re: Watering the lawn/foundation.

I water as little as possible. Start out 5 minutes per zone 3 days a week. If the grass looks like it's not "thriving" as best as it can, I add a day. If still having issues, I bump up the time in that zone.

Best time to water is just before the sun comes up. Not hot enough to evaporate the water before it gets in the ground. But you also don't have water sitting on the grass for an extended period of time nearly every day which can aid in some fungus growth that would be bad for your lawn.

I went from south LA where I had never even thought of the idea of watering, to Texas where we had floods, then 3 weeks later my lawn was almost completely dead. Sprinkler system was damaged in lightening storm and had a guy come set me up and give me the lowdown on how to utilize it properly.