How to lay sod over existing lawn?

Let us take this opportunity to quench your thirst about knowing that how to lay sod over the existing lawn in the most existing manner. Sodding is normally required when your lawn grass becomes dead for some reason or it could also be some patch of dead grass in your lawn, requiring the same treatment. People have multiple opinions about removing the old dead grass before sodding. However, removing the old dead grass is always a better choice due to following reasons:

  • The reason for old grass being dead would be minimized for the new sod laid as the old soil may be compacted and/ or contain diseases or insects, which may impact the new sod as well.
  • The new sod would be able to get the best access to the deep soil that it needs for its proper growth.
  • Placing the sod right above the existing grass would keep it at an elevation and far away from the soil and chances for the sod to try out faster would be higher. Therefore, removing the old grass would negate all such concerns.
Steps to lay new sods

Steps to lay the new sod over existing lawn:

  • Begin by clearing your lawn from debris, twigs, rubbish, and rock etc.
  • You should go on to pull as many weeds as you can do manually. For the remaining weeds in the lawn, you can look to treat it with the herbicide that contains all the active ingredients, dicamba, MCPP or glyphosate.
  • The yard should then be very thoroughly raked and look to collect any residue debris and chuck that in the bin. Gardening pain could then be used for properly marking the area where you wish to lay the sod. The ideal approach here is to start with the laying process of sod from a fixed end, such as that next to the side or the sidewalk of the house.
  • Till the lawn’s base soil to 6-inch depth by employing a mechanized till for the sake of breaking the roots from the grass. 10 pounds of the starter fertilizer should be applied to every 1,000 sq. feet of the tilled soil. A single inch of the compost needs to be spread over the tilled soil and then till to 4-inch of death in order to incorporate the new change.
  • The heavy duty type of the tarmac rack’s tines should be positioned right next to the lawn’s fixed surface, such as the driveway, patio or the sidewalk. From start to the end of the marked area in the lawn, just go by raking the soil in a straight line that you wish to sod. The objective here is to create the 2% slope to allow for the water runoff over the sodded zone.
  • The start point of the row should again be accessed and start raking once again unless you see the soil measuring beneath the fixed surface level is of an inch again. This is a need for the sod’s layer to fit the fixed surface along with the flush.
  • You need to tap down the spot where the fixed surface hooks up with the soil, by using a hand tamper. The yard should then be investigated for any probable holes or depressions and if there, then make sure to fill them with soil, using a scoop shovel.
  • The lawn roller filled with water should then be run row by a row over the soil.
  • Water your lawn and allow at least a week for the soil to settle down.
  • Moisten soil using a garden hose and then, down the row, just unroll the sod. Excess sod should be removed, by using a knife.
  • Unroll the sod next, from the other side of the lawn.
  • Finish laying the sod’s roll with alternate side approach. Alternation should be done between the shorter and longer layers in order to make a brick pattern.
  • Continue with sodding unless the center of the lawn is met. All seems with soil should be filled and then tamp it down.

Finally, the lawn roller should be made half empty from water and roll it row by row for the sake of releasing any trapped air underneath. So this is all about how to lay sod over an existing lawn to get the desired results without any issues.

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