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red92s

Repairing lawn after construction project?

red92s
11 years ago

My wife and I bought our first house in October. There was a slight grade in the rear yard TOWARDS the house, which lead to massive flooding in the crawlspace, and a lack of useable outdoor living space. We regraded at the back of the house, and built a retaining wall. This has pretty much alleviated the lack of useable outdoor space, and water intrusion. But the yard has taken some collateral damage in the process.

We ended up with WAY more fill dirt than we thought we would from excavating for the wall, and had a large pile (~3 tandem truckloads) sitting on a sodded potion on the lawn for about a month. I offered the dirt for free, and gave away a couple pickup trucks worth, but it became clear it would take a year to give it away at that rate. Finally paid (more than I did for the excavation) to have it hauled out.

The area where the dirt was sitting is now a disaster zone. It's rutted from the Bobcat hauling off the dirt, and consists of a couple inches of fill on top of (dead) bermuda sod. What's the best way to get this back into shape for seeding/sodding again? I've tried going at it with a rakes and shovels but that feels like an exercise in futility. I can rent a Toro Dingo with a Harley Rake which I think would make quick work of it, but worry I could do more harm than good, as I've got zero experience on the equipment. I could rent the Dingo trencher at the same time to make trenches for a lot of 4-6" PVC drain lines at the same time. I NEED to rent a trencher for a day, so getting the Dingo and Harley Rake is only about an extra $150. Hard to hire out a job of this size (under 1,000 square feet), as it's not worth it for most people to mobilize equipment or men for a couple hours. Any advice? Do I need to bring in some top soil to till/mix into the area before trying to grow anything?

Additional links for the curious:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9U6ZTpP1uO0/UTzqKk9m92I/AAAAAAAAGL8/RhU9a_pMQjk/s912/2013-03-10_13-49-09_351.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L1WsYKGN_S0/UTzqKMqbDBI/AAAAAAAAGL0/90fbGMFakBc/s912/2013-03-10_13-48-24_429.jpg

Retaining Wall:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-espNMQ2ubIU/UT4wmK8tExI/AAAAAAAAGMY/FQylnDFFQZ0/s912/883340_10100460014663849_1204149665_o.jpg

Before:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4rljcFugZeg/UKEE1075M4I/AAAAAAAAGFY/YHTbsAjsWJs/s912/upload_100000A69E31A8_2012.11.12%252C14%253A14%253A39%252C614_A81F4D2C.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-e4hJCXCzvgs/UKEE2ACL9qI/AAAAAAAAGFw/t60crKHhzxc/s912/upload_100000A69E31A8_2012.11.12%252C14%253A15%253A33%252C700_4220DAEB.jpg

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