Looking for some advice with lawn repair and stone work [Archive] - LawnSite.com™

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Marinucci_Landscaping

04-18-2010, 10:44 PM

Hey all,

I'm currently working on an estimate for a job that involves repairing a lawn, and replacing some stone. I don't believe it is beyond my skill set (which is certainly limited compared to most of you), but this is all new territory for me. I'm looking for some advice with landscapers with a bit more experience for either or both parts of the job, and would be extremely grateful for any opinions you folks could offer.

I'll start with the lawn. The homeowner had a pipe burst in his beds, which had to have bobcats come in and tear up the place. I can handle fixing up the beds... but I'm struggling with repairing the lawn oddly enough; I haven't done much repair work to lawns, and am just looking for some advice here on how to repair the damage the bobcats caused by driving back and forth across it. The tread marks add up to about 390 sq.ft. in area and an inch to two inches deep in the worst places. To fix the lawn, this is what I'm thinking: renting a heavy duty tiller and tilling up the lawn to dig out the ruts; raking out the grass; maybe tamping it down; replacing any dips from the tilling/stamping process with topsoil; and finally reseeding. I can't help but ask, am I on the right track here? And if I am, how much topsoil would you order, considering 390 sq. ft. of repair work?

For the stone portion of the estimate, a decade ago the homeowner had his backyard paved over with decorative stone, which is about the size of quarters (as in, four quarters to a dollar). Over time, travel on the stone has compacted it down, and basically he just wants more stone added to even things out... nothing more. Simple enough. I did the measurements, it will need about 2.1 yards of stone. It's all grunt work here, just wheel-barreling stone to the back, dumping it, and leveling it out with some rakes. My question here, is how much do you folks charge to lay down stone, and level it out? I haven't done this before, and I really don't know what to charge here for labor.

Excuse the naivete, but this is new territory for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I can link pictures if you all need. Thank you in advance.

- Marinucci

Southern Elegance

04-19-2010, 07:17 PM

cost of stone plus 100.00 per ton labor. maybe alittle more for a job that small

Marinucci_Landscaping

04-19-2010, 07:58 PM

That's kinda what I had figured. Thank you. Any advice on how to fix up the lawn? Am I on the right track here?

- Marinucci

GrassStitcher

04-20-2010, 07:10 AM

You are on track with the seeding, but I think it could be a bit overkill with the tiller. I would just top dress the area with topsoil and seed.

To calculate the topsoil just multiple sq ft x depth and divide by 27 (cu ft in a cu yard) I always over shoot to blend in around and compensate for compaction. So I would assume 500 ft sq, and maybe 5'' depth = .42 ft sq, 500 x .42 / 27 = 7.7 yards of topsoil so I would go with 6-8 yards topsoil, seed, and spread mulch like straw or penn mulch, low nitrogen fert and keep moist, water 1-2 times per day until it germinates.

You might get bare spots and the summer may beat up on the new lawn, and weeds will more than likely consume the area, make sure you tell the customer to expect that.

You will need to come back in the fall to repair. Make sure before you repair you zap the broad leaf weeds then take the Grass Stitcher (www.grassstitcher) and perforate through the crabgrass and any bare areas and patch up. All you need is seed and the Grass Stitcher, stitch right through dead grass and leave it.

I strongly suggest you explain all this to the customer because when they see the lawn in July (weeds and bare spots) they will surely blame you.

Marinucci_Landscaping

04-21-2010, 08:18 AM

Interesting. My only concern is that some of these ruts are pretty deep, and very compacted down. I'd like to see if I could just take them out, and I'm not sure that simply packing them down with more soil will do the trick. I'm afraid that compared to the rest of the lawn, it will just wash away over time, even if tamped/compacted, and return the rut.

I do use just about the same formula for replacing grass however. I typically cover with peat moss, and have the customer water at least once a day until the grass gets to be an inch or so high. Nevertheless, thank you Stitcher!

What does everyone else think?

- Marinucci

Marinucci_Landscaping

04-22-2010, 07:57 AM

Any more advice for the lawn would be appreciated.

- Marinucci

Marinucci_Landscaping

04-24-2010, 09:35 AM

One last bump out of desperation here... trying to cap off this estimate and am not sure about my technique to fix the lawn.

- Marinucci

Kiril

04-24-2010, 09:46 AM

I think you are on the right track with the tilling. Your primary problem here is compaction. This cannot be alleviated by simply filling in the ruts.

Personally I would soil test, add/fix any drainage/irrigation that may be needed/missing, add any amendments you need per soil test results (which will most likely include a generous amount of compost), then till it all in as deep as possible, grade, settle (various ways to do this), adjust grade if necessary, seed, compost top dress.

Marinucci_Landscaping

04-25-2010, 01:04 AM

Kiril

04-25-2010, 01:55 PM

Hey Kiril,

Good to hear I'm on the right track, but I'm not quite following your post. Would you mind elaborating a bit on the problem of compaction?

Please excuse the ignorance, but I'm a little lost: why the soil test and what do you mean by adding amendments; what does drainage have to do with the equation;, and why add compost to the mix of topsoil? Please note, I'm not questioning your methods, not in the least bit... this is new to me, and I simply don't understand your techniques. Like I had said, this is all new territory for me and I am not nearly as experienced as someone as yourself. Nevertheless, thank you.

- Marinucci

A soil test will tell you what the current status of your soil is, and what amendments you may need. More likely than not, your soil will be low in organic matter, hence the compost. Work to build the soil you have ... you will not solve anything by bringing in top soil and laying it on top of what you have especially if it is compacted. There are good reasons for bringing in top soil ... but IMO this is not one. Beyond that, increasing your soils organic matter content will provide numerous other benefits.

The only reason I mentioned drainage and irrigation is because if you need it, then this is the time to do it, assuming you are going to be tilling the entire yard.

GrassStitcher

10-11-2010, 09:47 AM

FYI - You can buy your Grass Stitcher at any John Deere Landscape service center, if you don't see them in the store ask them to order some.