Water World: A new apartment complex gets an irrigation facelift

Location: Grand Rapids, Mich.
Company: Grapids Irrigation

The client needed a new irrigation system installed at an apartment complex that had recently been converted from an old church building.

Grapids Irrigation answered with the design and installation of a 10-zone system across a total area of about 0.75 of an acre.

“As the city is being changed, with the church being converted over to an apartment complex, it just made it kind of interesting to balance the old and the new,” says Aaron Katerberg, CEO of Grapids Irrigation.

To complete the job, Grapids used Irritrol valves, a Hunter controller and sprays and gears for the irrigation system, as well as a Ditch Witch Zahn trencher to install and pull piping.

Grapids Irrigation crew members marked and separated the lawn areas from bed areas. The company also had to call a plumber to install the backflow protector. A major challenge the Grapids team faced was installing the sleeving.

“We had to stop by the site a lot to be in and out as the concrete was being poured to make sure that we had all of our sleeves underneath all of those areas,” Katerberg says.

All in all, the project took three crew members about four days to complete.

Photo: Grapids Irrigation

A new apartment complex in place of an old church represents just one of the ways the city of Grand Rapids has changed. Grapids Irrigation was quick to adapt to the changing environment by raising its hand to perform the irrigation installation for the new complex.

Photo: Grapids Irrigation

Throughout the entire apartment complex, Grapids Irrigation crews were responsible for setting up 10 zones across a total of about 0.75 of an acre.

Photo: Grapids Irrigation

Grapids Irrigation’s crews marked out and separated bed areas such as this one from turf areas.

Photo: Grapids Irrigation

One of the most interesting parts of the job for the company was installing the new system over the one that had previously been in place, according to Grapids Irrigation CEO Aaron Katerberg.

Photo: Grapids Irrigation

An image of the older building housing a church that used to stand where the modern apartment complex does now.