landscaping/hardscaping question

[flat-top]

my yard is terrible. it is uneven, lumpy, and holes... there is many type of grasses. some spots don't grow grass due to the dog/homeowner that used to live there. plus my basement leaks during the rain.

I was going to till the yard to kill the grass, add soil to help move water away from the house
then try to grow new grass.

is this the right thing to do?

if I stamp down the new soil, will it still wash away?

any suggestions?

thanks,
Jeff

i'll try to post a pic of the house.

[SMWS6TA]

Just checking but you own the house, right?

I would fix the leaky basement before the yard IMHO. That alone will tear up the yard repairing it.

Now for the yard, you have a few options:

Tilling it and grading it to where water will naturally flow/drain off and not be directed to the house is best. Then you can either drop grass seed of your choice or sod. Sod is quicker but does require some looking after to make sure it takes.

The dog piss spots, any garden store should be able to tell you what you can add to the soil to neutralize what's killing the grass. How long has it been since been since you moved in?

[KahanaReef]

I have a pretty small front yard, the only grass we have on the property, the rest is concrete or brick, and had a horrible gopher issue a few years ago. They had tunnels everywhere and complete destroyed our yard. Bumpy everywhere doesn't even begin to describe my once beautiful level grassy area. There is not a level spot left. It took me months to get rid of those damn gophers. I was talking to my husband about it just yesterday and we've decided to just continue the brick walkway throughout the entire yard except the border surround and we'll leave an opening or two for a couple of trees and just put a patio set out there or something. We have a privacy fence in the front. So, it will be more like an addition to the back yard so to speak.

I give up on the grass. Let my neighbors deal with the gophers out here. They are cute, but I hate them now Plus, with all the water conservation out here, it just makes more sense to turn the front yard into a big patio type area

[0rion]

I have a pretty small front yard, the only grass we have on the property, the rest is concrete or brick, and had a horrible gopher issue a few years ago. They had tunnels everywhere and complete destroyed our yard. Bumpy everywhere doesn't even begin to describe my once beautiful level grassy area. There is not a level spot left. It took me months to get rid of those damn gophers. I was talking to my husband about it just yesterday and we've decided to just continue the brick walkway throughout the entire yard except the border surround and we'll leave an opening or two for a couple of trees and just put a patio set out there or something. We have a privacy fence in the front. So, it will be more like an addition to the back yard so to speak.

I give up on the grass. Let my neighbors deal with the gophers out here. They are cute, but I hate them now Plus, with all the water conservation out here, it just makes more sense to turn the front yard into a big patio type area

get one of these next time you have a problem
Mole Chaser - Save Big on this Solar Mole Chaser


moles are terrible around here.....every yard has them including ours. I was at HF a year or so ago and that was on sale for $4.99. I figured what the hell and got one to try. Works great. Ran all the moles completely out of the area I put it in. I'm going to get 2-3 more and stick around the yard. We went from having mole hills everywhere in this one area to zero.....there hasn't been a mole hill there since I put it in the ground. It ran them about 60-70 yards away to our border with our neighbor. My next one is going to go there and run their ass completely out of my yard. It's also lasted over a year being in the ground full time. I clean the top of the solar panel off every now and then to make sure it's getting enough light and that's it. I was pretty shocked at how well that thing worked. It says it works on golphers too and any burrowing critter.

[KahanaReef]

If we decide to try and reclaim our grass, level out the yard and lay new sod, I'll consider getting a couple of those. The gophers around here the last few years have been bothersome to most of my neighbors. Every time one of us 'temporarily' got rid of them from our yard, they just moved on to the next neighbors yard. It got to the point that trying to flood them out was impossible. Hose full blast never even cam up any of the holes toward the end there. The tunnels underground became massive. An underground river.

Why didn't you tell me about that when I was going gopher hunting everyday for months?

[flat-top]

yes, it's my home...it's been 4 years.

the water also comes in where the spicket for the sump pump shoots out. I redirected a hose to get it away from the house.

a friend has a tiller I can borrow. I'll start digging soon.
thanks!

[bigrondownhiller]

Grade the soil away. Also make sure all of the downspouts bring the water far enough away from the house. If you have a big weed problem in an area make sure to get rid of them, don't just till them in. Otherwise they will just grow back. You can also have your soil tested to see what nutrients you need to add to help the grass grow. You can see if there is someone that does hydroseeding near you. The grass comes up really fast.

[sjgreen6]

Make very sure you know where things in the yard are buried before you go charging around with the tiller. Even if you aren't going deep you can easily chew up your cable line if you have one.

[chuckie669]

^ that's a good point. In my area we were required to have the lines marked inground before even putting up a fence. The city did it for free