DIY How To Repair bumpy yard, lawn leveling with sand or soil. COMPLETE GUIDE

Bumpy lawn!? 6 Easy Steps to Leveling a Yard. My Lawn leveling Quick Guide will help you on your leveling journey.

Products used in todays video
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🛒 Propeat 17.0.4
🛒Sun Joe Scarifier 15 inch model
🛒Sun Joe Scarifier and dethatcher (REQUIRES 12Gauge Extension Cord)
🛒 12gauge 100ft extension cord
🛒 Thatch Rake
🛒 Levelawn
🛒 Landscape Rake
🛒 Bow Rake

The best time to level a lawn is spring and late summer as the grass is growing vigerously. You can level a lawn and fix a bumpy yard anytime the grass is actively growing. Find a time when there are 3 days of no rain.

You'll need a few materials ie. wheel barrow, bow rake, levelawn or landscape rake, flat pan shovel, and a lawn dethatcher like a dethatching rake / sun joe dethatcher / power rake machine.
1. Measure your lawn
- So you know how much product / soil to purchase.
2. Choose the right leveling soil
- sand / top soil must be screened. Inform the company your purpose is to level a lawn. Tell them upfront that you can't use soil that has debris like rocks or gravel. If you get a load with rocks, gravel, wood chips purchase a screen at home depot/lowes to manually filter.
- for smoothing or leveling only, i recommend using 1 ton of sand per 1000 sq ft of lawn area. Sand to be screened 2mm or finer. Commonly called playground sand or leveling sand.
- for amending soil / lawn aerification
- clay soils - sand 2mm or finer
- Sand soils / sandy loam - 50/50 blend topsoil w/sand at 1 ton per 1000 sq ft.
Lawns that are somewhat bumpy and aerating add 1 ton of soil per 1000 sq ft plus 10%
Lawns that are very bumpy, and aerating add 1 ton of soil per 1000 sq ft plus 20%

- Raising the height of an area- Recommend purchasing a soil that best matches what you have. For clay, use top soil. For sand, use sand or sandy loam.
- estimate the height you intend to raise. measure the sq ft of the area. google, top soil calculator. choose the type of soil and input your measurements.
3. Mow the lawn down to 1"
- the purpose of this is to allow the sand to pass through.
4. Remove surface debris
- Use a power rake, sun joe dethather or a manual dethatching rake. I recommend purchasing a sun joe dethatcher. Makes the job much easier.
- optional service - lawn aeration
- minimum two passes, one verticle pass and one horizontal pass. I recommend removing the plugs off the grass afterward.
5. Fertilize the lawn
- Apply 1lbs of Nitrogen per 1000 sq ft. I recommend a fertilizer with the first number on the bag between 17 and 34. The application rates on the fertilizer bag will determine the rate. I prefer using the Propeat 17-0-4 at 5lbs per 1000 sq ft.
- Optional service- soil conditioner. soil conditioners are a combination of calcium and humates. The calcium helps keep the clay / soil open and the humates help slough sediments off the roots which is why they call is a soil conditioner / enhancer.
6. spread the sand / soil to the lawn
- distribute the sand on the lawn. Fill and load a wheel barrow up with sand and take the sand to the furthest point in the yard. Either dump the sand in piles and use your bow rake to distribute the sand or you can throw the sand by using a flat pan shovel (ginja perferred method). Apply between .25" to .5" of sand broadcast on the surface of the lawn. Best to test a small section first to ensure you do not over apply the sand / soil.
If the sand is not dry, which it most likely won't be, wait 24 hours before massaging the sand into the ground. Use a levelawn (ginja preferred) or a landscape rake to massage the sand into the ground. I find it best to use the levelawn or landscape rake 4 different directions, in each area, when using the levelawn. This helps make sure the sand / soil is distributed properly.
- optional service - grass overseed.
- I recommend overseeding at 2-3lbs of grass seed per 1000 sq ft. Top dressing with peat moss highly recommended after seed application. Keep seed damp for 2 to 3 weeks minimum during the germination process.

[tre]

I’ve been watching videos about leveling all week and I have to stay, this has been the best one yet by leaps and bounds!
Thank you 🙏🏽

[curtismartinez]

Everything you need in a short and concise video. How much sand/loam, what product for what you’re doing, what you need for tools. Boom.
Can’t wait to throw my back out actually doing the work!
Great video!

[Analyzer]

Got to love these videos with no mention of price at all....about $2, 500 later you will have a nice lawn. The sand/soil alone for my lawn at 14, 000 Sq ft. Is close to $700. That's not counting grass seed, fertilizer, watering 3 tImes a day or any tools a person might not have. More discussion is needed in the lawn community about what these projects actually cost per 1, 000 square feet. It's not fun to talk about but people need to known what they are getting themselves into.

[thomasfoster]

Man, you broke that down perfectly. Thanks. I just got a yard older cupple, which is needing my help with level their backyard

[rondalee]

Great job! And the google maps measuring tool...awesome tip!

[mykaljz]

Got a thumbs up just for that Google maps measuring tip. Kudos!

[jakewinder]

Great video. I just started a landscaping business and its my second year. I don’t want to miss out on these spring lawn repair jobs.

[EuroYardService]

Wow, this is the mother of all lawn leveling how to's! Awesome :)

[MagnumVideos]

You are so good at this stuff. My lawn is terribly bumpy in spots so I need to do something like this. Soon.

[bradleyrounds]

I've said it before, I'll say it again you ARE A GOD.
After ya get it all raked in or using the leveler, how bout watering it in. Got about another month up here, before I see green on the Northside.

[jmax]

I've been putting this off for too long... time to give Geneva Rock a call and get them to dump some sand on the driveway. Thanks for the great content! I need to pick up some Pro-Peat as well. My lawn just never looks all that great, but I think it's in part to a crappy sprinkler system that I need to fix as well. Anyway, thanks for helping us all out!

[BenNawrath]

Great idea going over it with the 'Joe AFTER you rake out the sand/soil. I'll remember that...

[neilrazdan]

I have a townhome with roughly about 20 x 20 backyard with grass. It's a small yard, but with too many grading issues. First, there is a natural slope, not huge slope, but enough to flow the rainwater from left side the wall to the right . About 20 years ago, we had our deck built, and built a patio of equal size below the deck. Over the years that one front right corner of the patio sank a bit around the corner post of the deck. On top of all this mess, I have an elongated bunp in the lawn about 5 feet away from edge of the patio, parallel to the patio. The bump is high enough to need dug about 2-3 inch and is about 3 - 4 feet long. The whole structure is so that the rain water flows down from left to right and makes mud at that sunken corner of the patio. I want to sort of regrade the lawn, so that that bump goes away, the level of the lawn is raised, a bit, filling the sunken corner, so that the water flows away from the patio. But I have to be very careful about how much I raise the level, so the patio doesn't need to be raised above the patio door. My initial thought was to shave off that bump, and transfer that soil to fill the sunken corner. If I raise the level of the lawn, it means I will have to raise the patio up a bit, and I can't go above the door base.. I have thought and thought, and made palns in the head, but nothing seems to come to a solution.. Any suggestions? I will appreciate a lot.

[gwsloan]

Thanks Brother for the excellent video. We live in the Southeast Tennessee area north of Chattanooga. We recently built a home and getting a consistent, halfway decent lawn in has been nothing less than a nightmare. It's a tad late in the season is tackle this project now but it will certainly come in handy come early spring. Looks like yer somewhere near the beach in Southern Cal; palm trees, sail boats and the snow cap San Bernardino Mountains in the background. Anyway, thanks again...God bless

[rustyfan]

Once again great vid and great info, I just started stockpiling all the stuff I need for this falls leveling and overseeding project, and researching bulk topsoil delivery companys near me

[mikekosar]

Amending the soil…🫡
Definitely great advice…!!
Say calcium, potash, potassium
Granular’s are something that
I decided to add to my regiment..

[costanovo]

You are definitely recording this video from Brazil, I see and I can't unsee it LOL...

[elkskiutah]

Great video production. Can't wait to see your yard this June with the new grass hitting full stride.

[Aerialphotovito]

Great tips here love the way you break everything down G!

[DanTheLawnMan]

Goal next year to level the crap out of my lawn. Good info in this one.