Do It Yourself
You don’t need a magic formula and you don’t need to agonize over the installation of sod. The proper preparation, installation, and subsequent care of your outdoor living carpet are as follows:
Ordering
Be sure to order early so you can coordinate delivery with the completion of your soil preparations. Sod should be installed as quickly as possible after you have received it, and ordering early will allow you to specify the exact time of delivery.
Knowing how much sod to order is never an easy task. Rarely are our lawns laid out in a perfect square. Each roll is 24″ wide and 84″ long for a total of 1.5 square yards. A pallet contains 81 yards of sod.
An easy formula to figure out how much to buy: length x width of the area divided by 9.
DIY Install Steps
Prep
We suggest having 3-4 inches of quality top soil. If your soil is sandy, you can incorporate peat moss for better nutrients and water retention.
Grading the area by raking any stones or debris out of the top soil will help establish a smooth surface for install.
For a quick start to growth, you can use a complete lawn fertalizer (12-12-12).
Installation
Starting the installation at the edges is suggested to get the most out of your order.
The sod can be rolled out like a rug, and then stager each row so that the end edges aren’t next to eachother.
Make sure the edges are butted together without any overlapping.
A sharp utility knife can be used to cut the sod along uneven edges, such as along a flowerbed or trees.
After Install Care
Watering is the most important thing you can do for your new sod to establish root growth. You do not want it to dry out. About 1 inch of water every other day for the first 2 weeks is suggested.
If your sod begins to lose color, you can apply a lawn fertilizer. It’s typical to apply a fertilizer 8-10 weeks after install, however this is dependent on your soil conditions.
Keeping low traffic on your new sod for the first 2 weeks will help the sod root into your soil.
Allow the sod to grow to about 3 inches in height, and then you should mow it down to about 2 inches, removing the clippings if possible. In normal growing conditions it will reach mowable height in about 10 days.
Support
If you have any questions, feel free to email or call us!