Lawn....

[Welderpaul]

The lawn at our new house is about 100m2 and was newly laid when the house was build. Its been down for maybe 12 months and has been badly looked after meaning whilst it is growing, it is full of moss, holes where it has been walked on when wet, and you can see the joints between the rolls of turf.

Is it the better option to sort out the levels with some sifted topsoil and seed/feed etc or just dig it up and re turf?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Rake out the Moss.
Top dress with silver sand and peat, well shifted.
Brush that well in the lawn and cracks.

Leave until it has rained, or give it a good soaking and let dry and repeat.

Then top dress with the mix and new grass seeds.

When new seeds are about 75mm tall mow gently and feed.

 

[Kayos]

Last house I had with a big garden was an absolute pain, current dwelling has no greenery in site, much better

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Rake out the Moss.
Top dress with silver sand and peat, well shifted.
Brush that well in the lawn and cracks.

Leave until it has rained, or give it a good soaking and let dry and repeat.

Then top dress with the mix and new grass seeds.

When new seeds are about 75mm tall mow gently and feed.

. Yup. This. Cement mixer is great for mixing peat sand and seed. Worth making a nice wide shooting board to help with top dressing. Helps with leveling and grading.

 

[Arclikeharrypotter]

If you want a nice lawn Paul I'd say dig it up, new build lawns are horrific, the soil is normally of absolute no quality what so ever, very thin etc.

But if you go down the line of sand and peat, aerate your lawn first. Otherwise you'll end up with a beautiful lawn this summer and then the same Moss ridden mess by end of winter.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Scarify then airate. Cheap to hire. If you lift and relay best get a skip for all the rubble you'll be finding . :/
If it was me I'd do a quick top dress for the summer and see how it fares with some TLC. Can always re lay it after the summer is over.

 

[Welderpaul]

Thanks for the replies so far chaps, all very helpful. The original soil is actually quite good. It was originally a farm house garden so it lovely soil and has escaped the builders dross which they bury. Lots and lots of animal bones in in.

Silver sand is in block paving joint-filling type sand?

 

[Rocketman]

Sharp sand is fine to use, you would be better off mixing it with graded top soil than peat. Anyway the moss is highly dependent on where the lawn is - how much shade, how well drain etc. But once the moss is out aerate the lawn before adding the top dressing. You can mix seed into the top dressing.

 

[Welderpaul]

Thanks chaps. Can anyone recommend a trade grass seed - fast growing, hardy seed?