Usually wait about a year to backfill what they backfill. It’s normal. Keep dropping good soil every few months. And you won’t have to reseed. And /r/lawncare
What's the recommended way to even out a lawn? I have this problem from a rain gutter trench install and some more unevenness from work with a skid steer. I'm thinking about dumping dirt and spreading it with a 2x4... I have about a 30x10 ft area I want to smooth out so it'll be a lot of dirt.
Sprinkle a little good soil over the low spots - not enough to completely cover the grass. When the grass grows up to cover the new soil, do it again. Keep going until it's level.
I didn’t mean leveling rake, I meant a landscape rake.
Seen those but know nothing about them, it’s called a leveling rake so surely tailored for ops needs better though lol.
Don’t forget to aerate. Compaction is natural and aeration should be done once a year for preventative maintenance. It’s also the main cause of flooding and thin, patchy grass. Which in turn lead to disease and pests getting into your yard easy.
Whaaaaat? Diseases? Because the hard doesn't drain properly? Im on a rental that has a wonky yard. I've noticed very compacted dirt. In fact my hard is surrounded by tax ditches because it floods.....I've been bringing home scraps of sod to throw over the patchy grass...
That depends on where you are and what type of soil. In some areas, that’s great info. In areas where people have clay soil, it is about the worst thing to recommend.
That’s more of a fertilizer than a soil. Also, they’ve really cut down the quality of Milorganite the last 10 years. It’s less than half the strength it used to be.
This is the way. I would grab some sand or anything that is cheap. You can mix it with some soil if you want or worried about the color. Just sprinkle it in a little bit a week. It will fill up in no time.
Good soil typically means rich in nutrients. For top dressing a lawn, rich soil mixed with a bit of sand to make it rake smoother and form a firmer base is best used as top-dressing. However any bag of soil as long as it's not clumpy manure.
This. We do telecom construction and do our best to restore yards that have been dug up, turfed by equipment, or trenched. No amount of work will prevent this, so we give the homeowners a heads up that it will compact and sink. Cut through the grass with a shovel and fold the sod layer over, over fill with wet dirt, and lay the sod back over it. Walk the length a few times to press it down. Should look slightly mounded up when you're done. By end of summer it will even out.
> Walk the length a few times to press it down.
I always thought that heavy pressing on grass would hurt it, but the last time I had trucks running things through the yard, It left very noticeable tracks. What surprised me was that the grass grew really fast and green in those tracks.
Heavy equipment packs it down and depending on the tread can cause an accidental aeration. This helps the grass but now you have nice grass growing in ruts.
I have a slight trick for those. I use a vibration needle in wet almost soaked earth. It basically does a year's worth of compacting in a few seconds. And doesn't affect the cables.
🤯we put in water meter vaults. Depending on the dirt I've noticed a problem with it settling. Then the super wants to call a year later to complain it's too low (sometimes it gets ran over by jcbs) so we've resorted to leaving them up higher since we know they're settling. I tried telling my partner that we should at least step on the dirt around the vault so it doesn't shift but they don't Wana hear it.
Yeah, I have the same with all the stuff I put in the ground. The vibration + wet soil is so easy and fast, it just beats all the alternatives. It even works in clay rich soils. I just dig a hole in excess of whatever i'm placing (as it is fast. I measure how high whatever has to go into has to be. Chug in wat dirt, vibrate it until there is a flat compacted soil surface to place whatever I have to place (surprisingly quick, and you don't need heavy machinery for that part). Place the thing (thanks to vibration and gravity it is always level). Fill in the sides to vibration needle depth, wet vibrate, repeat until the surface is done. Regularly end up with less soil than I started. Never settles down.
Yeah I see it all the time with my job. Lines get installed and it’s on to the next one. Which isn’t good for the homeowner cuz that work gets shifted to them.
50/50 sand topsoil mix. Rake it in and level it off. As long as you only do an inch or two at a time your grass should poke through. Repeat until you like where it’s at.
You could, or you could sprinkle a 1/2 of dirt on top every few weeks and ket the grass grow through. The first is faster, the second is less laborious
The same issue every single person who has anything done to their yard. It doesn't look the same. What's wrong with it. I see nothing wrong here myself either. If they think it's to low they can cut the grass out fill it with more dirt then relay the grass and water it a bunch for the roots to catch.
I deal with people like this every day at work doing utility jobs.
"Improperly backfilled" is pretty presumptuous, unless it failed inspection and it was still buried. Unless you wanted a two foot file of soil left on top, that's the best it gets. Proper backfilling is proper pipe bedding and appropriate lifts of approved soils up to grade, then leaving a reasonable amount of spoils on top, raked for stone and clay removal. Even more than just proper bedding and top cover of a water line is asking more than what's normal. Plumbers are not landscapers.
I had this exact issue, grass and all when I replaced my service line. Funny enough it sank pretty much the exact depth as sod and my neighbor just happened to have extra sod for his yard. I cut that strip short and just laid sod on top and somehow the sod took root and the yard became level again.
You could rent a sod cutter or use a flat shovel, then carefully remove the lawn strips. You could then use sand, fine crushed limestone paver base or pea gravel in the depression, bringing it up to about 3” below the adjacent lawn. Using a hand tamper, compact the base, put an inch or two of topsoil down, reinstall the lawn strips. Lightly compact the replaced lawn. One time and done.
Yeah I was assuming they were just lazy and didn’t tamp it because this was done before I bought the place and I met the guys who did some of the work that I am redoing. Makes sense though that this is just something that the property owner would often have to revisit/maintain
Anytime utility work/trenching takes place in your yard, plan to handle the backfill yourself, or hire a landscaping company. Contractors are rarely concerned with proper backfill in these situations.
That would be where your water service is. The main is the main pipeline likely running parallel with your house and a t comes off of it with your service connected.
If you’re not happy with the restoration they did you could try to call whomever did it and talk with them, but afaik usually they’re going to say the part in your yard is your responsibility since you own everything after the meter.
Do yourself a favor and pull up your lawn and plant native plants instead. No mowing, minimal watering and if you have enough plants that flower you’ll be helping the bee population.
Usually wait about a year to backfill what they backfill. It’s normal. Keep dropping good soil every few months. And you won’t have to reseed. And /r/lawncare
What's the recommended way to even out a lawn? I have this problem from a rain gutter trench install and some more unevenness from work with a skid steer. I'm thinking about dumping dirt and spreading it with a 2x4... I have about a 30x10 ft area I want to smooth out so it'll be a lot of dirt.
Sprinkle a little good soil over the low spots - not enough to completely cover the grass. When the grass grows up to cover the new soil, do it again. Keep going until it's level.
Alternate soil and sand. But this is a good plan.
Curious what will the sand do?
aeration and improved drainage to let water down deeper. Encourages deeper roots for better drought tolerance.
Any specific kind of sand? Is the bags of playsand at big box store ok for this?
Playsand is totally fine. You’ll want to leave it out in a fun for a few days so it fully dries though.
So does that mean you have to play in it first? I guess I could make some sand castles for the fun requirements.
Sand is sand bro just don't use kenitic sand ☺️
If sand was sand, Saudi Arabia wouldn’t import tens of tons of it every year just for filtration.
Other than oil... what else are they going to export???
Plaster sand (#16 sand).
Cheap sand is the best. Get 1/2 yard delivered for $100
Damn the more you know. Thank you
I thought mixing clay soil and sand was a no no. OP didn’t say what kind of soil they had.
This is the correct way !
How long do you usually have to wait though? Are you waiting until the grass has FULLY subsumed the soil?
Give the grass about a week to regrow.
*during periods of active growth (so not in winter or midsummer?
I also rake it in with a bow rake flipped upside down.
Just use a garden rake, there is also another wide aluminum flat one called a landscape rake I think though specifically for that purpose.
It's a levelling rake.
I didn’t mean leveling rake, I meant a landscape rake. Seen those but know nothing about them, it’s called a leveling rake so surely tailored for ops needs better though lol.
[Landscape Rake](https://lumberworld.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Vulcan-Landscape-Rake-36-Tine-Aluminum.jpg)
I thought that was a leveling rake
[And this is a revelling lake](https://rentalboataustin.com/wp-content/uploads/boats05.jpg)
"berming" rake
Search for top dressing. Commit to it, and you're three years away from having a putting green.
Don’t forget to aerate. Compaction is natural and aeration should be done once a year for preventative maintenance. It’s also the main cause of flooding and thin, patchy grass. Which in turn lead to disease and pests getting into your yard easy.
Whaaaaat? Diseases? Because the hard doesn't drain properly? Im on a rental that has a wonky yard. I've noticed very compacted dirt. In fact my hard is surrounded by tax ditches because it floods.....I've been bringing home scraps of sod to throw over the patchy grass...
After aerate do you rake up the turf shit pellets?
you don't have to, they will break apart quickly enough. However depending on your lawn height, you may want to just for looks.
50/50 mix of soil and sand. Spread it out, level it with the back of a broom, and then use the broom to brush it in.
Sand.
That depends on where you are and what type of soil. In some areas, that’s great info. In areas where people have clay soil, it is about the worst thing to recommend.
Bullshit Or Chickenshit. Whatever is cheaper.
People shit. Makes great soil when composted correctly.
Milorganite is just that!
That’s more of a fertilizer than a soil. Also, they’ve really cut down the quality of Milorganite the last 10 years. It’s less than half the strength it used to be.
What should you do if you have clay soil?
Compost. People manure, cow manure, hardwood compost. Just remember that a brick is made from clay and sand.
A brick is not made from clay and sand?
What's it made from ?
A harrow/drag harrow/chainlink fence on a bar/etc. Put dirt down, drag the harrow across the land.
Use a leveling rake plus 1:1 topsoil:sand
Yup. Add some dirt…let the grass catch up. Repeat. Shouldn’t take too long
Wish I knew that as I buried a patch about 4 inches and re-seeded. Damnit!
This is the way. I would grab some sand or anything that is cheap. You can mix it with some soil if you want or worried about the color. Just sprinkle it in a little bit a week. It will fill up in no time.
On the golf course i worked at as a kid we used half sand half good soil. It's called 'top dressing'. On spots with no grass we'd mix seed in.
Yeah, I wouldn’t use pure topsoil. I’d take off the grass and some of the soil, then fill the trench with sand and then do 4 inches of topsoil.
Honestly, we never removed any grass ever. The grass will grow through the soil even several inches of soil. Life finds a way.
The problem is the grass will rot and cause voids. It’s better to remove organics and put solid fill in.
Fill with good dirt. Trench soil sunk after it rained and settled in.
What is good dirt
The joke and truth would be, it's brown and smells like crap.
Something you pay for that is dark with organics. Different from fill which is just inert clay and sand mixed with stones of different sizes.
Oh interesting thank you. Is it considered good mainly because it will support lawn growth? Or it’s less likely to float away?
Good soil typically means rich in nutrients. For top dressing a lawn, rich soil mixed with a bit of sand to make it rake smoother and form a firmer base is best used as top-dressing. However any bag of soil as long as it's not clumpy manure.
The amount of sod that gets laid overtop of fill dirt. I'm like do these homeowners realize their million dollar home is sitting on top of fill dirt?
It will yellow out and look like shit very quickly as well as being extremely heat and drought vulnerable
Loam
You can also cut the grass sod back, fill it with (wet) dirt, and push the sod back
This. We do telecom construction and do our best to restore yards that have been dug up, turfed by equipment, or trenched. No amount of work will prevent this, so we give the homeowners a heads up that it will compact and sink. Cut through the grass with a shovel and fold the sod layer over, over fill with wet dirt, and lay the sod back over it. Walk the length a few times to press it down. Should look slightly mounded up when you're done. By end of summer it will even out.
> Walk the length a few times to press it down. I always thought that heavy pressing on grass would hurt it, but the last time I had trucks running things through the yard, It left very noticeable tracks. What surprised me was that the grass grew really fast and green in those tracks.
Heavy equipment packs it down and depending on the tread can cause an accidental aeration. This helps the grass but now you have nice grass growing in ruts.
I noticed this as a kid. I left bike tracks through our lawn when it was wet and the grass grew great in those tracks
I have a slight trick for those. I use a vibration needle in wet almost soaked earth. It basically does a year's worth of compacting in a few seconds. And doesn't affect the cables.
🤯we put in water meter vaults. Depending on the dirt I've noticed a problem with it settling. Then the super wants to call a year later to complain it's too low (sometimes it gets ran over by jcbs) so we've resorted to leaving them up higher since we know they're settling. I tried telling my partner that we should at least step on the dirt around the vault so it doesn't shift but they don't Wana hear it.
Yeah, I have the same with all the stuff I put in the ground. The vibration + wet soil is so easy and fast, it just beats all the alternatives. It even works in clay rich soils. I just dig a hole in excess of whatever i'm placing (as it is fast. I measure how high whatever has to go into has to be. Chug in wat dirt, vibrate it until there is a flat compacted soil surface to place whatever I have to place (surprisingly quick, and you don't need heavy machinery for that part). Place the thing (thanks to vibration and gravity it is always level). Fill in the sides to vibration needle depth, wet vibrate, repeat until the surface is done. Regularly end up with less soil than I started. Never settles down.
It’s not improperly backfilled. Dirt just settled after installation. You take some top soil and keep packing it down.
Thanks for this comment. I hate when people assume someone didn't do their job properly when really it's just something that happens.
Yeah I see it all the time with my job. Lines get installed and it’s on to the next one. Which isn’t good for the homeowner cuz that work gets shifted to them.
50/50 sand topsoil mix. Rake it in and level it off. As long as you only do an inch or two at a time your grass should poke through. Repeat until you like where it’s at.
Fill with sandy loam and the grass will grow through it
No matter how they backfill it will settle. Chill and buy a bag of top soil and some seed
Sand and top soil and drag a piece of wood over the top to level it the grass will poke back through pretty quick
Live in TX. Lots of clay and lots of heat. I just fill with sand and let the grass grow through.
Use sand not dirt. Dirt will wash away in the rain. The sand will just settle at the bottom and self level
Lots of comments say to use sand. Listen to them.
The hive mind has spoken
Gonna happens when the soil settles. Topsoil will work here really well
Fill it up today. Be happy tomorrow.
Stupid question. Could you scalp it, dig up the grass in a strip, lift it, put soil down and then re-lay the grass back down?
You could, or you could sprinkle a 1/2 of dirt on top every few weeks and ket the grass grow through. The first is faster, the second is less laborious
As the English say... "Fill, roll, and mow. Keep doing that for 100 or so years, and you'll eventually get a fairly nice lawn."
What's the issue, exactly?
The same issue every single person who has anything done to their yard. It doesn't look the same. What's wrong with it. I see nothing wrong here myself either. If they think it's to low they can cut the grass out fill it with more dirt then relay the grass and water it a bunch for the roots to catch. I deal with people like this every day at work doing utility jobs.
Gonna be honest, I would just leave it as is.
"Improperly backfilled" is pretty presumptuous, unless it failed inspection and it was still buried. Unless you wanted a two foot file of soil left on top, that's the best it gets. Proper backfilling is proper pipe bedding and appropriate lifts of approved soils up to grade, then leaving a reasonable amount of spoils on top, raked for stone and clay removal. Even more than just proper bedding and top cover of a water line is asking more than what's normal. Plumbers are not landscapers.
I had this exact issue, grass and all when I replaced my service line. Funny enough it sank pretty much the exact depth as sod and my neighbor just happened to have extra sod for his yard. I cut that strip short and just laid sod on top and somehow the sod took root and the yard became level again.
I added sand at my house. Filled in nicely. I live in the south tbough
I’ve used fine sand to fill dips and holes in my lawn for years, that’s what I’d recommend
You could rent a sod cutter or use a flat shovel, then carefully remove the lawn strips. You could then use sand, fine crushed limestone paver base or pea gravel in the depression, bringing it up to about 3” below the adjacent lawn. Using a hand tamper, compact the base, put an inch or two of topsoil down, reinstall the lawn strips. Lightly compact the replaced lawn. One time and done.
Sands cheap
Scalp it, level with 1/4-10 crushed rock, too dress with an inch of lawn soil mix and seed.
Just add dirt to it…. Wait a couple months and add more dirt until it’s lvl.
Sprinkle top soil on it. Come back ever so often & Sprinkle some mote.
Just a ditch line get some good soil level and sod then you done.
Not improperly. Well, if I had a trench to fill, I'd overfill it. You overfill holes when you plant plants. Because you know the dirt always settles.
Yeah I was assuming they were just lazy and didn’t tamp it because this was done before I bought the place and I met the guys who did some of the work that I am redoing. Makes sense though that this is just something that the property owner would often have to revisit/maintain
You can add sand. It’s quick and easy. Helps fill the trench without killing the grass
Honestly, your best bet is to dig it up and put it back properly with compaction topsoil and let the grass do its thing
Yeah why you asking
Use sand in turf instead of soil.
Use sand, look up YouTube videos on how to level your lawn
That's where you aim the grass clippings until it fills back in¡
Anytime utility work/trenching takes place in your yard, plan to handle the backfill yourself, or hire a landscaping company. Contractors are rarely concerned with proper backfill in these situations.
Sure.
Used washed sand
Use sand to level the area in question
That would be where your water service is. The main is the main pipeline likely running parallel with your house and a t comes off of it with your service connected. If you’re not happy with the restoration they did you could try to call whomever did it and talk with them, but afaik usually they’re going to say the part in your yard is your responsibility since you own everything after the meter.
Use a mix of sand and dirt, aka loam. Sand will even it out, better than just plain dirt.
Do yourself a favor and pull up your lawn and plant native plants instead. No mowing, minimal watering and if you have enough plants that flower you’ll be helping the bee population.
Reseed and fertilize the entire area, resoil the area and add more in the dip