[Chocaholic]

Just moved into our new (20 year old) house in Greenville, SC. First house I've ever owned with an in-ground sprinkler system....and would be perfectly happy without one. I will never win yard-of-the-month so needless to say, it will not get much (if any) use. Here's the dilemma:

Had a fence installed and some heads were outside of the property line. Had a guy come out and move them in. But, system leaks...apparently the PO was hack and too cheap to have repairs done right. It's on a separate meter, and even when off, the meter runs (slowly) and puddles/mud form around a couple of the heads. Repair guy says live with it....but I have dogs who seem to enjoy the wet mud....they are inside dogs. So, I go down to the curb and shut off the water, but now....no water at outside spigots. Can't even rinse the dog shat off my boots.

Dude wants to find inground valves, rebuild, replace fiddle, faddle to ultimately get it water tight. I just want it turned off so I can use my spigots, but not send water into the irrigation system. I'm tempted to simply cut off the leaky heads and cap them underground and fuggeddabouddit. But there's probably better solutions.

Can I install a valve just after the meter to shut off water to the irrigation system only? That way, on the blue-moon when I want to use it, I can open the valve and tinkle on my lawn. Otherwise, still have water to the spigots and not irrigation system.

Thoughts??? As a homeowner with two houses to maintain, the last thing in the friggin world I want to spend money on is a watering contraption.

Open to suggestions!