using sand as an underlayment for a flat lawn

[ccdck20hst]

I have recently been doing work on my front yard here in western Connecticut. The old lawn has shallow dips and a long five to eight inch two foot wide or so mini gully running about forty feet down the lawn to the driveway. The total area of this part of the lawn is about 70 X 90. For various reasons at times I drive my cars, light utility trailors and CK20 over this area of the lawn at various times of the year. Right now when I cut the grass with my lawn tractor in several places the shallow dips cause scalping of the lawn and the mini gully jostles the tractor as I mow over it (also spills my beverage if I have one in my hand!) My soil in this area of the lawn is hard and seems to have a lot of clay in it. If I spread loam to fill in thse imperfections I reckon it will just be easily squezed out due to the hard surface underneath and vehicle trafific on top. Soo my thought is to put in a thin 2-7 inch layer of sand under or mixed in with loam, in the shallow dips and the mini gully to aviod unstable soil when I grow grass on the new smooth lawn. I figure sand would easily and quickly fill the dips and the gully. I want the finished lawn to slope (it has to, the drop is about four feet over a distance of eight feet or so. I will work on the drainage problem with a pipe or a swale) Is there a down side to using sand as a "leveler" like this? Any thoughts on this? I do not want to mess this up. Thanks.

That is a drop of about four feet over eighty (80) feet not 8 feet.

 

[jeffinsgf]

4 in 8 feet, I was going to tell you to forget sand. 4 in 80, I think you'll be alright. I am doing something similar, but I'm using compost and sand at about a 60/40 mix. I have had a couple of my patches wash out in heavy rains, but most of them have done fine and the grass has filled in over them very quickly.

 

[Lindblom Lawn Care]

I wouldn't use all sand, maybe loam with a bit more sand would be fine, if it is a heavy clay. Fill in the low spots, seed it. That should hold it.

 

[HGM]

I used sand in one area of my yard and it filled in nicely.. My latest project is spreading some topsoil and it seems to be working well too. I would be a bit concerned of a steep slope because it would tend to wash out with rain..

 

[Onthesauk]

Believe golf courses have used sand for years to level the greens. They put on thin layers, rake it level, extra fertilizer and water it in. Do it as often as needed to get it aa level as you want. Don't believe they even bother to overseed.

 

[ccdck20hst]

Thank you all for your replies. I guess others have had good luck using sand. Based on the responses I figure I will use a mix of loam and sand in most places. In the deepest spots that need leveling I may start off with just sand for the first several inches - on the bottom.

 

[Farwell]

If you add sand a little bit at a time you will get better results. Add 1/4 inch of sand at a time. Wait until grass grows up through the sand you added and is well established then add another 1/4 inch. Do this until you get the level you are looking for. It takes time but does work.
Farwell

 

[EddieWalker]

For shallow lifts, sand should be fine. The problem I've had with sand is it doens't hold water and the grass doesn't do well in it. There needs to be something there to hold the moisture.

Eddie