Well I would prolly be the best or one of the best on here to answer this considering I am a licensed designer and inspector and have installed close to a hundred systems myself.

1) first like mentioned you have to look at this as strictly life saving, not property saving but your insurance will give you a break. But if you do this on your own DO NOT TELL THEM ABOUT THE SYSTEM!!! They will make you submit everything to the state.

2) second unless you apply to the state fire marshals office for a exemption letter, the system must be designed and submitted to the state for inspection for it to be legal and must be inspected every year by a licensed inspector. Cost for a residential inspection is going to be about $125 to 150 a year. Only a licensed fire sprinkler contractor can submit an exemption.

3) If you choose to go your own route, you need to know a few things

a) the ball valve installed must have a detector on it to be able to monitored in case somebody decides to turn it off.

b) all piping must be cpvc and must be designed for sprinkler systems. I suggest blazemaster. Anything other that steal or the CPVC will melt in the case of a fire.

c) make sure all your heads are concealed 155*(red bulb) quick response heads.

d) after you choose the heads you are going to use, you need to go on their website and get the chart that shows the spray distance based on the psi supplied. Now you will need to know your PSI there and do the math from NFPA 13R that shows how to calculate the losses in the piping. Once you figure out all this you can accurately predict the spray pattern and can space the heads accordingly.

E) it is very important that you install a flow switch and have it hooked to your alarm system so if you are not home and the system activates, somebody will respond.

F) DO not install over your stove. In the case of grease fire the last thing you want is water being sprayed in there. Look into commercial hood systems.

G) make sure you insulate the piping as mentioned above. It is required by code.

H) you will need two swing checks to be installed after the ball valve instead of a true back flow preventor.

this is just some of the things off the top of my head. Honestly the calculations are not the easiest in the world but for a small system like this it is doable for somebody that is good at math.

It is a very simple install and design. Should take no less than a day, two at the max. Make sure you teflon tape every screw connection and you use the correct glue for the pipe you chose. The concealed heads are reliable and usually do not leak if installed correctly. You will 100% have to get the head wrench from the company you get the heads from.

But truthfully you should just pay somebody to do this. I suggest S&S if you are in Lake Charles or BR, Excel in Laffy, Nola not sure.

LMK if you have any other questions and I will do my best to let you know.