New lawn Problems
 

Hi All, our old lawn was always lovely and green but not very flat for mowing with a flymo. So we decided to have a new lawn laid.

The old soil was dug out to a depth of 8 inch and refilled with washed sand.

The lawn looks very pale, uneven in growth and some bald spots. in fact we could mow it for the first 2 months as there was no growth. It was laid about 3 months ago and after having the company back we are still watering regularly, feeding and now mowing every week.

I just wanted to know if anyone thinks the problems we are having are from the turf being laid on sand. Whenever we stop watering the lawn goes yellow and dried even though we had rain. Surely we cant be expected to water daily now its 3 months old.

I wish we had never had the work done or had someone that was happy to lay it on soil as the last lawn was pretty trouble free.

My other fear is that when summer comes round again the lawn will dry and die and the company will say its not their problem as its been layed a year.

We are in derbyshire U.K and as other know its been quite a wet summer anyway.

Thanks Gav

New lawn Problems
 

on 9/29/2009 7:39 AM (ET) gavj wrote the following:
Hi All, our old lawn was always lovely and green but not very flat for
mowing with a flymo. So we decided to have a new lawn laid.

The old soil was dug out to a depth of 8 inch and refilled with washed
sand.


The sand was mixed with the soil that was taken out?
Humus was then added to the soil that was taken out?
Treated soil was then refilled?

The lawn looks very pale, uneven in growth and some bald spots. in fact
we could mow it for the first 2 months as there was no growth. It was
laid about 3 months ago and after having the company back we are still
watering regularly, feeding and now mowing every week.

I just wanted to know if anyone thinks the problems we are having are
from the turf being laid on sand. Whenever we stop watering the lawn
goes yellow and dried even though we had rain. Surely we cant be
expected to water daily now its 3 months old.

I wish we had never had the work done or had someone that was happy to
lay it on soil as the last lawn was pretty trouble free.

My other fear is that when summer comes round again the lawn will dry
and die and the company will say its not their problem as its been
layed a year.

We are in derbyshire U.K and as other know its been quite a wet summer
anyway.

Thanks Gav







--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

New lawn Problems
 

gavj wrote:
Hi All, our old lawn was always lovely and green but not very flat for
mowing with a flymo. So we decided to have a new lawn laid.

The old soil was dug out to a depth of 8 inch and refilled with washed
sand.

The lawn looks very pale, uneven in growth and some bald spots. in
fact we could mow it for the first 2 months as there was no growth.
It was laid about 3 months ago and after having the company back we
are still watering regularly, feeding and now mowing every week.

I just wanted to know if anyone thinks the problems we are having are
from the turf being laid on sand. Whenever we stop watering the lawn
goes yellow and dried even though we had rain. Surely we cant be
expected to water daily now its 3 months old.

I wish we had never had the work done or had someone that was happy to
lay it on soil as the last lawn was pretty trouble free.

My other fear is that when summer comes round again the lawn will dry
and die and the company will say its not their problem as its been
layed a year.

We are in derbyshire U.K and as other know its been quite a wet summer
anyway.

Thanks Gav

It sound like someone stole your good expensive topsoil and replaced it with
washed sand, probably the worst stuff there is to grow grass on. Tell me
that is not what you really did! Who told you that this was a good idea?

The topsoil was taken away and the same lorry dropped of the washed sand. There was no mixing it was pure sand that was used to fill up to the level where the turf was then laid.

Would it be worth us getting a report from a turf specialist?.

New lawn Problems
 

On Sep 29, 6:26*pm, "EXT" wrote:
gavj wrote:
Hi All, our old lawn was always lovely and green but not very flat for
mowing with a flymo. So we decided to have a new lawn laid.

The old soil was dug out to a depth of 8 inch and refilled with washed
sand.

The lawn looks very pale, uneven in growth and some bald spots. in
fact we could mow it for the first 2 months as there was no growth.
It was laid about 3 months ago and after having the company back we
are still watering regularly, feeding and now mowing every week.

I just wanted to know if anyone thinks the problems we are having are
from the turf being laid on sand. Whenever we stop watering the lawn
goes yellow and dried even though we had rain. Surely we cant be
expected to water daily now its 3 months old.

I wish we had never had the work done or had someone that was happy to
lay it on soil as the last lawn was pretty trouble free.

My other fear is that when summer comes round again the lawn will dry
and die and the company will say its not their problem as its been
layed a year.

We are in derbyshire U.K and as other know its been quite a wet summer
anyway.

Thanks Gav

It sound like someone stole your good expensive topsoil and replaced it with
washed sand, probably the worst stuff there is to grow grass on. Tell me
that is not what you really did! Who told you that this was a good idea?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Yeah, this is a new one. Why on earth would you let anyone remove 8"
of perfectly good topsoil just because it was bumpy? When you buy
plants, shrubs, trees, etc in pots, how many of them did you ever see
growing in just sand? If you were to grow a vegetable garden, would
you plant the seeds in sand or a rich topsoil?

If the problem with the previous lawn was just that it was bumpy,
there were simpler less costly ways to deal with it that actually
work.

Thanks everyone for your advice, I will get the company back and see if I can get this sorted.

Thanks Again.

New lawn Problems
 

On Sep 30, 5:14*am, gavj wrote:
The topsoil was taken away and the same lorry dropped of the washed
sand. There was no mixing it was pure sand that was used to fill up to
the level where the turf was then laid.

Would it be worth us getting a report from a turf specialist?.

--
gavj

If it were me the first thing I'd consider was how much you paid this
imbecile and what the likelihood is that you could recover the money
paid. Is it a real company or some fly by night shyster that is
judgement proof? Considering what you say they did, I suspect it's
the latter.

If you think you could collect on a judgement and you have small
claims court available, I would strongly consider getting a turf pro
to give you a written evaluation with the intention of then telling
the company to either redo it correctly or else sue them. If you go
that route it's time to start taking pictures, saving all
documentation, relevant phone msgs, making sure someone who can be a
witness is there if you meet with them again, etc.

Figuring out that they screwed you isn't hard. Just do some googling
on "how to lay sod" or similar and you'll know. Have you asked
whomever did this why they removed 8" of topsoil and replaced it with
pure sand? Only rational reason I can think of is they had sand to
get rid of and needed topsoil for another job.

Its a local company that well recommended!!! that did the job, total cost was just short of £1300.

Thanks for the advice. I have contacted a couple of lawn specialists to try and get a report done and will get some photos as you said.

You could have easily remedied the contour problem by applying a top dressing or if far too low lift the areas where it is low & build up with top soil,if drainage was a problem which I suspect it was they should have mixed the sand with top soil in a 70/30 mix or even better put in a layer of stones top soil on top & then level off in preparation for laying turf! The price you paid doesn't seem to be excessive for supplying & laying turf (what was the size of the lawn replaced? Also was it a good quality turf ?)

Cheers

New lawn Problems
 

"Stevie S" wrote in message
...

gavj;866024 Wrote:
Its a local company that well recommended!!! that did the job, total
cost was just short of £1300.

Thanks for the advice. I have contacted a couple of lawn specialists to
try and get a report done and will get some photos as you said.

You could have easily remedied the contour problem by applying a top
dressing or if far too low lift the areas where it is low & build up
with top soil,if drainage was a problem which I suspect it was they
should have mixed the sand with top soil in a 70/30 mix or even better
put in a layer of stones top soil on top & then level off in
preparation for laying turf! The price you paid doesn't seem to be
excessive for supplying & laying turf (what was the size of the lawn
replaced? Also was it a good quality turf ?)

Cheers




--
Stevie S

Steve - interesting that you got a bunch of North American "know-it-all"
answers for a British question; turf "science" in the U.S. is woefully
behind much of the rest of the world -- perhaps because it's driven by
developer cost considerations, adherence to outmoded methods and
homeowner/lawn care providers lack of information on better ways to do
things..

Actually, the technique you described is similar to what is used in modern,
high class and demanding turf settings such as sport stadia and racetracks.
Singapore Racetrack, Hong Kong Sha Tin racetrack, a number of Australian
venues -- plus stadia in New Orleans, Minneapolis and other locations use a
sand layer beneath the root zone to provide better feel, drainage and level.
This is done both with and without a mesh layer at the root zone. It's
possible that you already have a better turf than any of the respondents,
although it will probably require more precise care such as would be
provided in a commercial setting.

I'm doing some testing with warm-weather turf grasses at the present time -
once I'm satisfied I'll probably redo my entire turfed area in the same
manner as you've described - the present results indicate I may want the
rootzone mesh layer but that's not definite yet.

Regards -- JimR

Who ever suggested that much sand should be added!!

As turf growers and suppliers, we see some strange things done by gardeners and landscapers but we have never seen this much sand added.

If your existing lawn was healthy, why did the landscaper not just strip the old lawn, rotovate your soil and level. Possibly screed an inch of rootzone over the top and then relay new turf.

It sounds like their extravigant plan was probably a good way of talking you out of a small fortune.

i have to agree with this, i would never lay turf on sand, it drains to quickly so even though you are watering the lawn the sand will take the water away from the fresh roots almost as quick as you are putting it down