Fixing a terrible lawn from start to finish // Installing a new lawn

Do you have a terrible lawn? In today's video, we transform a poor clay lawn with terrible drainage. This is your average new build style lawn that was in before. Full of rocks, concrete, clay that lead to a poor lawn
Watch the entire process from start to finish
How to install drains and what stones to use for drainage, with a pro tip for keeping the pipe work in the ground.
How to get the most use of the material on-site, recycling the old material to save time and money
Levelling the lawn, the best rootzone to make a lawn from, the best seed to use and everything in-between. It's a must-watch for a lawncare fan!
I teamed up with landscaper Ross from Enhance NI for this project and would like to thank him for his help.
It was challenging to make this video as it ran on for days and had to fit around my own work.
If you want to see more projects like this, please comment.
The best place to get grass seed and fertiliser - www.bostonseeds.com
The stone and rootzone were supplied by - irwin-aggregates.com
And the tools on hire came from - www.balloohire.com
Enhance NI - / enhancenilandscaping
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00:00 Fixing a terrible lawn
00:17 What's happening
00:40 Time to start ripping up the lawn
01:04 Digging out the drains
02:36 The problem with new build lawns
04:39 Drainage Installation
06:43 Screening and Material Preparation
09:18 How to find the right level and fill in low spots
09:46 The biggest trade secret for building lawns
12:15 Getting the rootzone out
13:42 Levelling the lawn

[@adriandumitru2584]

the pipe will get full of roots if it doesn't get wrapped with garden fabric/geotextile

[@weepz]

would grass roots go down that deep?

[@user-xn7cj3tv9g]

Not a chance. People who do that have been "bought" by clever marketing I am afraid!

[@enhancenilandscaping7080]

If the roots reach that deep we would be very pleased! Thank you for your concern, but the bare pipe is more than sufficient. I have lawn drains fitted for 10 years+ and they are still working well.

[@davinmullan]

Another great and informative video. I would love to see a follow up video when the newly laid lawn is looking lush and green

[@OorOaksey]

I really enjoyed this video and all the hard work to sort the lawn area. Everything makes sense and so informative. I hope we see the full end result too. Keep up the good work guys.

[@enhancenilandscaping7080]

Thank you for your lovely comment. 😊

[@djoverbock3836]

Super nice content! Thank you! keep it up!

[@Premier_lawns_official]

@@djoverbock3836 keep an eye out for the follow up

[@leasimms4495]

Installed French drainage this year. Great work guys. Think that lawn could have done with top up sprinklers.

[@enhancenilandscaping7080]

Unfortunately we didn't have the budget for a sprinkler system, so the hose will have to do on this lawn. Not that we need to water often in Northern Ireland. 🌧️🌧️😅

[@roblyons86]

Great video. Doing a similar DIY job myself. Could you advise 1/ how far apart should land drains be ? 2/ to what depth when using a 100mm land drain ? 3/ how do you calculate amount of pea gravel required ? Trencher looks a great job, Would love to hire one, saves a lot of messing with a digger ! You hardly know of any companies around Dublin area who hire ?

[@Premier_lawns_official]

Just ring around... The easiest way to answer all those questions is chatgpt...

[@LawnRight]

Superb mate. Did the drains run to a soakaway or to an actual drain? How much depth of fill and rootzone wa there from the pea gravel to the final finished height ? I've never done his, and these are question I wish I knew, as well as how to design a drainage system..

[@normandebeaches]

very interesting video with all the drainage put into the lawn is there a risk of dry heave doing something similar but on a smaller scale

[@bidders77]

Looking good ..shame there's loads of weeds on the neighbours side

[@Premier_lawns_official]

Bidders I'm going to have to remove this comment pal, a couple of years ago I did a video and the fella that owned the house made me take down the video as someone was speaking I'll of the next door ne

[@rajchoudhury5130]

Geniuses. Excellent hard work

[@MrSBGames]

Surprised to see a new build with that much outside space... Generally they give them postage stamp gardens to cram more houses in

[@suitedaces1989]

Well they needed somewhere to dump the building waste

[@Jordan.E]

Good video Robbie... My question is what are the benefits of a drainage system vs digging the lot and starting again with better quality soil (besides cost?

[@stevesedgwick5789]

Great video, what type/size of sand are you using, before seeding, please?

[@justsomeguy7993]

How many inches of rootzone were added overall? Doesn't look an awful lot over the subsoil and pea gravel.

[@jimhutchinson6544]

Yes I would like to know how much root zone was applied in inches? I am reading 1 to 2 inches is the normal?

[@dvsfreek]

Quick question.. did ya drop the grass seed into place on top of the 50/50 then level with the lawn lute??.

[@Premier_lawns_official]

Yes 👍

[@anthonyhall8793]

@anthonyhall8793 • 1 day ago Hi Robbie and team. Great video, but I may have missed the prequal? Why do this, how would you work out where to put the drainage and how much? Given the plant on site, would you also consider installing an irrigation system?

[@Premier_lawns_official]

Not much need for irrigation, we live in Northern Ireland I will try and add your question into a later video about working out the rates

[@stevesedgwick5789]

What size sand is used in the “root zone” please ?

[@johns1646]

Subscriber from over here in America! Are these lawn drains normal in the UK or just this specific area/property bc of the peculiarities of the topography? Do most residents with this size lawn find it to be necessary to keep moss at a minimum?

[@floatybisquit]

We are only just getting into land drains over here, I watch Gatecity drainage and those boys know how to drain away water.

[@floatybisquit]

These perforated tubes will be silted up in a year!

[@westy8225]

My relatively small lawn is absolutely full of Poa Annua and I'm thinking that next Spring I may fut the effort in and re-seed. Am I going to have a problem if I cut the grass as low as possible, spray with weedkiller, scarify hard and then top dress with a mix (as yours, 50:50) and then seed? I've heard the Poa seeds can stay in the sub-soil for years, so may return.

[@Premier_lawns_official]

It will be a waste of time redoing it like that

[@tomp8941]

@@Premier_lawns_official Why not advise him??

[@semiretiredrussell8997]

Where did you run the end of the drains too?

[@stevenbelcher5658]

Once poa is in then it's best to redo it. Even when redoing it if poa is in the area then it will germinate in the new soil as the new seed establishes. You can dig down as far as you want but poa will end up in the new soil. If you seed with fine fescue then it stands out when it's not establishes itself due to it's increased growth speed and coarseness. Young poa looks like rye so a lot of people don't notice it spreading until it establishes itself and puts out non stop seed heads . At that point it's too late. Also once established fine fescue is incredibly dense and blocks out spaces for poa to germinate. You should not see any patches other than the occasional isolated poa plant usually not even rooted into the soil. You need a lot of sun and to cut 10-30mm to get the density though.

[@westy8225]

@@stevenbelcher5658 Thanks, that's really helpful advice.

[@nialstewart8263]

Where do the drains lead to?

[@Premier_lawns_official]

They go into a bit of land owned by the client

[@SJ_ArbGM]

Must of re mortgaged the house for this............