Real Grass Installation In Springvale

Supplied and laid, expect an average of $15 to $28 per square metre depending on the variety, with Sir Walter buffalo at the upper end and kikuyu at the lower. Ground preparation is the part that varies most and adds an average of $8 to $15 per square metre if an existing lawn has to be sprayed out and removed and underlay imported. A standard 100 square metre backyard with full preparation averages $2,200 to $3,800. We quote turf and preparation separately so you can see exactly what a cheaper quote is leaving out. Every job is unique, so your written quote follows the measure.

Turf needs 50 to 100 millimetres of good sandy loam underlay over a prepared base, not the compacted clay or builder's spoil left after construction. The existing lawn should be sprayed out and removed rather than tilled in, because couch and kikuyu regrow through new turf from tiny fragments of runner. The area then gets rotary hoed, screeded flat with falls away from the house, and any hollows corrected before laying. A starter fertiliser goes down just before the rolls, and then the first watering needs to be deep and immediate.

You can, and the laying itself is not difficult - it is the preparation, the levelling and the timing that catch people out. Turf is cut to order and needs to go down within about 24 hours, so a pallet sitting in the sun over a weekend while you are still rotary hoeing is dead turf. Getting the level right is the other trap, because low spots that hold water and a lawn sitting proud of the paving are both very hard to fix afterwards. If you are doing it yourself, hire a rotary hoe and a roller, bring in proper underlay, and book the turf delivery only once the base is finished and screeded.

Keep off it as much as possible for the first two weeks while the roots strike into the underlay. Light foot traffic is generally fine after about two weeks, and normal family use including kids and dogs after three to four weeks. The test is simple: lift a corner of a roll gently, and if it resists and feels anchored, it has knitted. Watering matters more than anything else in that period - daily deep watering for the first fortnight, particularly if it goes in over a Melbourne summer.

Almost always water or preparation. Under-watering in the first fortnight is the single most common cause, because fresh turf has no root system yet and dries out fast, especially over sandy soils around Carrum Downs, Skye and Sandhurst. The second cause is laying over compacted clay or builder's spoil with no underlay, so the roots have nothing to strike into and the lawn thins out after the first month. Turf that sat on the pallet too long before laying is the third. Getting the base right and watering properly for two weeks solves the vast majority of failures before they start.

Buffalo, and specifically a DNA certified variety such as Sir Walter, is the most shade tolerant of the common warm-season turfs and will generally hold in about four hours of direct sun a day. Couch needs full sun and will thin badly in shade, and kikuyu is not much better. Below about two to three hours of sun, no warm-season turf will really thrive, and we will tell you that rather than take the job and watch it fail. In those spots, synthetic turf, a shade-tolerant groundcover or a paved area is a better use of your money.