paddyd wrote:
Hi all,

I'm new on here. I need abit of advice regarding my lawn. I moved into
my new house about 18months ago. My lawn in my backgarden is a rolled
turf one. I watered the lawn everyday for quite a while and even put
some seeds on it to help it grow.

We still have problems with it being patchy in places and the edges
are just brown and never grow. Being a new development i asked my
builder about the lawn and i was informed it would take a while to
mature.

18 months on and i decided to put a shed in the garden, so i dug up
part of the lawn to put a base down for the shed. I lifted some grass
and noticed it was like a medium gravel below the turf, no top soil
anywhere. Also the turf was water logged and the gravel was bone dry.
I dug an area of 3.5m x 2.5m for the shed base, i never saw one worm
in the turf and no top soil, i did lift a piece of plywood lying
below the turf tho!!!!

Again i've questioned the builder on the way the turf was put down but
still informed its ok. Am i right in saying there should be no gravel
but top spoil below the turf, at least 4"????

Sorry for the long post but this is really starting to annoy me and i
just want some advice as too how the turf should have been laid.

Many thanks for taking the time to read.

Building sites are often landscaped at the last minute with rolled turf and
potted plants, especially in project homes or where it is part of the
contract and the builder wants the owner to sign off so they can be gone.
Builders rarely know or care anything about landscaping, they get somebody
to do it for a price.

It is very common for no real preparation to go into this and for the
landscaping to cover a multitude of sins, you might find all kinds of
rubbish buried there from before and during the construction phase. I know
of a case where nothing would grow in a certain spot in the garden and some
digging revealed a large pile of plaster and cement just below the surface
that made the soil poor and alkaline. Grass will never prosper if it is
just turf layed over rubbish or impermeable soil. If it hasn't established
after 18 months it isn't going to.

I don't know your circumstances or what you were promised so I cannot say if
you should remonstrate with the builder or suck it up and fix it yourself.
However here is a hint: the builder has done this many times before and if
what is there even vaguely looks like what the contract says the chances are
he will not budge unless you have some serious leverage.

David