Can I please get some advice on what I need to know to get started with a sprinkler system? I have never installed sprinklers or owned a home that had in-ground sprinklers. Where I live yards are small and people don't usually have them, but I am building a new deck and installing new backyard sod, so I figured there is no time like present to do it. My yard consists of one piece of grass about 15 feet by 30 feet and another about 20 feet by 15 feet. There is a large tree in the middle that I will have to work around. I would also like to add a hose bib on the other side of the fence against the alley where I have some vegetable boxes and fruit trees. I'd like to have this part of the sprinkler system but not on a timer just so I can easily blow the water out in winter. My point is that it is not going to need to be a big system. I am going to hire someone to do the trenching and most if not all of the in-ground work because that is work for someone younger and fitter than I am, but I'd like to try to save some money if I an by doing some of the plumbing work myself. I can solder pipes and generally do basic homeowner plumbing.

At this point is that I want to understand my options for connecting to my household plumbing. I know that coming off the meter before going into the house is ideal, but that is going to be impossible. There are just too many obstacles. My house is over a hundred years old so the plumbing is an amalgam of various types from different generations of upgrades, but is generally in good repair and mostly from the past few decades. I would like to mount the box in a spot on the side of the house where I can easily tie into a run of galvanized that is a pretty straight shot from the service entrance. I will have to drill through about ten inches of masonry to get the water outside. If I go this route can I just put a T in the galvanized, a shutoff valve, then go through the brick and install the anti-siphon valve directly on the outside of the house before feeding it into the box where the controllers will be?