DIY Sod Questions from a Newbie

I think I need some help. I'm getting some sod delivered next week. My plan on Monday is to fertilize and till the current 'grass' (mostly crab grass and other various weeds). Then have sod delivered on Thursday and I'll install and roll it that day. Now on to the questions:

Am I going to live if I don't kill the current grass and just till it? To be honest, I'm okay if some weeds pop up, I just don't want the whole thing to fail. I'm mostly doing this because my HOA doesn't like it when my green weeds die back in the fall and winter.

I have a sprinkler system. I called the guy who put in in and he said they generally install stuff 6-8" deep but depending on what might be in/around the lawn it could be narrower. Is there any good way to make SURE that I don't hit any sprinkler lines with the tiller?

 

So many issues, where to start....

Ok, how's this? Laying sod requires every bit as much prep work as sowing seed. Please reconsider your plan.

 

I have laid a lot of sod in my checkered past. It is not for beginners. Bite the bullet and find a long time gardener, who knows sod, and pay him to do the job.

You had best cancel the sod delivery. If you can't cancel, you might have to unroll and water your sod until it is time to lay it out. Never get sod sight unseen. It needs to be FRESH and you have to unroll a couple to look for dry spots or yellow patches, etc.

 

Unless things have changed, sod in fla doesn't come in rolls but in square pieces.

As stated above you need to the prep right if you expect the sod to do well!

 

Sod is expensive and needs special care to get it to establish and survive. Not taking the proper steps up front really stacks the deck against you potentially leading to wasted money. Add to that that sodding in mid August... in the deep south is risky at best. Even in northern NC I would wait until mid September and in Florida I'd wait at least until the end of Sept or beginning of October even with an irrigation system.

Yes, you must kill the existing lawn if you are not removing it. Sod has less than 1/2" soil/root thickness. The existing weeds will have no trouble growing up through the sod. At this point I think you need to at least postpone the sod delivery. I would spray the entire area with a glyphosate based herbicide (Roundup, Honcho, Glyphos...). In a week the dying will become apparent and you can do a second spot application on areas that are not dying. Then after you have everything dead you can proceed onto the other sod preparation steps.

 

Apparently everything I've been reading before this thread is wrong. That sucks. I've seen similar advice to what I posted from what seemed to be reputable sources. For instance, this article I was reading from Popular Mechanics today:

How to Lay Sod in 16 Steps

I'd also read that you can sod any time of year. However, I can only assume that you guys are experts and have actually done this before. I guess I'll go back to the drawing board.

 

I couldn't finish reading that article, so much bad information in it...

 

I think you need to re-read that Popular Mechanics article. The steps they detailed are FAR more than what you described you would do in your opening post. Tilling is hard work, no matter what machine you use and the bigger machines are harder to use than the smaller machines. Unless you renovate lawns for a living (if you did you wouldn't be asking for advice) you will likely not finish with all the prep work in a single day.

Also, grass goes dormant in the summer heat and THAT is why it is recommended to do the renovation in either early spring or fall. You want the grass to be actively growing when you transplant it. You MUST break up and "amend" the substrate before laying the sod or else the sod will simply lay on the compacted soil and die.

 

A large part of this project is......what blend of lawn seeds were used to produce the sod ? If you or anyone you hire does this...get THICK sod, one inch or more. Don't know if you still get the afternoon daily rains, I experienced when I was there in the 70's.....but new sod would need to be watered about 3-4 times a day, until you lift up a section and see roots going into the soil.

 

Guys, I know that I could pay someone to do it, but I'd really rather learn to do it myself. And again, I'm not looking for perfection here if it matters. If there are some weeds, I'll deal with it.

Can someone point me to a good walk through on how to properly prepare and sod the lawn?

 

Basically you remove all vegetation, work the soil a little [so it isn't hard/compacted] then level it off and lay the sod.

 

Thanks. No tilling required?

 

It depends on the soil after all the vegetation is removed. What will it take to break up the top several inches? A rake along with elbow grease might be enough for fla soil, if not - a tiller should be used.