Hi guys, So I have a seven zone automatic irrigation system, and one of zones has stopped working. I dug up the valve to investigate. It turns out the PVC pipes in my system are 1.5 inch, and so is the valve. (1.5 inch into the valve, 1.5 inch out). My question is: Can I use a 1 inch solenoid valve instead, using a 1.5 inch to 1 inch connector/fitting going into the valve, and 1 inch to 1.5 inch going out of the valve, or will this adversely affect the pressure or functioning of the system? Also, why are 1.5 inch valves so expensive compared to 1 inch? 1 inch valves are common and can be found for around $15. The valve I am replacing is a Hunter - ICV-151G - 1 1/2 in. Globe Valve, with Flow Control, costs around $80 online, and is not sold anywhere nearby. The valve I will be replacing it with is a 1 inch Hunter valve. What am I missing?

We have a home which is having issues with the red brick pavers in front of the garage door. Over the years a large water oak nearby has really buckled the area quite markedly, and even though I can probably take up the pavers and cut back the roots somewhat, there's no guarantee that the roots won't put in a repeat performance again once I put the pavers back down. My initial thought was to pull up all the bricks, clean up and tamp down the soil, lay some ground cover material over it, and put down a couple of inches of gravel within an appropriate border of permapine. There's also a small fish pond to one side around which I also considered putting the gravel. But because the area is right under the oak tree, I wondered if this idea might end up being a pain to deal with because of constantly having to rake leaves and nuts out of the gravel constantly. The alternative I considered is to put something like pine bark chips down, but not sure how this works with regard to garage door aesthetics. I should point out that the tenant doesn't use the garage for anything more than storage, so there's no issue with bark or gravel being driven into the garage constantly. Any thoughts? [ATTACH]68988[/ATTACH][ATTACH]68989[/ATTACH][ATTACH]68990[/ATTACH]