After you have prepared the topsoil and ground for your lawn area that is the hard work out of the way. Although laying turf seems a daunting task it really is simple and easy to lay your lawn with this step by step turf guide.
Tools needed for laying turf
- Wooden Planks or Turfing boards (Enough for at least two runs to walk up and down your turf area without standing on the turf itself)
- Utility Knife or Hand Saw for cutting your turf rolls ( Our Team always use a typical handsaw such as Irwin Wood Saws from a local Builders Merchant, people recommend using a knife but we find this far better but it is all down to personal opinions!)
- A Wheel Barrow to bring the turf closer to the laying area
- Gloves. This will get messy!
Before Laying your turf please make sure your ground is ready using our Ground Preparation For Turf Guide for preparing your soil to achieve the best results of a perfect lawn!
Work Smarter, Not harder!
The first step we would recommend is having your turf close to you when laying, take a barrow load of turf and bring it as close to the area you are about to turf without being on the prepared soil.
Walk the Plank: Should I walk on new turf?
The idea when laying turf is that you don't stand on the soil disturbing the prepared level ground, but use planks to walk across the turf as this presses force on the turf spread across a larger surface area. This pressure ensures there is a bind between the turf rolls and the soil for stronger growth and a quicker bind but does not leave dentations due to the use of the planks or turfing boards (these can be hired from us if you are near our local depot)
Framing your lawn
Your new lawn is going to look that good it needs framing! The first step for laying your turf is to unroll one strip around the perimeter of your new lawn area (almost like framing the turf area) making sure that the underside of the turf is in full contact with the soil beneath. Avoid using smaller pieces of turf at the edge as they may perish or dry out
How to start turfing
With the idea of not walking on the topsoil in mind, the general idea of a long rectangle garden would be to start from the front and work your way rolling down the longest length of the garden. So roll out from the front of your garden to the back of your garden. If your garden is wider than its length, then we would recommend working from the front but rolling out from side to side. This really is not too important, but just saves work of switching directions with it being far quicker and easier to roll in one direction with the longest straight run.
How to Turf: Turfing in a Brickwork Pattern
When turfing, one of the most common mistakes made is the pattern of laying turf. The pattern you need to create when laying turf is similar to brickwork, where the joint between two rolls on row one, is in the middle of the turf roll of row two rather than a grid like method. The image below should help you with this!
How to join Turf Rolls: Binding turf rolls together
When laying turf, it is very important that each roll is binded to the next properly. To create the perfect lush level lawn, time and efforts need to be taken here to ensure a tight fit between each roll but no overlap! You almost need to imagine that you are super gluing the two turf roll edges together, butt adjoining turf rolls together. Applying enough pressure to ensure a tight fit, although ensuring the turf rolls are not stretched.
How to Cut Turf: Cutting Overlapping Turf and Ends of Rows
In order to cut overlapping turf and the end of rows you can use a half moon lawn edger or just a sharp knife. What our fitting teams always prefer to use is a typical hand saw from your local builders merchant such as an Irwin - not built for the job, but works perfectly!
How to water new Turf: Watering New Lawn Turf
Once your new lawn turf has been laid, it is now time for watering well for the best start of rooting in. The amount of watering completely depends on the weather and time of year the turf is laid with far more water being required in the Summer months.
Straight after laying you need to water your new lawn turf with a sprinkler or hose pipe. You need to give the lawn a good soak until the water has gone through to the top soil below.
Please pay attention to your new turf to ensure you end up with the lush green lawn you desire. If you notice any areas which are drying out (such as under hedging, trees and large shrubs or gaps and turf edges) ensure to water well immediately!
For the following 1-2 weeks you should then water your lawn well every evening unless the good old rain has done your job for you! When weather is windy, dry and hot the turf will require even more watering.
When should you Mow New Lawn Turf? Click here to see our guide to mowing your new garden lawn
