How to Install a Near Perfect Sod Job. Part one

21 steps to a perfect sod job

For Part Two of this article, Click here

Laying sod properly is almost an art form. Some people merely throw the sod at the ground and stomp on it but like any other job worth doing, time, care, and patience pay off.  When my client purchased the house, this bed had been planted with a collection of perennial vines and had become weed-eaten and completely unmanageable. We decided that a clean installation of Zoysia sod would be the answer.

So we chopped everything down with a weed eater, raked it clean, and sprayed with a weed killer. We watched the area for a few months to make sure all of the weeds and vines had been eradicated. Finally, the site was ready.

One of my favorite tools is my “paint gun.” I used it to very carefully mark the sod borders, sprinkler heads, and anything else I didn’t want to mess up. After marking the borders, we measured for the sod and ordered it.

We must be sure to find and mark all sprinkler heads.  It is much easier than to repair them later.

We run a tiller over the area lightly, cutting down no more than 2-3 inches. The tiller is run in a manner that will pulverize the top of the soil.

When finished with the tiller, a yard rake is used to smooth out any hills and valleys. This is the first raking.

After getting the tilled area reasonably smooth, we run a water filled roller over the site. The roller will show high and low spots which may then be raked over and then rolled again. Time and care spent on this job will pay off in the finished job. I try to get the area as smooth as the top of a pool table.

It is important to raise and adjust any sprinkler heads. The top of the head should be 3/4 of an inch above the finished soil surface. Pack the soil firmly when finished

I had measured the area to be sodded and came up with a little over 1200 square feet. I like to purchase Zoysia sod cut in sections of about one by two feet. These are delivered on pallets which hold 450 square feet of grass. So I needed three pallets. I can always find something to do with the left overs.  The guy from the sod farm is always nice about placing the pallets as close to the actual work site as possible.

Now it’s time to start putting the sod on the ground. Unless you’re a masochist this is at least a two man job.

I’ll be back with part two next week. The job turns out really nice.

For Part Two of this article, Click here

Thanks for visiting John The Plant Man.

As usual, I would just love for you click here to go to Amazon and purchase the ebook edition of my wonderful book, Requiem for a Redneck to go on your Kindle. I have also noticed that Amazon now has a free Kindle app for iphones and tablets. Is that cool or what?