Guide For Beginning Landscapers: How To Resurface Your Lawn Before You Put Sod Down
Posted on: 4 May 2016
The spring season is a good time to remove an old weedy lawn and replace it with fresh sod. You have to remove the old lawn and resurface it before you lay the new sod. Removing the old lawn and preparing the surface is necessary to keep the sod pieces flat as you lay them down on the lawn and to help the roots of the grass in the sod grow into the dirt on the lawn. If you are new to landscaping work and you've never laid sod down before, here is how to resurface the front lawn of your home before you install the new grass.
Remove Old Lawn
You need to remove the patches of grass and weeds on your old lawn. If you lay the new sod over the patches, you will create lumps that can make it hard to walk over the lawn. Take a spade shovel and remove the patches. A spade shovel has a flat square blade on it. Tip the shovel so the blade is on an angle. On the top of the shovel blade are two flat surfaces. The surfaces are there so you can kick down on the top of the blade and force it under the patches of grass and weeds. Kick the blade so it slides a couple of inches under the surface of the patches of grass and weed to cut the roots and loosen the patch from the dirt. Lift up on the shovel and remove the grass and weeds. Make sure you wear work boots to protect the bottom of your feet as you kick down on the blade.
Resurface Lawn
Take a steel garden rake and smooth the surface of the lawn. You smooth the lawn by pulling the rake back and forth over the surface to loosen the dirt. You want to break the peaks of the lawn down and push the dirt into the low spots. In some cases, you may have to buy and add dirt to low spots to make the surface even with the rest of the lawn and to get rid of spots where water tends to pond when it rains or snow melts. Remove any stones and rocks that are sticking out of the ground as you rake.
The dirt along the edges of the driveway and sidewalks should be raked down until it is about two or three inches lower than the surface of the driveway and sidewalk. The sod is a couple of inches thick and will stick up over the top of the pavement if you don't remove enough dirt along the edges.
The surface of the lawn is ready for the sod once you have raked and smoothed the dirt. If you need professional help with your landscaping, contact a business such as Metro Sod & Seeding Inc.
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