Tips for Leveling Your Own Yard
An unlevel lot can be hard to landscape, impossible for kids to play sport on and unattractive. Luckily, there are ways that you can level your lawn. The fastest and easiest way to do this is to hire someone who provides excavation services, but there are also options you can explore on your own.
Cut, Peel, and Fix Small Depressions and Swells
If you have small depressions or swells in your lawn, you can address them by cutting a large x-shape in your turf in the affected areas. Then, peel back the turf. This should leave the turf intact whilst revealing the ground beneath it.
To deal with a depression, add fill dirt. To deal with a bump, shovel dirt out of that area. Level the area by hand, and then put the sod back into place. You may need to plant some grass seeds along the seams where you have cut the sod for your minimi excavation.
Excavate or Fill Large Unlevel Spots
For large unlevel spots throughout your yard or if you don't have turf in place, you may want to take a bigger approach. Find a reference point such as a spot on your foundation and pull a string out from that point to the raised or depressed area that you want to fix. Then, make sure the string is level using a spirit level or a laser level, and measure the ground up to the string.
Do this for all the problematic points throughout your yard. Then, hire a small excavator or dig by hand to remove soil in the high areas, and take that soil over to your low areas. You may want to measure repeatedly throughout this process to ensure you are getting the most level results.
When you move soil into the low areas, make sure to tamp it down. Otherwise, it will settle over time, and you'll have another depression in that area. Before using your excavation equipment, you may want to find out where the pipes and wires are in your yard because hitting them can derail your project.
Fill With a Combination of Sand and Compost
If you aren't doing a lot of excavating, you may not have fill dirt for low area. To deal with these areas, you may want to use a combination of sand and compost. Simply smooth that over your yard with a rake.
To get help with this process or to ensure a perfectly even yard, contact a company that provides excavation services. They can do everything from the measuring to the removing dirt and filling holes for you.