Laying "Gopher Screen" & Grass Sod
5/20/2010

I'm not calling this a skill, but I can say that I'm now familiar with "gopher screen" and laying grass sod. A client for whom we will be building a swimming pool next week also wanted to install grass sod and a "gopher screen" for his front lawn, about a 900 square foot area. The "gopher screen" prevents gophers from creating those annoying holes and mounds in grass lawns. Our company stepped up and did the job.

After shucking the original sod we had to then lay the gopher screen and then the sod. I wasn't comfortable just laying down the gopher screen before making sure the surface area was properly graded to desired levels and contours. Our client actually "designed" the lawn to accommodate his one favorite horse, he chose a tough grass similarly used in golf courses, a kind of very tough "Bermuda" grass. The second consideration we had to pay close attention to was making the edge of the lawn flush with the cement walk-way, shown at left. Our client didn't want his horse to "twist an ankle" -seriously! So from the left level, flush with the cement level, we beveled the lawn at a very slight slope to the right.
My two favorite guys, Jay at left and Marcus at right (running).

We scraped dirt from one section at a time to lay the gopher screen down and then used the same dirt to "back-fill" over the gopher screen slightly overlapping each screen that was applied. The row at the right is done. The boys are rolling down the next row.

Some of the first pieces of sod after we've leveled all the dirt after laying all the gopher screen. Ooops, the sod has "yellowed," we let the rolled-up sod sit on pallets for just over two days, but though the nursery tells us we should have lain the sod the same day it was delivered, they also assured us that the sod would be OK and return to "green" in a couple of weeks with proper care. Apparently this type of Bermuda grass is very hardy.

Marcus gives the new sod a thorough watering. Before the sod was laid, we scattered a special fertilizer that promotes rapid root growth.

Though the sod was yellow and looked "dead" we did a great job of leveling the yard. Our client in green plaid happily waters the new sod too.

The job is finished, it took us about three days, plus some extra hours with about three guys -we could have used more guys.
But our client is happy, we did an excellent job and cut him an excellent deal -his horse will be happy!.

end of story
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