Laying sod

[88CRX]

Yard has been rough graded with 'soil' that has pretty much been hardened down and is kinda rock hard-ish now. Can I simply skim a couple inched of fresh loam over the top then lay my sod? Or do I need to roto-till the whole yard, then regrade, then lay more fresh loam?

Pretty sure last time I laid sod I just skimmed a little loam over the top (like 1-2") then threw the sod down and everything was good.

[craigcd]

Yard has been rough graded with 'soil' that has pretty much been hardened down and is kinda rock hard-ish now. Can I simply skim a couple inched of fresh loam over the top then lay my sod? Or do I need to roto-till the whole yard, then regrade, then lay more fresh loam?

Pretty sure last time I laid sod I just skimmed a little loam over the top (like 1-2") then threw the sod down and everything was good.

Mine was pretty packed down so I added some fresh loam and then did sod. Seemed to work ok but in a couple areas the loam was actually deeper than 1-2 inches. I found when watering it and walking around it sunk down in those areas even being really careful so i will need to spread some loam over the grass to level it in the fall/spring. Next time I would likely roto-till but thats just being picky.

[colinxx235]

Yard has been rough graded with 'soil' that has pretty much been hardened down and is kinda rock hard-ish now. Can I simply skim a couple inched of fresh loam over the top then lay my sod? Or do I need to roto-till the whole yard, then regrade, then lay more fresh loam?

Pretty sure last time I laid sod I just skimmed a little loam over the top (like 1-2") then threw the sod down and everything was good.


I would highly recommend roto-till, rake grade, compact with roller, lay loam, compact with roller again and then the last bit of lose loam for the odd dip you'll come across and then lay sod. My neighbor took the lazy route and just hucked out loam, he now has some sinking in certain spots in the back yard.

Doing it right the first time is always less work than if you have to correct it later.

[88CRX]

Yea not trying to take the lazy way out. Just wondering what purpose roto-tilling and then flattening with a roller again serves if I fill in low spots myself?

And are his low spots around the house/foundation or just random spots around his yard?

And how much fresh loam needs to go down before the sod?

[benyl]

One piece of advice I can give you is wait until september. Otherwise, you will be watering all day and night in this heat just to keep it alive.

[G-ZUS]

One piece of advice I can give you is wait until september. Otherwise, you will be watering all day and night in this heat just to keep it alive.


I laid mine down a month, 1500 sq ft of sod. First 2 weeks was watering it every day for half an hour. After that every second day, unless it rains. grass is growing pretty strong

[colinxx235]

Yea not trying to take the lazy way out. Just wondering what purpose roto-tilling and then flattening with a roller again serves if I fill in low spots myself?

And are his low spots around the house/foundation or just random spots around his yard?

And how much fresh loam needs to go down before the sod?

So the roto-tilling we did to break up the dirt everywhere and remove any larger rocks. Plus I roped off the areas where plants/trees were going to then not compact and make it easy to dig in tree holes etc. Sometimes I've found you'll hit some weird voids plus the roto-tilling helps a ton if you grading ins't solid which I guess I'm a bit pickier on trying to make sure it is level. The roller also doesn't pack down the dirt anywhere near to what the bobcat/grading would from the developer.

And usually 1-2" of fresh loam is standard. I wish I could remember the area and how many yards we ordered but I'm forgetting off the top of my head to assist you. Usually when we hit the loam with the roller we dumped water out of it versus the rough grade also.

As for my neighbor his were in some very weird spots. He did a brick patio deck and two of the back corners sunk and then another in the corner of the yard where I've noticed he places his sprinkler which maybe it is leaking a lot of water in the spot and caused dropping. All I know is he didn't roto or do any grading after. Hucked down a thin layer of loam and that was it.