Levelling lawn after building work

Mike_J_Smith · 20 Aug 2023 at 12:01

Hi all,

We had some building work done earlier in the year when it was very wet and the digger has left really deep track marks and generally cut up a large area of our lawn. The builder advised this would happen and did tamp it back down a little, but we’re left with an uneven lawn which is actually quite dangerous when the ground is hard.

Any advice on how to get this back to normal? I’m thinking of hiring a rotavator, digging it all over, tamping it all down (with something?) and then turfing, but I have no idea whether that’s sensible or not.

Or is this something to get a landscaper in to sort?

Cheers, Mike

Tony Edwards · 20 Aug 2023 at 21:01

Mike_J_Smith said:
Hi all,

We had some building work done earlier in the year when it was very wet and the digger has left really deep track marks and generally cut up a large area of our lawn. The builder advised this would happen and did tamp it back down a little, but we’re left with an uneven lawn which is actually quite dangerous when the ground is hard.

Any advice on how to get this back to normal? I’m thinking of hiring a rotavator, digging it all over, tamping it all down (with something?) and then turfing, but I have no idea whether that’s sensible or not.

Or is this something to get a landscaper in to sort?

Cheers, Mike

Im not sure if you need to go as far as rotavatoring it all but it would certainly be good for your soil and then either laying turf or seeds.

You could just add top soil to the grooves.

Any pictures?

Richie · 20 Aug 2023 at 21:50

If the grass itself is intact, you could lift the lawn, fill in the holes with topsoil (tramping it down a little with your feet before a final level covering) and then relaying the turf.

Alternatively, do a mini lawn renovation by:

Scalping the lawn,
Top dressing with soil (dont worry about covering the grass this time) and levelling it off.
Put new seed down
Wait for 2-3 weeks.

Depends on what you feel up to.

***F1ZZY*** · 22 Aug 2023 at 07:34

How deep are the track marks?
Any high spots?
What condition is the grass in? Weeds etc

As above, short cut, scarify and top dress and re-seed is probably the route to go.

If grass is really bad then kill it all off with glyphosate weed killer and rotovate and start again.

Mike_J_Smith · 25 Aug 2023 at 15:46

Thanks all for replying, sorry for not getting back to you sooner - I managed to pick up a bug and only really felt human again today!

Tony Edwards said:
Im not sure if you need to go as far as rotavatoring it all but it would certainly be good for your soil and then either laying turf or seeds.

You could just add top soil to the grooves.

Any pictures?

A lot of it needs just a bit of levelling out, so that might work. I took some photos, but they don't really convey that some of it has some quite deep tracks / cuts in it.

Richie said:
If the grass itself is intact, you could lift the lawn, fill in the holes with topsoil (tramping it down a little with your feet before a final level covering) and then relaying the turf.

Alternatively, do a mini lawn renovation by:

Scalping the lawn,
Top dressing with soil (dont worry about covering the grass this time) and levelling it off.
Put new seed down
Wait for 2-3 weeks.

Depends on what you feel up to.

I think this might need a mini lawn renovatiob. My wife is against using seeds, mainly due to the time it takes to grow. We've got a dog and it'll be hard to keep him off the grass for long period of time.

***F1ZZY*** said:
How deep are the track marks?
Any high spots?
What condition is the grass in? Weeds etc

As above, short cut, scarify and top dress and re-seed is probably the route to go.

If grass is really bad then kill it all off with glyphosate weed killer and rotovate and start again.

Deepest parts are maybe 4 inches I'd guess, not really any high spots. The grass is poor (see above photos); where the digger created mud, it's just regrown as weeds. We have a dog, so can we use weed killer?

Thanks again!

Hagar · 25 Aug 2023 at 16:01

You can use sand instead of topsoil, or a mix of soil and sand.

Participant · 25 Aug 2023 at 17:31

Doesn't look like you need to go balls out with this one. I would just level with top soil then keep top dressing with soil and sand (and grass seed) until it's level enough.

As for your wife being against seed, that doesn't make any sense. Is she also against a nice lawn?

If you spread seed and cover it in a thin layer of compost and top soil and keep it damp, it will grow very quickly and be more resilient from animals.

Tony Edwards · 25 Aug 2023 at 21:26

Participant said:
Doesn't look like you need to go balls out with this one. I would just level with top soil then keep top dressing with soil and sand (and grass seed) until it's level enough.

As for your wife being against seed, that doesn't make any sense. Is she also against a nice lawn?

If you spread seed and cover it in a thin layer of compost and top soil and keep it damp, it will grow very quickly and be more resilient from animals.

As above really but your whole soil/lawn looks like it is lacking organic matter as it has gone very dry but thats another issue really.

Fork those patches to loosen them up a bit and get some top soil mixed in then seeds on top and a bit more soil then get some big thinish twigs or sticks and put them on top of the patch and the dog will stay off that part of the lawn. Hopefuly!

Get those weeds out as well.

Mike_J_Smith · 27 Aug 2023 at 00:17

OK thanks all. Sounds like it may not need as extreme an answer as I was looking at. I'll have a think through what you've given me.

drakulton · 27 Aug 2023 at 00:33

A dangerous lawn? ..... Mully and Sculder need to know about this.

***F1ZZY*** · 27 Aug 2023 at 08:41

Dig out as many of those weeds as possible. That will help loosen that hard compact soil anyway. Pay more attention to higher spots as they will obviously be nearer the final surface.

Top dress, level and seed is the best way.

Seeds will take about 3 or 4 weeks this time of year. You can’t walk on new turf for about 3 weeks. So tell the wife their isn’t much in it.

There’s plenty of videos on YouTube for these topics. They all use seed.

Whatever you do, make sure you do it now while temperatures are still warm.

Participant · 27 Aug 2023 at 09:44

***F1ZZY*** said:
Dig out as many of those weeds as possible. That will help loosen that hard compact soil anyway. Pay more attention to higher spots as they will obviously be nearer the final surface.

Top dress, level and seed is the best way.

Seeds will take about 3 or 4 weeks this time of year. You can’t walk on new turf for about 3 weeks. So tell the wife their isn’t much in it.

There’s plenty of videos on YouTube for these topics. They all use seed.

Whatever you do, make sure you do it now while temperatures are still warm.

I agree with most of this but if you're feeling lazy, I would personally spray weed killer rather than bother digging them out manually. Maybe this isn't as good for the soil quality, but you'll end up with new weeds eventually anyway and my stance is generally to avoid any manual work when able.

***F1ZZY*** · 27 Aug 2023 at 10:02

My original advice was weedkill and rotovate. However, Given his pet concerns and relatively small area, a bit of manual soil agitation from weeding will help those compacted areas. Plus he can do it all in a day without waiting for the weedkiller to do its thing and then dissipate enough to be able to seed.

Mike_J_Smith · 27 Aug 2023 at 11:20

Thanks chaps. Sounds like there’s a consensus opinion!

***F1ZZY*** · 27 Aug 2023 at 17:35

Please post some progress pics...good luck.

***F1ZZY*** · 24 Sep 2023 at 21:58

@Mike_J_Smith - how'd it go?

Hopefully you have a lush green lawn to show now.

Mike_J_Smith · 25 Sep 2023 at 15:12

***F1ZZY*** said:
@Mike_J_Smith - how'd it go?

Hopefully you have a lush green lawn to show now.

Ha, unfortunately not! Lack of time and having to do other stuff round the house has put this on temporary hold.

But I’ve got all the advice logged here and it needs to be done, so all useful once I get round to it.

sigma · 25 Sep 2023 at 15:15

How very professional of the builder to leave it like that. Top marks.

lucias666 · 25 Sep 2023 at 20:50

sigma said:
How very professional of the builder to leave it like that. Top marks.

sometimes it cant be helped.. I installed a new septic tank for someone last November and they had a very high water table. It had to be done at the worst possible time of the year for various reasons and they knew that there was no way that the garden could be put back to a useable state till the spring..
Its then there choice whether to pay me to come back and sort at a later date or if they wanted to do it themselves...
They decided they did not want me back to sort as they were trying to save money. Who's fault is that?

sigma · 25 Sep 2023 at 20:56

lucias666 said:
sometimes it cant be helped.. I installed a new septic tank for someone last November and they had a very high water table. It had to be done at the worst possible time of the year for various reasons and they knew that there was no way that the garden could be put back to a useable state till the spring..
Its then there choice whether to pay me to come back and sort at a later date or if they wanted to do it themselves...
They decided they did not want me back to sort as they were trying to save money. Who's fault is that?

I'd say that's the owners fault. In hindsight perhaps I was a bit quick to judge, having had my fair share of issues with "professionals".