I know everyones lawn isnt in the best of shapes now;however, what our lawn looked like last year after purchasing this home I don't think this lawn has the potential of being in the best shape. Several dirt and bare spots. My question is on putting in a new lawn:
1. What is a good estimate on having someone ripping out the current lawn and putting in a new lawn.
2. I am in Tomball, Texas does any one know of business in the area that could do this?
3. How much would it cost if I went to Home Depot or Lowes bought the pallets of grass and installed my self.


There's a spirit can ne'er be told
It's the Spirit of Aggieland.

We will never forget 11.18.1999
BTHO Bonfire

I've never seen sod sold at Lowes/Home Depot. Do they really sell it there?

Maybe Home Depot of Lowes doesnt sell sod. I'm sure local garden stores would though... right?

There's a spirit can ne'er be told
It's the Spirit of Aggieland.

We will never forget 11.18.1999
BTHO Bonfire

Houston Garden Center sells sod. Right now it is on sale for $0.77 for a 16"x24" piece.

[This message has been edited by jamesf (edited 4/6/2010 5:14p).]

I unfortunately had to work at Home Depot for a year in this crappy economy. We would have sod but they would only deliver it once a week and sometimes they wouldn't deliver any at all. Call the one near you and find out if they have a shipment ahead of time. I know when it started getting too hot in the summer they stopped carrying it because the majority of it baked out in the sun, died, and then was thrown away. That and if it was left out for a few days it would start to get fire ants in it. Oh, and Home Depot, at least the one I was at only carried St. Augustine sod.

If on sale for $0.77 for a 16"x24" piece. What would be a good price for installation?

Have lots of stuff going on right now and would rather pay someone to do it. Unless to much of a mark up then I can put a weekend to it.

There's a spirit can ne'er be told
It's the Spirit of Aggieland.

We will never forget 11.18.1999
BTHO Bonfire

Cost me a few grand to hire out sod installation in the backyard of my last house 5-6 years ago. Granted this was a relatively large corner lot backyard (13-14 pallets I think, 6k sq feet or so). But this was new construction and no tear out/preparation was involved, I imagine that adds a good bit to the install cost.

I used a place called mata-turf in Houston. I'm sure they go to tomball but they do have a delivery fee based on location I think. I will say the augustine sod they used was beautiful...looked better than most established lawns I see. Sadly, it looked a lot worse when I moved out then when they put it in.

I think you can just buy pallets from various places for $100 give or take...so installation/delivery will probably be 50% or so.



[This message has been edited by SJEAg (edited 4/6/2010 6:20p).]

Do you some research online. If you have just bare spots you might want to consider just throwing down some grass seed.
Also, consider taking some soil samples and take them to your county ag extension service.

You might consider calling All American Stone & Turf in College Station. I have purchased St. Augustine from them last summer.

http://www.collegestationlandscapematerial.com/

I used www.grass4sale.com this last fall. They will deliver to your house in 48 hrs with the freshest cut. They delivered to me in 24. They have many different grasses but in Tomball you will probably want St. Aug or Zoysia. Zoysia is twice the price though.

I.Y.A.C.Y.A.S. '91

quote:

---

1. What is a good estimate on having someone ripping out the current lawn and putting in a new lawn.

---

home depot, power tiller, $70 a day.

quote:

---

3. How much would it cost if I went to Home Depot or Lowes bought the pallets of grass and installed my self.

---

there are several places up 249 that sell grass. should spend about a $100/pallet. a pallet is ~500-600 sq.ft.

rent a trailor from tomballtoolrental.com, throw 4-6 pallets on there and do it.. it's no brainer work, no sense in paying some illegal to do it.

Do not buy sod by the piece, you should be able to call a local sod grower (Mata Turf in NW Houston) and buy St. Augustine sod for ~$100 per pallet. There are 450 square feet per pallet so measure you yard and add about 5% extra for trimming corners and odd angles.
In all reality unless the St. Augustine in your lawn is completely dead you do not need to re-sod the lawn. You should be able to rehab the lawn for less than a third of the cost of sod. You really need to check out Randy Lemmon's tip sheets on the Gardenline section of the KTRH web page.

McInnisAg, I'm in the exact same situation as you. We bought a house about 1.5 years ago, and the yard was pretty rough(dead/bare spots like you mentioned). I was hoping some of the places would fill in last year (we moved in the fall/winter), but didn't see much improvement once it started growing again in the spring/summer. I've taken a much more proactive stance this year with fertilizing and weed treatments, and have noticed some minor improvements. I'm hoping that if I get what good grass I have back to a good healthy state again it will start to creep into some of the other crappy areas. Uncover&humpit mentioned the info on KTRH...that's what I've been going off of so far. It's targeted for our area/climate, and is pretty easy to follow. Good luck!...I'm right there with you!



[This message has been edited by Green Fairy (edited 4/8/2010 11:57a).]

What are yall thoughts about lawn plugs? Rather than sod. Seems like this is an easier way to getting the grass growing than seeds. And the plugs seem to have a better root system than sod since you dig it in.

My though it to buy the lawn plugs and set them 6 - 12 inches apart from each other with a combination of laying out the seed.

There's a spirit can ne'er be told
It's the Spirit of Aggieland.

We will never forget 11.18.1999
BTHO Bonfire

My advice on plugs is, you get what you pay for. If you want to go cheap, why not skip the plugs and get on the KTRH web page and look up Randy Lemmons info on lawn care. It is going to be much easier to rehab you existing lawn. If it is really that bad, than plugs will take so long to fill in that you will continue to have lawn weed problems. If you really need a new lawn you really should just bite the bullet and lay down new sod. Call Mata turf, they have the best prices and quality in Houston.

Plugs are a good idea if you're trying to do this in the dead of summer. Sod is a ***** to keep alive/watered in July, and the plugs will establish and grow together very quickly during peak growing season.

The cost may not be as significantly different than you think for a big job. You buy a lot less plugs obviously, but plugs cost quite a bit more as well.

NM

[This message has been edited by bam02 (edited 4/15/2010 10:51a).]