The typical lawn zone requires approximately 15 to 22 gallons of water per minute, although an especially large lawn will require a large and complex system due to the size of the property. A large piece of property, in fact, may use an irrigation system usually reserved for sports arenas. Each sprinkler head shoots water out at a distance of 55 to 60 feet, and each puts out 15 gallons per minute, for a total of 60 gallons per minute.

Pop-up rotor heads should be installed around the edges first, to establish all the hard lines. Then, fill in the voids with 360-degree heads in the middle to give head-to-head coverage and 100-percent efficiency.

Consider installing rotor heads along a driveway, set to oscillate at different angles, with a 360-degree head in the yard.

Before you begin installation of an irrigation system, keep in mind that a lot of planning is going to be involved. Here are the very first steps you must take to install an irrigation system:

• Walk around the property, familiarizing yourself with any obstacles and potential problem areas.

• Call your local utility company so they can mark their lines -- you don't want to dig into utility lines!

• Call the water company and find out the capacity of your water system so you can design off of those numbers.

• Determine what your water source will be.

• Find where the water source is located and where it will hook up.

Once you've found the source of the water, you must make several determinations about the water source, including water-meter size and amount of water pressure. You may need to call your water company for help with this step.