How to Resod a Lawn

Have you got to the stage where your grass is not looking the best anymore and there are more weeds than anything else! A do over might be the right thing to do. If so, should you seed or sod? Sodding is fast and provides instant gratification. It can make a house homely quick. Seeding is cheaper but requires time and attention. It also has a high chance of failure. If you are going to resod, here are the steps you should take.

Step 1 Research

Ok, you’ve decided that you need new turf for your lawn. Spend some time initially by analyzing your site to see what your requirements from your new sod will be.

Is your site sunny, shady, partly, some or all?

What kind of soil do you have? See my section on hand texturing to determine your soil type. Do you have a sandy base, loam, heavier more organic soil or clay?

How deep is your topsoil until you hit subsoil? Having a couple of inches of subsoil might be the reason you need a new lawn in the first place. In that example I wouldn’t resod. Hardscape may be the way to go or add 4 more inches of topsoil (expensive I know)

How often do you want to mow? Once a week or every 2 weeks or every few days. Warm season grasses cut short like Bermuda require frequent mowing to maintain top shape, a lot of effort is needed if cut under 1 inch.

How fast does your site drain? Does it puddle and stay? Do you receive runoff? Does your site drain well?

What is your sites aspect, a southerly aspect in the Northern Hemisphere will garner more sunlight, making a healthy plant. Northern aspects will have more moisture, leading to an increase in disease and insect occurrence.

What are you going to use your lawn for? Is it for function like sports, recreation, running about? Or is it going to be your Zen space and you want to feel the grass blades underfoot? Some Zoysia varieties are optimal for this in warmer climates and bentgrasses are the equivalent in cool season grasses.

What height do you want to maintain your lawn? This coincides with the previous paragraph, function or aesthetic or both.

How much input do you want to have with the maintenance of your lawn? Some varieties are high maintenance and require frequent attention. Watering, fertilizing, weed prevention and management, disease control, thatch accumulation are all factors to think about.

Once you have established the characteristics of your site, and the amount of input you are willing to put into the future maintenance of your lawn, you are ready to select your species. Check out my section on grass selection. Once you have selected your species, start checking sod farms and landscape supply stores in your area for availability and schedule delivery.

Step 2 Removing Surface

This part kind of sucks and will take some energy. It can be done in two ways, and both require roughly the same amount of effort. First way, spray your entire yard with non-selective herbicide and let it sit for a few days in order for the chemical to get through the entire plant. Check to see how much kill you’ve had and repeat once or twice more.

Then rent a rototiller and till up your entire yard until you have a fine crumb surface. Rake up debris and weeds as you go. Now you will need to compact all the loose dirt together by either driving over it with your tractor or renting a vibratory plate. Keep compacting until you have a firm base. Then move on to next step.

Second way, spray a non-selective total herbicide, let is sit for a few days, reapply as necessary once or twice. Then rent a sod cutter and cut the entire top inch of soil off. Remove the top inch and either take off site or use to build in another part of your garden. I have used it to build with, berm, bank or just use as fill. Once all top layer is removed, go onto the next step.

Step 3 Prepare the Soil Surface

Now we need to concentrate on getting a level and smooth surface. A DIY soil level can be made with a pallet. Turn it upside down put some weight on it and attach it to your lawn tractor with rope and pull it around your site in circles. It is a great leveling tool. Just keep going round until you get dizzy, then change direction and go the other way. Continue until you feel the surface is smooth enough to hand rake. If you don’t have a lawn tractor or cart, you could try to drag a ladder around with some weight on it. This is surely a workout though and is best suited for sandier sites as its easier to pull.

Get a landscape rake and use the flat backside of it to rake your soil; pulling and pushing the soil to fill in all the low points. This will take some time and is worth it. Continue until surface is smooth and free of rocks and debris. Once finished you are ready to sod or put down any soil amendments.

Now your base is ready for sod but be careful not to sod when the base is wet, try to time it for a dry day where the base is on the dryer side. This will help keep a firm surface and prevent soil being tracked.

Step 4 Lay Sod

This is a purely personal preference, but I always lay my perimeter edge first. This creates a solid edge line that I can use to cut in sod that is layed inside the perimeter. Now you’ll see people using boards and planks etc., don’t worry about that, if your soil is on the drier side, you will be fine; plus, we will be rolling it when finished anyway. Lay your sod where seems are in the middle of the adjacent sod, roughly (doesn’t need to be perfect). Make sure the line you are laying has been raked smooth before laying sod down. Make sure your cuts where sod meets are tight and has minimal gaps. When sod dries it will shrink and the tighter the cut will result in no open spaces for weeds to enter and establish.

Step 5 Aftercare

Once you have completed laying your sod you will need to make sure that you have good sod to soil contact. Rolling needs to be done initially and then after you irrigate. Hand rollers that you fill with water are ideal as you can vary the weight. Go up and down your sod lines with the roller until you have achieved good contact. Now for the next week you need to water until sod is wet. DO NOT LET THE SOD GET DRY! This is where many installations fail. Feel the sod before work and when you come home. Make sure the sod is wet to the touch for the first two weeks until you have good root development, and you can’t pull up the sod by hand.

After one week of watering, you should fertilize with a 1lb of Nitrogen, 0.5lb of phosphorus and a 1lb of Potassium. Something like a 18-9-18 as an example. After your two weeks of watering, gradually back off until you feel confident that you can go 2 days without watering, then 3, then onto a regular watering schedule. Please always check your sod, once it dries it’s pretty much done. All your hard work will be for nothing, and you will be battling an ugly lawn for a long time. Aftercare is super important and is underestimated, but it’s the most crucial part.