Are you wondering how to install sod grass yourself? Want to understand what’s involved before you make that decision? Houston Grass Owner Michael Romine explains the steps in installing sod in this video. If you decide that you don’t have the time or the energy, we can arrange for professional sod installation services. Call us at 281-431-7441.
Every part of the project was a fabulous experience; ordering, scheduling, install, delivery, and clean up. Have followed the instructions, making sure grass is watered just 10 minutes every 2 days, and this weekend mowed it for the first time. I love to lay on it and just look to the sky! Will 100% recommend Houston Grass!!
Sandy M.
GatherUp ReviewSummary of How to Install Sod Grass
How to install sod? You know it partly depends on how much money you want to spend and or how important is it to you that it comes out perfect. There are some shortcuts that you can do, but the way that we say it ought to be done is if you have a piece of land, that is depending on how rough it is to begin with, whether or not you need to start with a box blade or how big the area it is where you’d start with a box blade or a sod cutter.
Preparation of Your Project Area
First thing you need to do is spray Roundup all over the whole area that you intend to lay grass on. You normally give it about 7 to 10 days, and if you see any green after 7 to 10 days, you need to spray those areas again.
Make sure that everything is dead to ensure that you don’t have any contamination from weeds in the future. If you just go out there and scrape off everything that’s green and then put the grass on top of it, you’re bound to get weeds in the future. That would be a big problem especially with the common Bermuda grass. It would come through the sod pieces you’ve installed more than likely.
So you spray it off real good and then you can either cut it down with a weed eater or use a sod cutter. Remove any vegetation that’s there. If it’s just light weeds, you could probably just take the weed eater and get away with doing that.
Once you remove all the vegetation, you need to put out some top soil to even up the surface. Removing the existing soil and adding topsoil all over your project area is always a good idea, but sometimes it’s just an unreasonable project to take on.
So make sure that the surface of your project area is incredibly smooth. Also make sure your drainage is good, because this is the time to take care of those things. Once the grass is out there, there’s no fixing the drainage. You’re kind of stuck with any drainage issues unless you spend a lot more money on tearing up and redoing grass.
How to Install Sod Pieces
When you’ve got everything smooth and looking good and clear of debris, then you want to lay the grass. Laying the grass is kind of the easy part. You just lay it down like tile. You cut it down, cut it away from the concrete maybe half to three quarters of an inch so that where the piece of grass lays along your sidewalks you don’t see any dirt.
Like I said, you just cut the dirt down away from the concrete, maybe with a flat shovel. Then you just lay the grass out there as tight as you can like tiles next to one another.
You don’t want any dirt exposed between the pieces of sod. If there is dirt exposed at the seams between the pieces of grass, the sun will hit there and germinate weed seeds that fall into that dirt. That will bring some unwanted weeds into your yard.
Watering Is Critical to Success
So get those pieces of grass as tightened up as you can and then after that the whole secret to planting grass is watering it. The first two or three days is the most critical, but the first couple of weeks are important too. During the hot summer months, watering after installation is especially critical. We strongly recommend that you follow the guidelines that we have.
Those first heavy watering will get rid of any air pockets under the sod pieces, and that’s a real important part of the process. The heavy watering and sealing the sod pieces to the ground underneath is sometimes the thing that people neglect to do. Those upfront waterings are critical when planting grass during the hot months of the year.
Begin Your Grass Installation with Sod from Houston Grass
At Houston Grass, we’re happy to offer advice or arrange for professional help to install our beautiful sod grass. Our owner, Michael Romine, grew up working in the grass business at his family farm in Bay City, Texas, so he knows what he’s talking about. We’re confident in the high quality of the grass we sell because our grass comes from that family farm. Call us at 281-431-7441.
So if you’re looking for St. Augustine grass, Zoysia grass or Bermuda grass with quality second to none, you’ll find it at Houston Grass.
We’re located just off Highway 6 a few miles east of Sienna Plantation and just a little to the west of the intersection with FM 521. We have plots of most of our grass varieties so if you’re unsure what variety you’d like, come on out to our office and do some barefoot testing!
