with the city inspector and get the work signed off on and get the permit closed.

All in all, it only cost me a few hours on the phone, but it set the project back about a week – waiting a few days for the inspector to come out, waiting a day for the old permit to clear so the landscapers could their permit, waiting for the second city inspector to come out and approve the sprinkler system.

In the end, it could have been worse, and I suppose it was kind of a good thing. I know for sure that there are no more open/pending permits on the house and I know that the plumbing of the house still passes inspection.