Project Overview
- Working Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 2 days
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Estimated Cost: $50 to $100
A yard is the best option for playing games, enjoying a barbecue, or simply relaxing in the heat of the sun. However, it also has an important role when it comes to drainage. If a yard is not leveled properly, water from rain and melting snow may flow back toward the home’s foundation, where it can damage the concrete and seep through the walls into the basement.
With this in mind, it’s important to ensure a yard is level to save your home. Additionally, unprofessional leveling can damage gardens, trees, and landscaping. Divots and dents can allow standing water, an ideal location for mosquitoes and other pests to reproduce. Prevent these troubles by knowing how to level a yard with this straightforward guide.
Importance of Having a Level Yard
Leveling the yard might not look like a pressing issue, but if the yard remains dented or slopes back toward the house, it can lead to serious concerns, such as flooding. Similarly, holes, bumps, and divots in the yard affect the look of the lawn and can destroy the gardens, trees, and landscaping.
An unlevel yard can cause standing water problems and pest problems and prevent the installation of new sewer lines, water lines, or a pool. It can also impact the health of the lawn, so it’s mandatory to take action to correct minor leveling issues before standing water and soil erosion can make the problem more difficult to resolve.
How to Know If a Yard Is Unleveled
In most cases, just looking out the window won’t be enough to tell whether the yard is level or if there are dips, divots, or other grading issues. Although standing water is an instant indicator of a problem, this sign isn’t always there. Homeowners can measure the yard’s grade with the help of a hammer, a level, two 3-foot wooden stakes, and about 100 feet of string.
Starting from home and driving one stake about a foot into the soil. Then, measure 100 feet away from the house and drive the second stake a foot into the soil. Attach the string to the first steak and run the string to the second stake. Use a level to find out if the string is level, and attach it to the second stake. Measure the distance from the string to the ground.
Ideally, the ground will have a slight slope away from the house, measuring about 1/4 inch in depth per foot, which reaches about 2 feet in depth per 100 feet away from the house. Yard unevenness can range from mild to severe, so before trying to level the yard, it’s a good idea to identify the severity of the issue.
- Bit unevenness means there are shallow bumps with low spots that are typically less than 1 inch in depth. This situation is relatively simple to handle by treating the lawn with a topdressing mix to even out the yard.
- Moderate unevenness indicates the yard contains many small divots and depressions, including bumps or dips measuring 1 to 3 inches. Fixing a moderately unlevel yard is more problematic but not beyond the ability of the average DIYer.Grow the grass in affected areas and remove or add soil as required. Then, treat the lawn with a topdressing mix and use a rake to level out the yard.
- Severe unevenness takes place when there are substantial grading problems with the yard—depressions and bumps that often cross 3 inches in height or depth. Generally, it’s best to hire a crew of landscaping professionals to level a severely uneven yard since it may require excavation, regrading, sod replacement, or reseeding.
Before Leveling the Yard
It’s important to plan the right time to level the yard. Attempting to level the yard when there is a high level of rain or other precipitation increases the risk of soil erosion. Similarly, if you decide to level the yard in the middle of summer or at the beginning of winter, new seed or sod may have difficulty growing. The best time to level the yard is late spring or early fall.
Use a soil test kit to determine the soil type, which helps when deciding on the best topsoil mix. For soil that contains a high clay content, use compost only. Other soil types can be treated with the help of a mixture of topsoil, sand, and compost.
Water the lawn to slightly dampen the soil before trying to level the yard, making it easier to lift and manipulate the soil with a shovel or rake. Also, prep the yard by mowing the lawn and using a thatch rake or dethatcher to remove the thatch.
What You’ll Need
Equipment and tools
- Shovel
- Wheelbarrow
- Rake
- Push broom
- Garden hose
- Lawn sprinkler
Materials
- Sand
- Topsoil
- Compost
- Grass seed
Instructions
How to Balance the Yard by Eliminating Bumps and Divots
1. Make a topdressing mix.
Before starting this process, mow and dethatch the lawn. It’s also a decent idea to implement enough water to moisten the soil. Once these preparations are complete, make a topdressing mix suited to the soil type.
- High-clay soil should be treated with compost only.
- Loamy, fine, and soft soil needs an even topdressing mix of topsoil and compost.
- Other soils can be treated with a balanced mixture of topsoil, sand, and compost.
2. Take the soil to the problem areas of the lawn.
Any low spots deeper than 1 inch or bumps higher than 1 inch need the soil lifted to fix the issue. Use the blade to cut through the sod, driving the blade about 2 to 3 inches into the ground to get under the grass roots.
Smarty dried up the sod, finding the depression or bump underneath.
3. Fill the holes and fix the bumps in the yard.
Use the topdressing mix to level out the yard. To correct bumps, use your shovel to remove extra soil. Transfer the extra into the wheelbarrow in case you require additional soil to repair holes in the yard.
If you are required to correct the slope of the lawn around the house, apply the topdressing mix to the affected areas to increase the height of the ground surrounding the home.
Severely uneven yards with serious grading problems—holes deeper than 3 inches and bumps taller than 3 inches—should be repaired by a professional landscaping company.
4. Spread the soil mixture across the yard.
When you have completed occupying any particular depressions and correcting bumps throughout the yard, the next step is to spread the topdressing mix level across the entire lawn. Apply the topdressing mix at a depth of about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch. Adding excessive amounts could choke the grass, so be smart with the amount you use.
Use a rake to spread the topdressing mix across the lawn, working the mix into any slight divots or pockets remaining in the yard. Go with a pushbroom and massage the topdressing into the soil at the base of the turf grass.
5. Water the lawn.
You can water the lawn using a garden hose and lawn sprinkler, or you can prefer a spray nozzle and attach it to the hose and manually water the lawn. The water supports the topdressing mix, settles into the soil, and fills air gaps.
6. Reapply the soil mix as needed.
Keep watering the yard regularly over the next few days. Check for any signs of standing water that could showcase that the yard is still unlevel. Reapply the topdressing mix in 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch layers as needed to correct any smaller issues, but wait until the grass starts to actively grow. Look at the first top-dressing application.
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Yard maintenance tips
After leveling the yard, it’s necessary to prevent future problems. If you find any signs of standing water you may have missed, take action to correct the issue quickly. Beyond this, keep up with proper lawn care and maintenance, including mowing the lawn, applying topsoil, and raking up excess grass cuttings, leaves, and other yard debris.
Make the lawn airy to improve the health of the yard. If there are areas that are significantly damaged, it may be best to change the soil on the lawn. Water the lawn consistently after replacing sod or reseeding, and avoid walking on the lawn for about 3 weeks. Apply a thin layer of topsoil and water regularly to initiate growth. Repeat this process until you have a level yard full of vegetation.