[handieman]

I never heard of irrigation donuts and donut hole cutters, till I came to TV. That being said I have had a lot of experience with both recently.
If you think for one minute you will remember where all your sprinkler heads are in your yard, then your a better man than I. Enter the item called a donut. Its made of green colored concrete and sized to fit around your sprinkler head to stop the growth of grass encroaching over the head and preventing it from "popping" up. It also helps you find the head once the grass becomes actively growing. I can't begin to tell you the situations I have seen with dead grass because of hidden, buried, broken and non functional sprinkler heads. There is a neet little donut hole cutter at home depot that will last for the average homeowner, that allows you to cut the surrounding grass and re-setting the donut. It's not strong enough for my use so I have an invention to "beef" it up if you break yours.
My advice to all home owners is spend the small amount for donuts and re-set them yearly and don't hesitate to run your irrigation system on manual and check to see that the coverage and function of all your heads are proper. So often I have seen sprinkler heads buried and locked down by grass growth and end up watering an area the size of a dinner plate. Water is precious in our country, so do your part to use it wisely.
Handie

[mguarrasi]

Do you know of anyone that provides the service of intalling these and what the approximate cost would be for each one?

[chuckinca]

Come to think about it - they don't sell sprinkler donuts in California. That may be my chance to make up the fortune recently lost in home price and 401K declines!

[Mikitv]

Good information Handie. I know we have the Bermuda grass here and it is the same about the sprinkler heads getting buried by that grass and it does grow fast. Just more information to store in my TV Wanabee book.

[chuckinca]

Originally Posted by mguarrasi

Do you know of anyone that provides the service of intalling these and what the approximate cost would be for each one?

I think they cost around $2 Ea at Lowe's or Home Depot.

My grass cutter furnished and installed them for about $50.

You can do it a with one of those little yard hand shovels. Buy a couple donuts and try it first before you have someone else do it

OR

Handi can do it for you! (Maybe why he started this thread???)

.

[Hawkwind]

Handie, great information.

Now let's take this posting one step further. How about a weekly Handie's Hot Tips posting covering some of the issues that you have encountered. For us from other parts of the country may have never encountered things that are common in TV.

Maybe we can even get Jan and Tony to create a new group to cover your weekly postings so that everything is orginazed in one place.

[under55]

Don the Donut Man charges $2.50 per donut and that includes all labor and material.

[dillywho]

Originally Posted by under55

Don the Donut Man charges $2.50 per donut and that includes all labor and material.

We used Don for ours and he does a really good job, too.

[zcaveman]

If you go around and give each donut a healthy shot of Round Up once a month on a day after the sprinklers run, it will keep down the growth around the sprinkler heads. At least once a year remove the donut and clean out the area around the sprinkler head and reseat the donuts. After a period of time they start to sink into the ground and make the sprinkler heads more vulnerable to damage from the lawn mowing machinery.

[golfnut]

I used Don the Donut man and he did a great job. The other reason for the donuts as Z pointed out is to help shield the sprinkler heads from damage from the lawn mowers when they are cutting the grass.............GN

[mguarrasi]

Thanks for the reference ... any contact info for Dan the Donut man??/

[handieman]

Originally Posted by Hawkwind

Handie, great information.

Now let's take this posting one step further. How about a weekly Handie's Hot Tips posting covering some of the issues that you have encountered. For us from other parts of the country may have never encountered things that are common in TV.

Maybe we can even get Jan and Tony to create a new group to cover your weekly postings so that everything is orginazed in one place.

Thank you "Hawkwind" for the nice comment. I'd love to share some of my experiences with all village homeowners. A minute shared with a homeowner can result in a lot of time and money savings down the road
Handie

[scottke]

I think that's a great idea to have Handie post hints of how to maintain our homes in TV. For those of us not there full-time yet, we could arrive check those items out and then get moving to enjoying our time in TV with no home repairs. ZCaveman - thanks for the tip of making sure the donut rings haven't sunk down and aren't doing their job any more. We'll be checking that out on our next visit.

[NJblue]

If you go around and give each donut a healthy shot of Round Up once a month on a day after the sprinklers run, it will keep down the growth around the sprinkler heads. At least once a year remove the donut and clean out the area around the sprinkler head and reseat the donuts. After a period of time they start to sink into the ground and make the sprinkler heads more vulnerable to damage from the lawn mowing machinery.

This may be a dumb question, but why not just do the Round Up thing and skip the donuts? I find all those concrete donuts to be an eyesore. I have never used them up North, but perhaps this will be a learning lesson about living in Florida with zoysia. I wish that there were a more aesthetic recourse than pieces of concrete around my yard and perhaps a small Round-Up enduced dead spot may be better than concrete.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by NJblue

This may be a dumb question, but why not just do the Round Up thing and skip the donuts? I find all those concrete donuts to be an eyesore. I have never used them up North, but perhaps this will be a learning lesson about living in Florida with zoysia. I wish that there were a more aesthetic recourse than pieces of concrete around my yard and perhaps a small Round-Up enduced dead spot may be better than concrete.

The purpose of the donuts is to keep the heavy lawn mowers off the sprinkler heads. Secondary to that is helping to keep the grass from growing over the head and effecting its working properly. If you will be mowing your own lawn and do not run over the heads...you do not need the donuts.