Home builder buried over old driveway and grass never seemed to grow well. If I use lots of topsoil over this concrete can I expect grass to grow? I did it out to see what I had and added drainage. If not, digging up concrete isn't in budget. What else could I do with this besides make another driveway?
by Old_Vermicelli_5310
12 Comments
Roots won’t go deep enough. Will die.
https://www.reddit.com/r/lawncare/s/r7qGgqG8TJ
You may get some grass to grow where the topsoil is thicker, but it will not be healthy and not survive very long if at all. It’ll look like a shitty patch of grass. Consider buying a sledgehammer and breaking up the concrete and moving it out in chunks yourself. That’s the cheap solution.
In your future I see a jack hammer, a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and a weekend.
And be a heat sink for sunlight, baking your grass from below.
Any ideas what to do with this area? Besides breaking up the concrete. It’s old thick concrete so sledgehammer is out.
Have you gotten quotes to have the concrete removed? Could be much less expensive than you expect
100% no. Might be ok on the upper side where you have some meat, but in general it’ll have a tough time between being roasted in the summer from the retained heat in the concrete and bad drainage. Is it just in the way? Don’t want to park a car or motorcycle or something there? It’s going to be a ton of work to remove.
If you don’t want a second driveway maybe some raised beds ?
it will always suck. Green grass in the summer is because grass roots grow deep, like many feet deep.
I have/had a concert pad that is connected to my house. About 12×12. Over time and fell apart and had no use. I didn’t want to jack hammer and remove all the concert so I got treated railroad ties and built a garden.
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Why not try to grow grass and see how it turns out? My father in law grew grass over concrete in his backyard and it turned out well. You would never know there here was concrete under the grass. He had two long strips on concrete he’s park his fishing boat on so the grass wouldn’t get damaged. Two strips each one about 2 feet wide and 15 feet long. He sold the boat and didn’t want to deal with tripping hazard as he got older. Bought a bunch of sod and rolled it over the concrete to blend in with the grass. He was fanatical with his lawn so he was always fertilizing and watering when it needed it.
Landscape it. Design a border around the existing lawn. Fill it in with stones. Put a large three tiered fountain in the center. Uplight the fountain.