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Raising a lawn area

We are raising the height of our drive and wish to raise the lawn area as well by between 2"" to 4" please could someone advise on the best way to carry this out.

Thank you

Peter

Posts

  • waterbuttswaterbutts Posts: 1,277

    Are you happy with  the quality of the turf or would you rather start afresh?

  • bigolobbigolob Posts: 127

    Oy, what are you letting yourself in for?? Yes it can be done but it is not a simple job.

    1. Decide what size the new lawn is to be. If the same as at present obviously use the turf - if of good quality.

    2. To raise the area for the new lawn you will need to work out how much soil and sand will be needed to raise the leval to that required - ask for advice from a soil supplier - you will be much better off if the soil is ACID not Lime to give a good turf. Ask whoever your supplier is where the soil comes from. If he says it is from limestone areas do not buy.

    3. When the soil is laid to your satisfaction, it must be `trodden` with their feet (heels) and consolidated and then raked as level as possible. It should be left to settle for 3-4 weeks and then `trodden` again and raked again. Only then, when flat and without humps or hollows it can have the turf re-laid. It seems a very laborious methed but it is the ONLY way to have the perfectly level lawn.

    4. Water thoroughly until the turf has knitted and avoid walking on it. The best time to turf is between October and Aprill.

    5. GOOD LUCK.

  • Sorry to hijack the post but I am doing the exact same thing with a section of lawn because the lawn I have is of terrible quality and full of dips and bold bits. Would the original lawn have to be dug up completely or could i run a tiller/rotovator over it?

  • bigolobbigolob Posts: 127

    The more you deeply disturb the soil on which you are going to re-turf or sow seed, the more difficult it is to produce a flat `bump` free surface. As in my previous note, the problem is time for it to settle before you can get the level you want - it takes weeks even after treading over and over again. Patience is a virtue! The best approach is to kill off the old grass with weedkiller (one which will not harm the soil) or strip the grass off with a mechanical grass stripper. You can hire these from some garden firms.

  • bip shahbip shah Posts: 2

    We had a new lawn laid out last year and this is about 2-3 inches below the footpath surrounding it. What is the easiest and cost-effective way to bring the lawn to the same level as the path?

  • PalaisglidePalaisglide Posts: 3,414

    As stated above there is no easy way, it will be solid hard graft and if you do not have the time then do not start.

    At my last house we inherited a lawn lower than the drive and it was a big lawn, I dug a six inch deep gulley along the path side then filled it with tree inches of grit for drainage, that left three inches to square edge the lawn and had to do until we moved to a new build. I made sure they laid the lawn properly and slightly raised above the drive, that was thirty years ago and it still works.

    Frank.

  • Our lawn needs to be raised as it keeps flooding - we appear to gather all our neighbours water in our gadren even though we have 2 huge willow trees in it!  We have been advised to raise it with loam - is this good advice?

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923

    you could keep adding a thin layer sharp sand to the surface and brushing in after cutting your lawn, might take a while, but I've seen lawns raised by 2 feet over a decade.

  • hi - it depends on the size (square footage) of your problem. If your talking about a few square feet, get a sharp spade, lift out the sod, and put some soil under it. You'll have it done in a few hours.  If its a massive area, all the way along a drive, just spread an inch of fine topsoil and seed on it, and repeat each spring until its the right height. 
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