ᐅ Leveling Unevenness in Rolled Turf – Should You Use a Roller or Scarify?

Hello everyone,

We have had our turf – a sports and play lawn – installed for about 6 weeks now. The turf was laid on freshly spread nutrient-enriched soil. The whole process was carried out by a landscaping company. Unfortunately, the company abandoned the “construction site” after a dispute, so we can no longer ask them for advice on how to proceed.

Now to the “problem”: Our turf was laid on a very hot day in midday sun and watered for about 3 hours afterward. Since then, I have been watering the entire lawn every day for 1.5 to 2 hours. Despite what I believe is sufficient watering, we still have gaps between the rolls of turf in 3 or 4 places. I have filled these gaps with soil in the hope that they will close, and if necessary, I plan to reseed those areas.

What bothers us most is that when viewing the lawn from the terrace, it looks nice, even, and uniform. However, when walking on it or mowing, you can feel unevenness across the entire area (similar to potholes in asphalt). Even after 6 weeks, when walking on the lawn, you still sink slightly after a few seconds. The question now is: Will the lawn level out on its own? Should I consider rolling it? Scarifying? Watering more or less? Fertilizing? It is also very noticeable that when I walk on the lawn, the footprints only disappear after 20 to 30 minutes.

Thank you very much. Best regards,
Rene

Leveling now is counterproductive. It’s better to fill and smooth out the potholes first, then sow. However, I always caution against this because it often makes things worse. My personal opinion is that a lawn is never perfectly flat unless the original subsoil is 80 years old. If you have added fill, it will always settle over time.

The mistake was: too much water at the beginning AND! walking on it afterwards... it doesn’t harm the lawn... but the holes definitely filled with water..

Okay, thanks everyone.

When I walk over the lawn right now, I can still feel that I slightly sink in. Would it possibly be a solution to use a batten and gradually step on it to flatten the lawn?

The short-term load shouldn’t cause much damage...

P.S. Doesn’t a lawn always need to be watered heavily at the beginning, especially at these temperatures? After all, I do have some gaps in the roll-out turf, which would actually suggest there might not be enough water. Or am I wrong?

Gaps between the layers? Please share some clear photos ;-)!