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New build house - very soft ground under lawn

mikepingersmikepingers Posts: 1
in Problem solving
I bought a new build house in February, and we had the garden turfed as part of the package.  The actual grass itself is very healthy and fine (which I know is a rarity for new builds!), but the ground under the lawn is incredibly soft and bumpy.

Without knowing anything about ground preparation before turfing, it feels like the ground under the lawn hadn't been compacted or levelled at all, and just walking over it you can feel under-foot how soft the earth is under the turf.

Is there anything I can do other than wait for it to eventually naturally compact over the course of a year or two?  Maybe hire a roller or something?

Thanks in advance!  And not looking for any responses along the lines of getting the builder back in to sort, as I know they've done everything they're technically supposed to (depth of top soil, health of turf etc.)

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think it's a case of Keep of the Grass until it's firmed up.  It may take two or three months.  The weather's been so cold that the roots won't have grown much into the soil, and what with all the wet as well you're lucky it's not turned into porridge.  

    Don't roll it ... you'll risk rolling big ruts into it.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Cottage CompostCottage Compost Posts: 496
    How lumpy?  Hard or soft lumps?

    Developers will often hide building rubble under lawns, cover with a light layer of topsoil and then turf.  The rubble will usually get wacked before the topsoil goes on.  Perhaps it didn't happen this time.  Turf on new builds will often look great for a couple of years or so but when they have exhausted the goodness in the thin soil layer they then start to suffer.

    Soft and lumpy suggests it's full of air and lumps of brick rubble to me.

    I would want to carefully dig out a small but deep hole somewhere (a foot square'ish) and see what's hiding underneath as deep as you can manage.   If you find building rubble then i would dig it all out and start again.
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