How To Lay Sod

Last fall I had my yard torn up from a backhoe because we have a water main leak and the contractors needed install a whole new copper line from the meter to the basement wall inside.

1. The sod is about 3/4 of an inch thick so bring the level of the ground to be sodded down around 3/4 of an inch.
2. Loosen the soil with a rake
3. Water the dirt but don’t create puddles
4. Roll out the sod (turf)
5. Tamp down with your foot of a tamper.
6. Get the sod pieces as close as possible but do not overlap them
7. Water the sod as soon as you are done, the water should penetrate the ground 4 to 6 inches deep (this is hard to do with the clay soil we have in Colorado.)
8. Continuing watering for 10 to 12 days for the sod to take root.
9. If you see foot prints in your sod then you know that your sod does not have enough water.
10. Once the sod has taken root, water every 2 to 4 days.
11. Make sure you mower has a sharp blade when mowing
12. Mow at a minimum of 2 1/4 inches
13. Don’t mow until the sod has taken root, cut when the grass is dry
14. Fertilize as normal

I used ScientTurfic Sod from Home Depot. The sod strips are two feet by 5 feet long. Each strip cost $3.29 and weight just enough to move them around easily from the trunk of my car.

I used a steak knife to cut the sod. This worked well but it gets dull fast from the contact with the dirt, so you have to sharpen it often.