i’m renting a newly renovated basement suite, they dug this out for my doorway and filled it with sand, the sand is making a giannnttt mess inside & out but i’m not sure the best way to go about making this into grass/something green. can i take this down a bit and put some sod over top? or would something like artificial grass be better? i don’t know anything about this kind of stuff and i know i have to keep in mind drainage and stuff..any ideas on how to turn this to grass on a budget?
by definietlyangel
33 Comments
Sand? POPPIES
You’ll need to remove a lot of that sand and bring in top soil fs
I have no good advice. I am curious how deep that is, it looks like maybe 12 inches or more depending on the original grade.
You cannot just slap sod over a pile of builder sand and expect a lawn. Grass needs nutrients and organic matter to root, and that sterile fill dirt has zero. If you try it, you will just have dead yellow sod sitting on top of a mud pit. Artificial turf is even worse because you need a compacted crushed stone base to make it drain right, otherwise it turns into a wet stinking carpet every time it rains.
First thing you have to do is shovel out enough of that sand so the final soil level sits well below your siding. If you trap dirt against your house, water will rot out the sill plate and flood your basement suite. Grade what is left so it pitches down and away from the foundation toward the fence. Once you have that slope locked in, bring in two inches of quality screened topsoil and lay your sod on that. Keep it watered until it roots.
Since you are a renter on a budget, turf might be way too much labor and cash. A fast alternative to stop the mess is laying down stepping stones packed in with coarse arborist wood chips. It solves the tracking issue immediately and handles drainage beautifully. If you want to see how that layout looks in your exact space before hauling wheelbarrows, run this photo through the GardenDream web app to map out a cheap constructible plan.
You’ll need to remove plenty of sand so that it’s level with the bottom of the fence. Then you’ll need to add top soil. From that point you can either lay turf or seed the area
This is insane on the owner’s part. The watering you would need to establish grass here will cause damage to the home since the soil has been piled up so high from the top of the footer. I take it you haven’t experienced a heavy rain yet. Might want to get some sandbags ready.
I would add way more sand, then start sprinkling gaderade everywhere .
Seed, light and water. Also check soil conditions and amend if necessary
I’d throw some square concrete blocks down and try to stop the sand from coming in the house some way.
Just a heads up . You could work your ass off here and still not have grass . Ask the landlord to fix it .
I have no idea why the sand is piled so high but maybe look into DIYing a floating deck instead of trying to do grass. If you Google “cheap DIY floating deck” there are some tutorials and ideas you can look through. Some people have used pallets.
Step 1: Level. You don’t want clumpy grass. Unless you like to roll your ankles
Step 2: Get compost/top soil from your local landscape company
Step C: Boatload of grass seed.
Step 4: Water. More water. More more water. More more more water
Step E: Wait
Step 6: Mow and wait some more to mow again
You could also go for an alternative ground cover. I’m a big fan of clover lawns. That would probably grow well on top of sand if you provide enough water. Crawling rosemary or thyme would probably do even better. They also hold up well to relative foot traffic. Rosemary may not be for you if you want to step on it barefoot though
What a mess. Explain the situation to the landlord. This isn’t a problem you should be tackling.
Artificial turf
Dirt
Get a roll of ground cover and some staples and cover the whole thing, that should help with tracking sand in and out. Then you can either sod the whole thing or get a bunch of top soil and seed it yourself
You can grow grass on sand, that’s what putting greens, and high level athletic fields are grown on. You’ll have a cec of nearly zero, and the inputs would be continuous, but it is 100% possible, likely not feasible. What climate?
Not a Pro, but I would take my time and dig some of the sand out over a few weekends. Once you get it lower, and I’m talking a good deal lower given how much of the fence is buried, you could put a paver path in with gravel in between the joints of the pavers, your house, and the fence. Google an image for reference.
You already want a base for that type of project, and I think sand will work (even though decomposed granite with sand on top would be better).
Lots of videos on YouTube for how to build a paver pathway. May want to consider that.
Dune grass?
i’d aim for granite chips and maybe some large pavers placed in a walkway. cheap and effective IMO
If it were me. I would not be making improvements to properties I don’t own. Especially if the owner cheaped out in the first place.
Mix in 2–4″ of compost + some topsoil into the top few inches, seed with tall fescue, and water more frequently (sand dries fast). Fertilize lightly but regularly.
Remove all sand replace with dirt mix fertilizer thrown on seeds water & wait.
Synthetic grass.
Put an ad out for free sand and have someone else come move it. There has to be a landscaper in the area that would need sand.
Get that dirt away from your foundation. Don’t let it within 4 inches of the siding. It will create moisture and rot your walls.
Plant clover
Bermuda or zoysia sod would grow on it easy
I couldn’t look away.
“According-Taro4835” had the most viable and logical advice: Lay down some large stepping pavers, spaced for good walking, and fill in with rough mulch (wood chips).
Otherwise, you would need to remove all of that sand and rubble in order to get the level back down to below the bottom of the fence (for reference) and hope you’ve got some useful dirt below that. Then you could think about growing something. Or putting down turf. I don’t see that as a viable way to go unless you’ve got a lot of cash to burn in order to pay somebody to take all the away.
You need to break down the area and essentially break down the projects.
1. Deal with the sand closer the house/foundation, remove as much as possible and add gravel if you so choose, for drainage and just to keep weed at bay, I’m talking 1′ or 2′ from the wall. If you form the area well, you can leave some sand at the bottom of the gravel. Don’t do round pea gravel. You can add light path when you have the fund.
2. The middle section could be a walk path, with stepping stone/concrete, running along the house. You can fill the gap with different color gravel or creeping thyme. You can separate each section with 2×4 to save money or those plastic edges from Amazon.
3. The third section is where you really need to get rid of the sand and expose dirt and then add manure and mulch, and then you can design your garden with the 3rd section as you like, it has good sun too.
If I am the landlord, and you show that you care this much for the property, I’ll be like: Sign a 25 year lease now. And I’ll bring pizza when rent is due.
Roll out some sod. Boom! Lawn.
Photoshop
Wait, you’re renting their basement out, and are planning to renovate their yard?