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Sat, Sep 1, 12 at 16:32
| I admit it I'm cheap when it comes to acquiring equipment I won't use more than 1-2 times.
Needed a lawn roller for rehabbing yard 2000 sq ft in back and 1300 in front. Came up with 3'long, 4" round gas vent pipe from HD, 2 4" round wood plaques from Michaels (craft store). Drilled 3/4" holes in center of plaques. Taped plaque to one end of pipe. Inserted 3/4" dowel through pipe and out hole in plaque. Filled pipe with sand. Taped other plaque to other end (with dowel sticking out of hole). Place rope with slipknots on each end around ends of dowel. Drag. Not elegant but effective. Total cost $16. If you can figure out how to seal the ends, you could fill with water instead of sand. I had 4' dowels in my scrap heap already but any broom handle should work as well. Didn't think to take pix before coming upstairs to post but will do so soon. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| front view |
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| end view. I also ran pull rope thru a piece of pvc pipe to make it easier to drag. |
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- Posted by ranger481vs (My Page) on Sat, Sep 1, 12 at 22:43
| Interesting, but even with adding sand, I don't think that would be very heavy at all to do much good for lawn flattening. Are you pulling it with man power or a tractor? I rolled my lawn with my neighbor's lawn roller that fills with water. It was much bigger, probably weighed well over 500 lbs when full of water. The basic ones at the box stores weigh almost 400lbs when filled with water. |
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| I will not be using it to flatten/level yard... just press grass seed into soil for good contact. |
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| Whatever weight can assist you in putting the seed in better contact with the soil is always appreciated. What one might though consider is the weight of the water in a standard roller. Aside from how much you put into it, a roller 1/3 filled the roller would have an end area of 3 sqare feet X length ...say 2 feet...--6 cubic feet....1/3 filled approx 2 cubic feet of water. I don't think your homemade thing weighs anywhere near that...so whatever benefit it has does not compare to a standard lawn roller. |
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- Posted by Ibanez540r none (My Page) on Sun, Sep 2, 12 at 20:50
| My local true value rents the water fillable poly roller for the back of my garden tractor for $10 for 4 hours. |
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| Thanks for all the feedback. However, not only am I frugal but not very strong (5'2" lady) so whatever I use I have to be able to handle alone. If I made it too heavy or rented a water filled push version, I wouldn't be able to move it. |
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- Posted by gardenbear1 5a (My Page) on Mon, Sep 3, 12 at 11:58
| It looks like a big rolling pin, it looks easy enough to make one for my self, I'll have to try when I start my lawn out front. Thanks for sharing Bear |
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| JVallee, that's why rollers are only filled 1/3 ..max 1/2 of their volume. Any more than that, you're right, it would be impossible to move. But the weight accomplishes two tasks, one it puts the seed down close to the soil and two compresses any high mounds that always seems to come through a winter. Its not unusual for ground to heave when winter thaw/freeze/thaw/freeze cycles occur every winter. The trick is to not do it too soon; the ground can be soggy from all that snow-melt and early rains. This can cause compressing that does not recover when the ground dries out. In fact, too much too soon, can cause compaction with the resulting lawn being smothered. |
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| Goren - Since my yard is mostly already flat with about 20 terrier dug holes, I will be re-leveling it out before seeding in a couple of weeks. Winter freeze/thaw is not an issue this time. But I do understand what you're saying... Gardenbear1 - Actually a rolling pin was my inspiration.. now that you have reminded me, I may see about fashioning some handles to I can push it instead of pulling it. |
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| Final pix - added pvc "handles" with T's and elbows so I can push (and apply pressure) and pull it (just like a rolling pin lol). Filled cylinder with sand and as much water as sand would hold. Perfect weight for what I'm trying to do. |
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