A sprinkler system can appear to be working while wasting hundreds of gallons a week below the surface, along a curb, or across pavement. This irrigation inspection checklist helps Central Texas homeowners and property managers find the issues that drive up water bills, weaken turf, and leave landscape beds looking uneven.
Austin-area irrigation systems work under difficult conditions: long hot stretches, sudden rain, rocky soil, shifting foundations, hard water, and active landscape growth. A quick glance at green grass is not enough. The goal of an inspection is to confirm that every zone applies the right amount of water to the right area, at the right time.
When to Inspect Your Irrigation System
A full walk-through at least twice a year is a sensible baseline for most residential properties. Inspect once in spring before regular watering begins and again in late summer or early fall, when heavy use exposes worn heads, leaks, and coverage gaps.
Commercial properties, HOAs, multifamily communities, and high-visibility sites usually benefit from more frequent checks. A broken head near an entrance or overspray on a sidewalk can become a curb-appeal issue, a safety concern, and an unnecessary expense in the same week.
You should also inspect after a hard freeze, major landscaping work, sod installation, construction activity, or a noticeable jump in water use. If one area stays dry while another develops mushrooms, runoff, or soft ground, do not wait for the next scheduled seasonal review.
Irrigation Inspection Checklist: Start at the Controller
Begin at the controller before turning on a single zone. It is the system’s schedule, and an outdated schedule can waste water even when every valve and sprinkler head is in good condition.
Confirm the date and time, then review each program. Look for overlapping start times, duplicate programs, or stations that run longer than the landscape requires. Seasonal adjustment settings are useful, but only if they are updated as conditions change. A July schedule should not continue unchanged through a cool, rainy fall week.
Check that watering is scheduled within local restrictions that apply to your address and water provider. Properties within the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer area may have additional water-quality considerations. Requirements can differ by jurisdiction, so a licensed irrigation professional can help verify whether a schedule and system configuration are appropriate for the property.
If the controller uses a rain, freeze, or soil-moisture sensor, test it. A rain sensor that fails to interrupt watering can send irrigation out during or immediately after a storm. A freeze sensor is just as valuable during Central Texas cold snaps, when watering hard surfaces can create hazardous ice.
Review the Main Components
With the controller set aside, inspect the equipment that delivers and controls water. Watch for these common trouble signs:
- A wet area around the backflow preventer, valves, or mainline connection
- Rust, cracking, damaged insulation, or loose fittings on exposed equipment
- Valve boxes filled with mud, insects, roots, or standing water
- Dripping emitters, crushed drip tubing, and disconnected drip fittings
- A meter that continues moving when irrigation and indoor water use are off
Some moisture after a cycle may be normal, especially around a valve box after rain. Constant water, saturated soil, or an unexplained soft spot is not. Underground leaks often show up as unusually green grass or persistent wetness before they become visible at the surface.
Backflow prevention equipment deserves special attention. It helps protect the potable water supply from contamination. Repairs, testing, and code-related work should be handled by qualified professionals, particularly where local rules require licensed irrigation work or certified backflow testing.
Run Every Zone and Watch the Water
The most useful part of an irrigation inspection happens with each zone running. Stay at the property while the system operates. This takes time, but it reveals problems that a controller screen never will.
Start with spray zones. Each head should rise fully, point at its intended area, and retract when the zone shuts off. Heads blocked by turf, mulch, shrubs, or soil may spray a short distance or create a distorted pattern. Tilted heads often throw water onto driveways and sidewalks instead of the root zone.
Look for broken nozzles, missing filters, cracked bodies, and geyser-like spray. Also watch for misting. Fine mist is usually a pressure problem, not a sign of thorough coverage. Water carried by wind or evaporated in the air is not reaching the landscape.
Next, check rotors and multi-stream heads. Make sure they rotate through the correct arc and do not stick at one point. A rotor that stops turning can leave a large dry wedge that may not become obvious until turf begins thinning. Check the spacing as well. In most spray systems, water from one head should reach the next head. This head-to-head coverage helps prevent dry edges between sprinklers.
Drip irrigation requires a different inspection. Run the zone long enough to confirm that emitters are delivering water at multiple points, especially at the far end of each line. Exposed tubing can be cut by edging, damaged by animals, or moved during planting. Buried drip lines can clog or leak without obvious spray, so check for dry plants, pooled water, and soil that stays overly wet near one emitter.
Match the Water to the Landscape
A sprinkler system should not treat St. Augustine, Bermuda, native shrubs, new trees, and established ornamental beds as though they have identical water needs. Mixed plant material on one zone is one of the most common reasons landscapes become either stressed or overwatered.
During the inspection, identify whether each zone has a clear purpose. Turf areas generally need a different schedule than drip-irrigated beds. Newly planted trees need focused, deeper watering while their roots establish. Mature native and adapted plants often need less frequent supplemental irrigation once established, although their needs still depend on exposure, soil, and weather.
Central Texas soil adds another layer. Shallow rocky soil may shed water quickly, while compacted clay can absorb water slowly and then hold it too long. If water begins flowing down a slope or across a driveway before the zone finishes, shorten the run time and use cycle-and-soak scheduling. For example, two shorter cycles separated by time to absorb can be more effective than one long cycle.
Do not judge run times by a neighbor’s schedule. Shade, slope, soil depth, sprinkler type, and plant maturity all affect how much water a zone needs. The right schedule is the one that maintains healthy roots without runoff or consistently saturated soil.
Check for Coverage Changes Caused by Growth and Work
Landscapes are not static. A sprinkler that cleared a young shrub last year may now be blocked by dense foliage. A new patio, mailbox, fence, tree, or landscape bed can change where water lands and where it should land.
Walk the property line, driveways, sidewalks, entries, and building edges while zones run. Overspray on pavement wastes water and can stain surfaces over time. Water hitting a building can contribute to avoidable moisture issues. On commercial sites, overspray near entrances and walkways can create slippery conditions and leave a poor impression on residents, customers, or guests.
Also inspect areas recently serviced by mowing crews, utility work, fence installers, or construction contractors. Sprinkler heads and drip lines are frequently damaged when work occurs below the grass line or beneath mulch. Marking irrigation components before major landscape projects helps prevent avoidable repairs.
Document What You Find
For a homeowner, a few photos and notes may be enough to track repairs. For an HOA, office park, multifamily property, or vacation rental portfolio, documentation is more valuable. Record the zone number, location, symptom, date observed, and whether the issue affects safety, plant health, or water use.
Prioritize active leaks, broken heads spraying pavement, damaged backflow components, and zones that fail to run. Then address coverage adjustments, buried heads, schedule updates, and upgrades such as pressure-regulating heads or drip conversions. Not every problem needs a major system overhaul. In many cases, targeted repairs and a corrected schedule produce a meaningful improvement.
A licensed irrigation inspection is especially worthwhile when the system has recurring leaks, inconsistent pressure, aging valves, unexplained high water bills, or broad landscape changes. Grass Works Lawn Care brings Central Texas irrigation experience to those decisions, with practical recommendations based on the property rather than a one-size-fits-all schedule.
A well-maintained system should be quiet in the background: water reaches plants, pavement stays dry, and the controller reflects the season. A careful inspection now can protect your landscape through the next stretch of Texas heat.