Project Showcase · Mannheim
Stripping and Re-Sodding a 3,500 sq ft Mannheim Backyard
A 3,500 sq ft Mannheim backyard stripped with a sod cutter, topsoiled, hand-raked and re-sodded over two days.
Project Briefing
This large Mannheim backyard, set among mature trees behind a long, multi-level wood deck, had a thin, patchy lawn with brown dead patches and broadleaf weeds. Rather than repair it piecemeal, our crew stripped all 3,500 sq ft with a sod cutter and hauled the old lawn away in a dump trailer heaped above its sides. Fresh topsoil was spread over the stripped ground and hand-raked into a smooth, even bed. New sod was then laid in offset rows, cut cleanly to the curved garden beds, the deck and the chain-link side fence, and rolled firm, and the full strip-out and rebuild took two days. See how we approach sod installation across Kitchener and area.
Thin, Patchy and Weedy
On the first morning, the view from the mulched bed toward the shed and back fence shows patches of straw-coloured grass scattered across the lawn, with weeds mixed through it. Two crew members are already at work with the sod cutter by the deck stairs.
Fresh Topsoil, Spread by Hand
By mid-afternoon on day one, dark topsoil sits in a row of mounds on the pale, freshly cleared ground. A swath has been pulled out toward the shed, and a crew member stands on it, rake in hand.
A Full New Backyard Lawn
Mid-morning on day two, new sod reaches from the chain-link fence across to the shed and runs up to the deck and the plantings at its base. Faint seam lines still show, and a sprinkler is watering the lawn in.
What It Took to Lift and Replace a Mannheim Lawn
Shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows handled plenty of this job, but three larger pieces of equipment stand out in its photographs, each matched to one stage: lifting the old grass, hauling it away and settling new sod onto fresh topsoil.
A Walk-Behind Sod Cutter
The machine was already running at 7:40 a.m. on the first day. Its blade slices under the grass and its roots, freeing the old lawn in strips. Taking the old grass away, instead of working it into the soil, keeps rotting roots and thatch from ending up beneath the new lawn.
A Tandem-Axle Dump Trailer
Wheelbarrow loads of the lifted lawn went up a mesh ramp into a black tandem-axle trailer, parked on grass beside a stand of trees. Wooden boards fitted along the top of its steel sides added height, so the old grass piled up inside the trailer instead of ending up under the new soil.
A Drum Lawn Roller
At about 6:30 p.m. on day one, a crew member walked the roller over the newly laid sod while raked topsoil still waited at the back of the yard. A roller’s weight settles each piece against the topsoil and closes small air gaps underneath, so new roots grow into soil rather than air.
Removal, Topsoil, Sod: The Order of Work in Mannheim
The work ran over two September days, and the photographs show a clear order: the old lawn came out, topsoil went down over the bare ground, and sod followed.
Cutting Out the Old Lawn
Early passes ran along the deck side, where the sod cutter worked parallel lines past the stairs and a black garden urn. Lifted strips went to the trailer by wheelbarrow. By midday, bare ground stretched from the deck to the back fence, where the sod cutter stood by the back bed; the planted beds and the urn’s round pad were left in place.
A New Layer of Topsoil
By mid-afternoon, dark topsoil was going down over the pale, bare ground, first in mounds and then spread toward the beds and the back fence. The crew worked the surface with wide-headed landscape rakes, leaving fine swirls of tooth marks across it. New sod can only lie as flat as the ground it is laid on.
Laying, Rolling and Watering
By early evening, sod was going down by hand from wheelbarrow loads, set in a running bond and shaped to follow the edge of the mulched bed, with a drum roller close behind. The last strips, by the shed and beside the deck stairs, went down the next morning; by mid-morning the lawn was complete and a sprinkler was watering it in.
PROJECT GALLERY
Two Days in a Mannheim Backyard
Shot on site across both days: the worn lawn and the sod cutter on the first morning, a heaped trailer before noon, topsoil and rakes through the afternoon, new sod and the roller that evening, then the finished lawn the next morning.
Want the Same for Your Mannheim Lawn?
For a lawn in Mannheim or west Kitchener that patching won’t fix, request a free on-site estimate for a complete strip-out and rebuild. For a ballpark before we visit, our sod installation cost calculator prices a lawn from your own measurements.