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.

On Jul 5, 11:50*am, 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.

--
paddyd

Take some photos and confront the builder, he is a scumbag. You are
100% on the money.

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

Hi David

As turf suppliers, we see so many building sites employing landscape contractors to make the garden green with out any thought of the gardens long term health, after all.. Builders are not Gardeners.

Like everything today, the work will have been done on a shoe-string. Most Developers simply won't pay for stuff you can't see... like topsoil.

To remedy your lawn problems, there are 2 options:

1) You can strip the old lawn, Add new topsoil and lay new turf. If you choose to do this visit Fresh Turf Suppliers - Online. Next day lawn turf suppliers for turf and lawn turf advice.

2) You can fertilize your lawn the lawn. The lack of topsoil will mean the lawn is not getting the right nutrients. If you fertilize with an NPK fertilizer on a regular basis, it will go some way to making your lawn less patchy and certainly do far more than the seed you have been adding.

Good Luck

Tim