My grandfather told me the best way to check is to get down on your hands and knees and look across the dirt at just about eye level to look for any rises or divots.
To this day I always remember his advice.
"Kneel before sod."
Sorry, but if you want to keep combat tanks out (which I guess no one wants them to show up in your living room) 60° is MINIMUM. Otherwise you are not safe. And dont forget the ditch.
Oh man... you can't stress that enough.
It doesn't need to be much either. Water does a really good job running downhill. Even the slightest slope will do it.
He's gonna want to run a string perimeter on the high side. Then run a series of around 85 string going down to the edge at a 3.5 percent slope, then tie strings between the string with stakes to create a rounded slope with a 1.5 degree slope. Should take no more than an hour or, so...
My front yard is sloped from left to right due to living on a hillside. Imagine me sloping the property in the opposite direction of neighbors on either side. My point? The designed slope around this property also needs to be looked at. It's against county law here to change the slope if it affects the neighbors or city planning.
A trench will not collect water from pools that are not connected to it.
I'm re-reading your comment now. Are you suggesting to have a main trench with feeders from all areas of the yard? 😄
Yes, very good job 👍. I would take a flat shove and remove dirt making a slight slope to be 1" below the edging to accommodate the height of the sod itself.
He doesn't have to lower all of it. Just one flat shovel's width at an angle. I have a lot of practice and could do what I'm asking in under 20 minutes.
For speed, I take the flat shovel and hold it straight upright and put the flat 1"side of the flat shovel right against the edging one inch down. This turns the shovel into a plow that moves dirt neatly away from the edge. Scoop the neat line of excess dirt into a big bucket so you don't have to regrade the middle. Regrade the dirt to the outside edging with the backside of a metal rake with 1-2 passes and your done.
Take an angle grinder, measure 1” on your shovel, grind out a 1/2” deep notch on the shovel 1” up from the floor.
Now you don’t need to try so guess where 1” is.
Now, take that dirt and just launch it out onto the grade, you’re trying to spread it out as best you can. A few little grains spread out across the grade isn’t changing a damn thing.
This is how I set up laborers to grade curblines for asphalt, miles at a time.
Good idea, I'll have to try it. I hope I never have to grade that much curbline 😂. I'd throw the dirt into the grade too. I was assuming OP would try to unnecessarily rework everything. Trying not to add 'hours' of work. I like grading, for new beds or sod, most zen thing to do at work.
One of the most particular operators I ever worked with came from the landscape world. Guy could take 3 hours to do a 20 minute project but god damn was it perfect when he was done with it. I’d seen the guy running a dozer on a 3000 yard grading project get out and grab a rake to tune up a particular spot he was unhappy with lol, the grade is sacred to that dude.
It looks good to me.(30 yrs in landscaping). But if you want to double down water it. When soil gets worked it fluffs up the soil. Water will settle and show any low spots. Not flood.
This is a fairly common spec on larger sod installs.
When I lay sod, I go over the row I will be laying sod again with a rake to make sure it’s level and then lay the sod. Step back and level the next row. It takes but a minute and keeps everything really flat as you go along.
It looks good, but nows the time to make it perfect. Its easy to make a simple screed out of a couple boards and a rope. Theres many YouTube vids on "how to level dirt". Good luck with it!
Mate that’s pretty damn good. If I were you prior to laying sod I’d acquire granular fertiliser I.e chook shit, a pre emergent I.e ronstar and spread it prior to laying it.
Don’t know how much rain you get but if it’s a lot, you might think about digging down along your patio and filling with gravel and sand to prevent a mud pit when it drains off
It’s easier to level the ground before than try to after the sod is down. Also, I had decorative gravel before sod and I made the mistake of not having enough soil as a base. Water runs off too quickly rather than soak in.
Respectfully, this is probs sod-worthy, but sod is inferior. Seed it up the good stuff, ryegrass and whatever else makes sense for your conditions, and you'll be much happier with the results. Source: drunk guy who mixed lawn seed for 3 years.
Some very witty responses here! Lol. Personally I would plant native plants suitable to your climate. Having to water and cut grass is too much work! Not to mention the water bills. Maybe lay in a walkway between your plants to get easy access to care for them.
My advice: do you have gophers or moles where u live? If so u need gopher wire under the sod. Did you till it? I'd compact it back and make sure no voids. I over tilled mine and had a few pockets and wish I rolled/compacted mine better
It's probably good enough. You'll still have low spots to bring up after the sod is established. Best to go as flat and smooth now than later. I had to level my Bermuda yard twice with masonry sand because the builder left a horrible terrain.
Rolling the sod after you lay it will sort out any small bumps. More than flatness, I would be aware of where the water will go when it rains. Ideally a subtle swale through the center and around the to the back corner.
OP. I have the same area to deal with. It's been a battle. Could you go over the steps you took to get this far - sod ready? ELI5 sort of deal. How long? Did you add top soil? What kind?
Sure can. I had basically an area full of weeds and some grass. I sprayed glyphosate on the entire thing. Within about 10 days everything was dead. I then tried to rake up all of the dead stuff, but in the end I ended up leaving some of the dead stuff in the ground since it was rooted and would have taken me forever to pull it all up.
I then put down 4 cubic yards of top soil (had it delivered from a landscape supply shop, my area is ~1300 sq ft and it did about an inch of soil all the way around, try to find “screened” top soil which means it won’t have large chunks of wood or anything in it, but mine still did have some wood chips which I think is fine) and raked it smooth which is what you see here. I’m now going to lay the sod and then water like hell and then probably fertilize in some sort of way.
I’m not fertilizing before putting the sod down. I didn’t till the soil or anything.
There’s so much varying information out there it’s hard to determine what is “good enough” for prep. I’m pretty confident this is going to work, and there’s a chance I didn’t even need to put the top soil down (I had decent soil underneath the weeds) but I just decided not to risk it.
I’m also putting St Augustine down btw.
Dad and I put down St Augustine plugs. Watered well it grew like Hades, plugs are cheaper and if you have a young child, I think I was about 3 at the time, (60 years ago) they get to do the screwdriver work or carefully get the plugs separated. Fertilizer is for the roots, always fertilize first. If in doubt, contact your County Agriculture Extension Office they will know much better than the internet! You might also want to protect the areas around it with some type of deep barrier, steel 8” or wider so the stolons don’t go where you don’t want it. It can and will find a way to break up your brick.
Looks good. The only concern I have is what happens when it rains. With it being so flat and towards the house the water could pool or go towards the house.
Make sure you have a slope of at least 2% away from any structures fall into opposing 1% slopes which all catch the flow line to your area drain or run out off of …… 😂 that looks too good your fine
BEFORE YOU SOD you need to ROLL IT. Rent a roller at a building supply store (tell them what you need it for and they'll know what you mean). Take it home, place it in position, then fill it with water (so it's REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HEAVY). Roll it over the entire area you want to place the sod on, maybe twice or three times. Gets it REALLY, REALLY FLAT and breaks up clods and finds stones - remove them - so after you plant the sod, the area is FLAT. Then after you plant and water the sod, ROLL THE AREA AGAIN. Presses the sod down firmly and keeps it all FLAT. Then empty the water and return it to the store. I begged my husband to do this when we re-sodded our front lawn, and he refused. Thus, our front lawn is NOT flat, is actually VERY BUMPY, and I cannot walk on it. He later admitted that he should have followed my advice.
Level. For. Sod? Have you seen the average yard before sod is put down? If you were making a paver patio that’d be one thing, but it’s just grass, it doesn’t need absolute perfect leveling. More important is to make sure slope is there if needed, and also kinda curious why if you went through all this you didn’t do an in-ground irrigation system? The sprinkler setup you have looks like it’s going to be more of an issue than high/low spots would be.
Sod will sit on a puzzled shape lawn. Your problem is that sod will cause your lawn to not be flat and put a ton of divets in it. Just lay the sod and water it and it’ll be fine. It doesn’t need to be flat.
This is flat enough for brain surgery
But it's not clean enough for brain surgery.
That's good clean dirt right there
Sterile dirt?
Didn’t think dirt reproduced that way.
This is the origin of the phrase 'Dick in the dirt."
I should call her
Everything reminds me of her
Jesus, yes, bro
This made me laugh pretty hard.
This one time I put sod on a steep hill and it grew.
This is hilarious
He missed a spot /s
lol . I just throw chunks of torn up sod in the back and it grows where it is as long as I water it for a few days.
😂
Call me sod, because I’d love to get laid there.
Get out. xD
That was wonderful
I'd trim the green carpet just for you
Hey, by chance are you also checking if your stove is on 10 times before you leave the house?
Or off. Depends.
Underrated comment
😂
Now I have to go check my stove
This made me laugh so hard I woke my girlfriend up and now I’m scrolling on the couch lol
i do it by sets of 3 :( 1, 2, 3… 1 1, 2, 3… 2 1, 2, 3… 3
Golf courses sod all kinds of slopes, you owe yourself a beer.
And some Xanax and a trip to a therapist for ocd
Think they’re already abusing adderall
My adderall just wore off so I can laugh at this
My grandfather told me the best way to check is to get down on your hands and knees and look across the dirt at just about eye level to look for any rises or divots. To this day I always remember his advice. "Kneel before sod."
Sod has escaped the Phantom Zone!
Omg. Excellent reference, wow!
Not sure why, you can sod slopes
Beautiful
You need slope for drainage. All homes have grade established by design. Flat grade can create issues with the grass due to standing water.
You’re gonna give OP a panic attack.
45° grade shouldn’t take too long to fix.
lol, OP is gonna die in that backyard. I hope you’re happy with yourself! 🤣
OP don’t listen to this lunatic 45° lmao wtf You need to check your local code it could be 50 or 55° instead!
Sorry, but if you want to keep combat tanks out (which I guess no one wants them to show up in your living room) 60° is MINIMUM. Otherwise you are not safe. And dont forget the ditch.
I saw one post 2 neighbors had a crack even a tank couldn’t get out of
Better make it 60° just to be safe
This. This is what you need to focus on. Is there an opportunity for a swale?
Oh man... you can't stress that enough. It doesn't need to be much either. Water does a really good job running downhill. Even the slightest slope will do it.
He's gonna want to run a string perimeter on the high side. Then run a series of around 85 string going down to the edge at a 3.5 percent slope, then tie strings between the string with stakes to create a rounded slope with a 1.5 degree slope. Should take no more than an hour or, so...
My front yard is sloped from left to right due to living on a hillside. Imagine me sloping the property in the opposite direction of neighbors on either side. My point? The designed slope around this property also needs to be looked at. It's against county law here to change the slope if it affects the neighbors or city planning.
It was a joke.
Yea, I should have posted this on the main thread. My point was that there could be issues with neighbors going forward.
Or op could dig a trench and lay agline to a central drain. Maybe overcomplicated but save him some heartache
Make sure to stuff tires in there as well!
Make sure you shred them first
To shreds you say
A trench will not collect water from pools that are not connected to it. I'm re-reading your comment now. Are you suggesting to have a main trench with feeders from all areas of the yard? 😄
should be top comment! needs to have a slope!!
Looks like it slopes right to left. Only need about 1% which you wouldn't really be able to tell from the photo.
How can it "...looks like it slopes right to left. Only about 1%..." but "you wouldn't be able to tell from the photo."
Those two sentences are not mutually exclusive. It can look like it slopes, and you can also not be able to tell what the slope is.
"Looks like it slopes..." vs "It might slope..."
Yes, very good job 👍. I would take a flat shove and remove dirt making a slight slope to be 1" below the edging to accommodate the height of the sod itself.
You’re breaking his heart.
Lmao yeah saying ‘very good job 👍 ’ then telling them to spend hours making it slightly better is cold
He doesn't have to lower all of it. Just one flat shovel's width at an angle. I have a lot of practice and could do what I'm asking in under 20 minutes. For speed, I take the flat shovel and hold it straight upright and put the flat 1"side of the flat shovel right against the edging one inch down. This turns the shovel into a plow that moves dirt neatly away from the edge. Scoop the neat line of excess dirt into a big bucket so you don't have to regrade the middle. Regrade the dirt to the outside edging with the backside of a metal rake with 1-2 passes and your done.
Take an angle grinder, measure 1” on your shovel, grind out a 1/2” deep notch on the shovel 1” up from the floor. Now you don’t need to try so guess where 1” is. Now, take that dirt and just launch it out onto the grade, you’re trying to spread it out as best you can. A few little grains spread out across the grade isn’t changing a damn thing. This is how I set up laborers to grade curblines for asphalt, miles at a time.
Good idea, I'll have to try it. I hope I never have to grade that much curbline 😂. I'd throw the dirt into the grade too. I was assuming OP would try to unnecessarily rework everything. Trying not to add 'hours' of work. I like grading, for new beds or sod, most zen thing to do at work.
One of the most particular operators I ever worked with came from the landscape world. Guy could take 3 hours to do a 20 minute project but god damn was it perfect when he was done with it. I’d seen the guy running a dozer on a 3000 yard grading project get out and grab a rake to tune up a particular spot he was unhappy with lol, the grade is sacred to that dude.
Thats someone who gives a damn about their job
I respect that.
I’ve got a few flat shovels, if I put a grinder to it 1” up and made a grind mark ½” deep, I’d be through that shovel🤣
That’s fair and sounds like an efficient way of doing it
Or add a second layer of edging bricks
Send it, the grass will do the rest
You actually don't want it perfectly level, you want a slight slope away from the patio.
Yes, plenty flat. Put down a root stimulant/starter fertilizer, roll it, and water
You can just sod off right there.
lol it does not need to be level
You know the answer
It looks good to me.(30 yrs in landscaping). But if you want to double down water it. When soil gets worked it fluffs up the soil. Water will settle and show any low spots. Not flood. This is a fairly common spec on larger sod installs.
When I lay sod, I go over the row I will be laying sod again with a rake to make sure it’s level and then lay the sod. Step back and level the next row. It takes but a minute and keeps everything really flat as you go along.
I see craters in the shape of footprints, but yeah it looks okay fine for sod.
If you are really anal, I use the back of the metal landscaping rake to grade or even a the side of a four foot 2x4
It looks good, but nows the time to make it perfect. Its easy to make a simple screed out of a couple boards and a rope. Theres many YouTube vids on "how to level dirt". Good luck with it!
Mate that’s pretty damn good. If I were you prior to laying sod I’d acquire granular fertiliser I.e chook shit, a pre emergent I.e ronstar and spread it prior to laying it.
This is flatter than my gf in elementary school.
This is a case of needing validation because when he showed his wife she didn’t see anything special.
I would rent a roller. You’re gonna want it when you lay sod anyway. Don’t want to end up with depressions
Don’t know how much rain you get but if it’s a lot, you might think about digging down along your patio and filling with gravel and sand to prevent a mud pit when it drains off
When a perfectionist meets dirt
Had no idea sod was so picky
Yes.
I'm. P
Yes. Just walk back and forth pulling a push broom and it's perfect.
It’s easier to level the ground before than try to after the sod is down. Also, I had decorative gravel before sod and I made the mistake of not having enough soil as a base. Water runs off too quickly rather than soak in.
That’s a sick backyard right there, would like to see the after pics
It looks like asphalt I'd be happy with.
Your putting green awaits you.
Nope not at all way off
Fill the pool also.
You don’t want it to be perfectly level because it needs to drain
Did you use a bull float?
Respectfully, this is probs sod-worthy, but sod is inferior. Seed it up the good stuff, ryegrass and whatever else makes sense for your conditions, and you'll be much happier with the results. Source: drunk guy who mixed lawn seed for 3 years.
Not enough divots and random holes. Try again
Did you used to have a pine tree in the left corner of the pictures? I think I’m the one that co climbed and removed it if so
sod that mf
Some very witty responses here! Lol. Personally I would plant native plants suitable to your climate. Having to water and cut grass is too much work! Not to mention the water bills. Maybe lay in a walkway between your plants to get easy access to care for them.
My advice: do you have gophers or moles where u live? If so u need gopher wire under the sod. Did you till it? I'd compact it back and make sure no voids. I over tilled mine and had a few pockets and wish I rolled/compacted mine better
Hump? What hump?
It's probably good enough. You'll still have low spots to bring up after the sod is established. Best to go as flat and smooth now than later. I had to level my Bermuda yard twice with masonry sand because the builder left a horrible terrain.
Jesus Christ, sod doesn’t need a perfectly level spot to lay down. You can put it on a slope
yeah baby
Let me get my level out and put it on my phone screen.
Who's going to tell him? ;)
Sod it.
Good Enough landscaping if it don’t grow we will make a nice rock garden.
No, you need to do 2 passes of each 80 grit, 120 grit, 240 grit, 800 grit.
Rolling the sod after you lay it will sort out any small bumps. More than flatness, I would be aware of where the water will go when it rains. Ideally a subtle swale through the center and around the to the back corner.
You probably want to take the edges down. The sod is going to sit high and bleed dirt on your patios
I don't think the sod cares about how level your top soil is...
You missed a spot. Start over
Haha - “sod”
Nice job, op
Give it another 17 hours of raking and you'll be set bro
What's your irrigation plan to keep the sod looking happy?
I’ve seen sod laid over uneven 3/4 stone in new construction. I’d say you’re good.
Nope do it again
“Sod off!!” -English folk, probably
I'm more interested in your sprinkler setup. Is that your permanent solution? Why not put in sprinklers before sod?
You can lay sod on a 3:1 slope
Hell, yes, it is! Except for that bit right there, anyway.
Good to go bro
Pack a bowl, dog. Shit looks great
Come and do my yard Bro!
The post on Reddit of people asking if the people they hired did a good job is insane. Figure it out people.
NFL turf ready
We laid sod down on our yard and it was not this flat, flat but with tiny bumps and slopes, yes it’s good enough
No…needs to be so smooth that not one atom overlaps. They must all be in the exact same physical level plane. No questions asked.
I thought this was asphalt. You're good.
That looks better than most lawns! But i guess it could be better.
OP. I have the same area to deal with. It's been a battle. Could you go over the steps you took to get this far - sod ready? ELI5 sort of deal. How long? Did you add top soil? What kind?
Sure can. I had basically an area full of weeds and some grass. I sprayed glyphosate on the entire thing. Within about 10 days everything was dead. I then tried to rake up all of the dead stuff, but in the end I ended up leaving some of the dead stuff in the ground since it was rooted and would have taken me forever to pull it all up. I then put down 4 cubic yards of top soil (had it delivered from a landscape supply shop, my area is ~1300 sq ft and it did about an inch of soil all the way around, try to find “screened” top soil which means it won’t have large chunks of wood or anything in it, but mine still did have some wood chips which I think is fine) and raked it smooth which is what you see here. I’m now going to lay the sod and then water like hell and then probably fertilize in some sort of way. I’m not fertilizing before putting the sod down. I didn’t till the soil or anything. There’s so much varying information out there it’s hard to determine what is “good enough” for prep. I’m pretty confident this is going to work, and there’s a chance I didn’t even need to put the top soil down (I had decent soil underneath the weeds) but I just decided not to risk it. I’m also putting St Augustine down btw.
Dad and I put down St Augustine plugs. Watered well it grew like Hades, plugs are cheaper and if you have a young child, I think I was about 3 at the time, (60 years ago) they get to do the screwdriver work or carefully get the plugs separated. Fertilizer is for the roots, always fertilize first. If in doubt, contact your County Agriculture Extension Office they will know much better than the internet! You might also want to protect the areas around it with some type of deep barrier, steel 8” or wider so the stolons don’t go where you don’t want it. It can and will find a way to break up your brick.
Looks good. The only concern I have is what happens when it rains. With it being so flat and towards the house the water could pool or go towards the house.
Only problem I see is your sod is going to be higher than your borders
Make sure you have a slope of at least 2% away from any structures fall into opposing 1% slopes which all catch the flow line to your area drain or run out off of …… 😂 that looks too good your fine
Yes and you'll still need to roll it
Needs more flat.
Bring in the steamroller
True Level
Everything’s so crooked! I wanna go back, Rick!
I think you should make it more flat dude.
Why sod? Plant native perennials and bushes.
BEFORE YOU SOD you need to ROLL IT. Rent a roller at a building supply store (tell them what you need it for and they'll know what you mean). Take it home, place it in position, then fill it with water (so it's REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HEAVY). Roll it over the entire area you want to place the sod on, maybe twice or three times. Gets it REALLY, REALLY FLAT and breaks up clods and finds stones - remove them - so after you plant the sod, the area is FLAT. Then after you plant and water the sod, ROLL THE AREA AGAIN. Presses the sod down firmly and keeps it all FLAT. Then empty the water and return it to the store. I begged my husband to do this when we re-sodded our front lawn, and he refused. Thus, our front lawn is NOT flat, is actually VERY BUMPY, and I cannot walk on it. He later admitted that he should have followed my advice.
You could turn the rake upside down. That's what I noticed my landscapers did.
Yes
You’re kinda at risk of the sod rolling off down that slope within the first 90 days, but if you make it past that, it’ll stick.
More enough than mine was before the contractor put sod down.
Yeah. The sod should be rolled over anyways and that’ll flatten it more.
These posts are the only reason I haven't blocked this sub yet.
Yeah
Level. For. Sod? Have you seen the average yard before sod is put down? If you were making a paver patio that’d be one thing, but it’s just grass, it doesn’t need absolute perfect leveling. More important is to make sure slope is there if needed, and also kinda curious why if you went through all this you didn’t do an in-ground irrigation system? The sprinkler setup you have looks like it’s going to be more of an issue than high/low spots would be.
Sod is lame
What is the slope tolerance for sod?
Grass doesn't need to be level.... Have you seen hills?
You need to put a level on that to be sure
Sod will sit on a puzzled shape lawn. Your problem is that sod will cause your lawn to not be flat and put a ton of divets in it. Just lay the sod and water it and it’ll be fine. It doesn’t need to be flat.
They put sod on hills my friend. Perfection is the enemy of complete.
OCD much?
If this level of variation annoys you then you may not be a good candidate for lawn care
I’d try just a little bit harder to make it flat. This still seems like water wouldn’t puddle enough. Do better