# Lowering lawn level to sidewalk level?



## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

This doesn't seem like an easy task...but hopefully someone tells me different!

My front yard is around 2K worth of St. Aug. The majority of which sits around 3-5 inches above the sidewalk and path to my front door. I am wanting to bring that gap down to flush - .5 in. Am I looking at massive leveling ordeal? The thatch layer is significant throughout, spongy in many areas when walking around. Neighbors on either side of me have Bermuda and i've been thinking about killing off my St. Aug in favor of Bermuda since we moved in. Will see how much direct sun the front gets tomorrow.

Ill attach some better pictures in the morning to provide a visual but you can get an idea of what i'm looking at.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

You could try heavy verticutting, but I'm not sure how well St Aug likes that. I'm also not confident that would come close to closing a 5" gap.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Now would be the best time to consider if you want bermuda or stick with the st. aug. If you keep it, you might need to rent a sod cutter and remove dirt from underneath. Bring the level lower than the sidewalk and sand later once the sod is established again. If you swap to bermuda, glyphosate and maybe topramezone, then remove enough top material to be lower then the sidewalk and seed or lay sod. Either way, it's lots of work...


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

+1 on the sod cutter.


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## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

I like the looks of it like it is


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## Hexadecimal 00FF00 (Sep 20, 2018)

@Art_Vandelay <<< Seinfeld!


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## Hexadecimal 00FF00 (Sep 20, 2018)

Ware said:


> +1 on the sod cutter.


^


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## TheTurfTamer (Aug 8, 2018)

My advice is to find out what you have first. Do a 1 inch cut and bag it all. Then rent a flail blade de-thatcher. Go over your entire yard in bother directions and make check to verify you are going 1/2 inch into the soil. Then I would mow at 1 inch again and bag all the thatch. I would tend to believe that the difference will be a lot closer than you think now.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Aawickham78 said:


> My advice is to find out what you have first. Do a 1 inch cut and bag it all. Then rent a flail blade de-thatcher. Go over your entire yard in bother directions and make check to verify you are going 1/2 inch into the soil. Then I would mow at 1 inch again and bag all the thatch. I would tend to believe that the difference will be a lot closer than you think now.


If bermuda or most zoysias I would agree. With St Augustine, I would go easy on the dethatching. Remove to much St Augustine, and you may have a hard time getting it to come back.


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## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

Have never tried dethatching the St. Aug but everything I've read mirrors @Spammage. Having observed the sunlight today I'm iffy on Bermuda. 3/4 of the yard gets 7+ hours of sunlight but the other 1/4 might not get more than 2. I sit N/S and my roof provides some unwanted shade. I didn't get a Pre-M down in the fall. Looking like only one of my neighbors did.



My neighbor (right) with some Bermuda.


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## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

Aawickham78 said:


> My advice is to find out what you have first. Do a 1 inch cut and bag it all. Then rent a flail blade de-thatcher. Go over your entire yard in bother directions and make check to verify you are going 1/2 inch into the soil. Then I would mow at 1 inch again and bag all the thatch. I would tend to believe that the difference will be a lot closer than you think now.


I do agree with you. If I were able to safely remove the majority of thatch it would be flush in most places. It's quite spongy.


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

That roof will be throwing a lot more shade right now then it will be during the growing season.


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## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

J_nick said:


> That roof will be throwing a lot more shade right now then it will be during the growing season.


You're absolutely correct!

Thank you for dropping this subtle knowledge on me. I took it and google more to learn... was super ignorant on the topic. It looks like that may have been the dagger for the St. Aug.... I should definitely have enough sun for the growing season.

DFW peeps,

What are my seed options relatively close?


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## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

I've seen a lot of people have positive reviews regarding the greenworks dethatcher so I popped on one from Amazon.


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