Lawn Problem

[paddyd]

Hi all,

I'm new on here. I need abit of advice regarding my lawn. I moved into my new house about 18months ago. My lawn in my backgarden is a rolled turf one. I watered the lawn everyday for quite a while and even put some seeds on it to help it grow.

We still have problems with it being patchy in places and the edges are just brown and never grow. Being a new development i asked my builder about the lawn and i was informed it would take a while to mature.

18 months on and i decided to put a shed in the garden, so i dug up part of the lawn to put a base down for the shed. I lifted some grass and noticed it was like a medium gravel below the turf, no top soil anywhere. Also the turf was water logged and the gravel was bone dry. I dug an area of 3.5m x 2.5m for the shed base, i never saw one worm in the turf and no top soil, i did lift a piece of plywood lying below the turf tho!!!!

Again i've questioned the builder on the way the turf was put down but still informed its ok. Am i right in saying there should be no gravel but top spoil below the turf, at least 4"????

Sorry for the long post but this is really starting to annoy me and i just want some advice as too how the turf should have been laid.

Many thanks for taking the time to read.

[hrhofmann]

Take some photos and confront the builder, he is a scumbag. You are

100% on the money.

[David Hare-Scott]

Building sites are often landscaped at the last minute with rolled turf and potted plants, especially in project homes or where it is part of the contract and the builder wants the owner to sign off so they can be gone. Builders rarely know or care anything about landscaping, they get somebody to do it for a price.

It is very common for no real preparation to go into this and for the landscaping to cover a multitude of sins, you might find all kinds of rubbish buried there from before and during the construction phase. I know of a case where nothing would grow in a certain spot in the garden and some digging revealed a large pile of plaster and cement just below the surface that made the soil poor and alkaline. Grass will never prosper if it is just turf layed over rubbish or impermeable soil. If it hasn't established after 18 months it isn't going to.

I don't know your circumstances or what you were promised so I cannot say if you should remonstrate with the builder or suck it up and fix it yourself. However here is a hint: the builder has done this many times before and if what is there even vaguely looks like what the contract says the chances are he will not budge unless you have some serious leverage.

David