Rolled Grass

slick14

Hi
I'm getting my garden levelled and rolled grass put down.
The guy doing it quoted €65 square meter for the rolled grass???
Does it really need to be this expensive?
I looked on line and found it a lot cheaper.
Also is €1200 a lot to level the garden and put grass seed down?
Would grass be okay or am I better off to go with the rolled grass?
Garden size is 104 square metres.
Any help appreciated no clue about gardening.
thanks,
Slick

whelzer

Cant really comment on price but roll on turf/grass is great. You get instant garden. Seed will work, but takes patience and time. The turf is very easy to lay and very forgiving - if you water it well for a week or two afterwards. Could you get the garden levelled and do the turf yourself?

Just googled, you can get 104sm for 700 delivered (to Dublin) I've laid it a couple of times, it comes on pallets in easy to handle strips. If the ground is level and fairly clear you'd fly through your garden...

slick14

whelzer wrote: »

Cant really comment on price but roll on turf/grass is great. You get instant garden. Seed will work, but takes patience and time. The turf is very easy to lay and very forgiving - if you water it well for a week or two afterwards. Could you get the garden levelled and do the turf yourself?

Just googled, you can get 104sm for 700 delivered (to Dublin) I've laid it a couple of times, it comes on pallets in easy to handle strips. If the ground is level and fairly clear you'd fly through your garden...

Thanks for the help. Yeah thinking of getting a rotavator and doing it myself.
Is it difficult to get the ground level after rotavating? thanks for confirming I'm not going mad I can get rolled grass much much cheaper.

whelzer

Depending on current levels and amount of crap underneath - stones, builders rubble, etc it could be hard getting 100 sq m level and ready for turf. My first garden was small about 50 sq and was in decent state so it was easy enough to level, current garden is bigger than yours , probably close to 200. I got some laborer/gardener types off adverts I think to rotavate and level. I still spent a couple of days after them getting it right. The turf was a breeze compared to that! All in all - depends on your experience and time available...

slick14

One last thing do I need a turf cutter or a rotavator. Are they the same thing?
Maybe I shouldn't do this myself LOL.

whelzer

Not sure what you mean by a turf cutter. The roll-on stuff comes in easy to handle strips. They are very easy to cut at the ends or for staggering with a bread knife(hope my wife does see this!) or old saw.

I've never used a rotavator but seen the lads doing it, kind of like an electric plough, it digs up the top few cms of soil, ready for levelling. This is the bit I would not be 100% confident in doing over a large space. Doing it well takes experience....

okedoke

I laid about 50 sq m of turf earlier this year - never did it before.
my experience for what its worth
Stripped the existing turf off (after killing it) by hand. Dug it over by hand.
- It was easy enough to get the lawn fairly level but there are some undulations in it. I'd imagine it would be tough to get it very level without some level of experience. The guy who installed my patio (they also install turf) told me they level the soil, then put down a layer of sand, get that perfectly level and lay the turf on that.
The actual laying of the turf is a simple job.

€65 sqm sounds insanely expensive when a sqm of turf is around €5
You could pay the guy €1200 to level the area and do the turf yourself. Prep is the same for seed or turf afaik.

beggars_bush

generally you'll always need to remove some material (usually stones), or add top soil.
where is this going to go, or where are you going to get it?

LMHC

slick14 wrote: »

Hi
I'm getting my garden levelled and rolled grass put down.
The guy doing it quoted €65 square meter for the rolled grass???
Does it really need to be this expensive?
I looked on line and found it a lot cheaper.
Also is €1200 a lot to level the garden and put grass seed down?
Would grass be okay or am I better off to go with the rolled grass?
Garden size is 104 square metres.
Any help appreciated no clue about gardening.
thanks,
Slick

Get other prices. I used a guy for my mams its expensive but you can usually try bargain with guys. Get someone with solid feedback or recommend. Id not advise you doing italone

LMHC

Check out facebook- complete home and garden services. I've used twice and are great.

jmBuildExt

Not clear from the OP what is currently there - so hard to say what level of work is involved in prep.

Re levelling/preparing - I've done ~100sqm of garden with a pick axe and small eletric rotovator (actually a tiller) hard enough work. The area I was doing had been completely covered in brambles/bushes etc - but even after they were removed the level of work to dig up the soil and turn it was alot given the hidden network of roots underneath. It was a good while ago but it took me a couple of weekends at least and prob a odd day in between.
Once the soil was loose I used a piece of wood on a rope and dragged it around to level the area. (I think i saw a youtube video at the time of someone using a pallet in same way, basically like a horse pulling a cart)
You could also use a long piece of wood like you would if you were screeding

Maybe let the soil settle a bit before laying the grass to allow any areas that would be prone to sinking to present themselves - the trade off here is that as you leave it other unwanted weeds or grass can pop up.

Re laying the turf itself - a total breeze as mentioned - and very forgiving. Lay in lines up and down rolling out in same direction so to get the stripe effect.

Re immediate after care. Lots and lots of watering every day for about two weeks til the roots take to the soil underneath.

After that, when its time to cut, get a mower with rollers on it and mow it in same way you laid it to get the nice stripes back again. Regular mowing will keep most weeds at bay but eventually the odd one will sprout up - deal with them as you see them.

I remember I had a mushroom problem not too long after, but i gathered at the time that may have been a good complaint, or at least half expected/common in new lawns.


Edit: Link to cheapo tiller - https://www.screwfix.ie/p/yt5601-01-800w-28cm-tiller-220-240v/865fg
Not that difficult to operate but can throw up stones and bounce a bit. Common sense required.
Can re-sell afterwards.