footsteps in new sod

dss – posted 22 October 2004 10:26

A lawn care company came to fertilize the field-grass lawn on our property and were told previously to not touch the new sod. Instead, the guy decided to do us a favor and he pushed his fertilizer cart back and forth across our 2 week old sod that had been watered liberally then had monsoon-like rains for 2 weeks. I had prepped the soil with compost, topsoil, and tilled it 6-8″ so by that time it was really mushy. There was even barrier tape around the whole area. Needless to say, he left over 250 2-3″ deep footprints and wheel ruts all over 3000 sf. After fighting 2 weeks, I want total replacement, but they want to roll it next week, and next spring then replace holes. Any advice to convince them this won’t work to achieve new condition?

cohiba – posted 24 October 2004 10:18

dss,

Such a shame. The best thing I could suggest is to hire a turf consultant to have a look at the damage. He can then write a recomendation on your behalf. To have the contractor repair his damage. A copy should go to the contractor and a copy to your attorney.

BTW: What type of turf were you growing? What is the soil texture?

Good Luck and keep your chin up!

dss – posted 25 October 2004 21:49

Thanks Cohiba

I have a sod company coming out tomorrow. It is Kentucky Bluegrass. The soil here in our part of Denver is mostly hard clay. I prepped it in accordance with our local lawn experts. It’s so sad that except for the holes, it’s growing beautifully. BTW I recently thought I would mark all the holes with flags because it seemed the chemical company was underestimating the damage. I had to quit when I used the 370th one and I was only 2/3 of the way done. Most were over 2″ deep. And because it was so mushy the applicator had to take short steps. I could hardly keep my balance or keep from twisting my ankles!