Topdressing w/sand – by machine?

redbird – posted 17 September 2003 11:39

I had my lawn professionally graded prior to laying sod. Although, I love the grass and the lawn is looking good, I have a real problem with lawn unevenness. The sod arrived in widely varying thicknesses (1/2″ bare root pieces to 3″ thick pieces). The sod pieces also varies widely in size, shape etc., but also, many of them were cut unevenly lengthwise, i.e., one entire side 3″ thick tapering to less than 1″ on the opposing side. I know that it isn’t supposed to be this way, but that’s what I ended up with.

Anyway, my lawn is not as even as I would like it. I know that my options are rolling over and over (this seems like a backbreaking proposition to me) or topdressing with sand to even it out. I have also been told that this can be really difficult to “get right” by hand over a large area – and a lot of work with a wheelbarrow and shovel.

Slug that I am, I am looking for an alternative. I have been told that there is a machine that some businesses use to apply sand evenly over large areas. Do you know anything about this – I live just outside of Jacksonville, FL (over the GA line) and would like to see if this is done, how much $$, etc.Mike

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 18 September 2003 10:13

One clever idea I’ve seen is to aerate and rake the plugs to the low spots. You could hit the thick spots a little harder and skip over the thin spots.