Garden redesign - laying lawn help for a non-gardener please!

[snewbs]

Hi all,

New poster on the forums looking for advice. My wife wants to go back to grass within the majority of our garden with a smaller decking area next to my 'man cave'.

So with my project management hat on (and in my own head) I'll need to:-

- Rip up the slabs
- Demolish existing decking (I believe its just mud or the prior grass with a membrane over it underneath - note the house was purchased like this)
- flatten out undearneath existing decking
- remove hardcore / dig down from underneath slabs
- build new decking area
- put down topsoil
- lay turf

Am I missing anything (I probably am!). Do I need to 'rotovate' or?

So far, I've got basic costs for a skip, mini digger (to remove existing hardcore and make my life a bit easier!), top soil and turf. Clearly I need to factor in costs for the new decking.

Any other advice would be most appreciated from those that have experience......and thats clearly not me. I've attached pictures of the current area and what is underneath the slabs that are laid on the ground (note: artificial turf and slabs are laid on top of decking in some areas?!?! Again - the house was purchased like this!)

Hope this makes sense and I do appreciate your feedback and advice in advance

 

[Old Salt]

6 weeks ago I did exactly this except I didnt have any decking. I removed the old turf and lifted the old paving which was laid on sand. Rotovated Where the new lawn was going to be. Spread 2 tonnes of topsoil and then some pre turf fertiliser before laying the turf. Its now been down just over 3 weeks and had its first cut. Lots of info on lawnsmith.co.uk website.

 

[IT Minion]

We're getting quite late in the year for laying a new lawn. I'm no expert but as I understand it over the peak summer months established grass tends to suffer from the heat, only starting to thrive again closer to September. That means while you can do your new lawn you'd be unable to use it much and would have to water it a lot to keep it alive.

Other than that it sounds about right to me. You'll want approx 100mm minimum of top soil under your grass. Depending on what's there then turning over or rotovating the soil would be ok, but if there's hardcore then it'll have to go. That can be a lot of material, don't underestimate the skip volumes.

 

[Old Salt]

I watered mine twice a day for ten minutes moving the sprinkler to ensure all areas were covered during the recent glorious weather. Fortunately I am not on a meter so it was relatively painless. Grass is now well established but I shall need to keep a close eye on it over the summer.

 

[David Henry]

your garden looks great. I love it

 

[EddieM]

As said, wrong time of year. Revisit the idea in mid to late March.

oops didn't look at thread date

 

[Old Salt]

Thanks, moved in Feb 2019 and just finished renovating the whole place, kitchen diner extension, new cloakroom, new bathroom, driveway, garden, bedrooms and new garage, etc. Was a lot of hard work but hopefully we can enjoy it next spring once we have had the jabs

 

[sparxxxx]

And while you've been slugging you guts out, your mrs has been dreaming up her next project for you to do.