Levelling the Lawn

lhooper60

My garden has always been a bit bumpy in sections but never really bothered me. We’ve recently had an extension and a den built at the end of the garden and nearly all the grass has been ruined so I’m thinking of levelling it all before relaying grass. I was after some advice please? 

From what I’ve looked at online, I’ll need to: 
dig up whatever grass is left 
cultivate the dirt to get it all level 
put down a top layer of soil 
lay new grass 

is this right? Am I missing any steps? Also, I no longer have side access to my house so cannot hire a digger and will need to do by hand. Any recommendations for tools would be fab. 

Thanks in advance for any help! 

billy2shots

I can’t emphasise enough the importance of taking your time to get the level correct. Nothing worse than spending all that time and effort not to mention money and end up unhappy. 

I use steaks in each corner with string attached at soil height to judge if things look nice and level. You will easily see a run using this method with a spirit level. 

Will you compact the dirt dirt before too soiling?

-taff

You don't need a new top layer of soil, just make sure the soil that's already there is flat and with a good fine crumb on top before you lay the turf. If you are digging the grass out rather than using a turf cutter, you will need to tread the earth back down again because otherwise it will sink if you don't leaving you with dips all over your lawn.

And billy2shots, i know autocorrect got you but steaks not stakes made me laugh this morning...:)

lhooper60

“Compact the dirt”

does that mean using a roller or one of things that looks a bit like a lawn mower that hits the ground? If so, yes, I could hire one. Do I use that once levelled, before top soil or once top soil is down? 

Thank you! 

Grenage

In my experience you will want to level several times over a couple of weeks.  What is flat after the first levelling will most likely not be flat after a fortnight.  Obviously the extent of the difference will be down to how much soil was added or churned up.

Obviously don't mix the old turf in with the soil while levelling.