# Rented a Core Aerator from Home Depot



## DIY Lawn Guy

I have had my lawn core aerated in 2017 and 2018 by my past lawn service. Cost me $90. The lawn guy had a nice stand-on power aerator and took about 20 minutes to cover my 8K Sq Ft lawn.

Well, I decided to rent an aerator a few months ago and go DIY this year. I won't be renting one again, let me explain.

I rented a small trailer to haul the rented aerator to my home. Using that machine was grueling. I'm in pretty good physical shape and that machine just plain wore me out after about an hour use!

Plus, when I finished the job at my home, I had to go to the pressure hose self-service car wash to clean up the machine to avoid a cleaning charge. The clean-up cost me $12 in quarters. The machine was deeply packed with mud.

My whole cost for my DIY aeration came to $107 (trailer and aerator rent cost and my clean-up)

I could of just had my old lawn guy do it for $90.

Oh well, live and learn.


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## Austinite

90 bucks for 8k, that is certainly cheap. Good experience though doing it yourself.


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## ctrav

Since we have 1.25 acre lot and 30k of grass I bought a tow behind on sale at tractor supply for just under $200. IMO it was money well spent as the aerator works well and I use it twice a year. Once in awhile a neighbor will ask to use it as well. Downside is it takes up room in the garage...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiKt8SdyPbiAhUJKK0KHXKCCX0QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tractorsupply.com%2Ftsc%2Fproduct%2Fagri-fab-48-in-tow-behind-aerator&psig=AOvVaw1GhlJOukBD1sQQl5xyTu92&ust=1561068702701092


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## hsvtoolfool

You appreciate hired labor more after you've done it yourself at least once. And you call them out on bad work since you know how it's supposed to be done the right way.


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## Jimefam

My lawn guy was charging me $160 so I rented one from sunbelt rentals. Think it was like $67 for the rental. Put it in the back of my truck so no trailer fee and it worked well and took no time at all but i borrowed a friends zero turn to pull it. That plus seeing the tow behind sprayer review and price convinced me to get a ride on mower to also pull things with.


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## gilly

I feel your pain/s. I've worked on several baseball fields in my days using small aerators. Infield, aprons and arcs...wish we had a tow-behind at the time for sure!


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## ram82

yea but your lawn guy for 90$ can potentially bring in problems with weeds- disease?not worth it to me unless he is cleaning and sterilizing it.


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## MasterMech

Lawn guy price might go up some of you are no longer a regular customer.

The stand on units can be rented too, get your neighbors on board and blast through their lawns too. Do as many as you squeeze in on a days rental.

About those HD rentals, the Ryan Pro units can break a shear pin on one side and make them a real bear to handle. I did my 20k (two passes) with one like that and it was seriously hot out. If the machine is in proper form, they shouldn't be too bad to handle. Try and spin the tines backwards, if they spin backwards freely, then it's a no-go.


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## ccasanova

I think I'm still sore from my core aeration project a couple weeks ago. Rented from HD as well. Covered ~3/4ac and went over most of it 2-3x. It was an all day affair.


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## ksturfguy

I will say from my experience you get a lot better cores from the stand on aerator or the walk behind ones you can rent compared to the tow behind ones.

But like you guys have said you can get a tow behind for about $200 and it a hell of a lot less work. If you have a big yard and wanted to do it your self i think the tow behind or try ro rent a stand on would be the way to go.


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## FuzzeWuzze

All i can say is thoroughly scour google maps to see if you can find a rental shop that isnt home depot.

For example I have one near me that rents aerators for $39 for 3 hours, $75 a day, and they load it on a mini tip trailer so you can load/unload it yourself easily and hook it up to your hitch. Its like picking up fast food basically they make it so easy.

I mention this because the smaller shops are usually a lot more friendly and customer oriented. For example they also rent a mini dump trailer that can hold 3 yards of dirt/bark for $10 an hour. This means you can haul your own bark and not need to pay for delivery if you just need 1-3 yards of bark.


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## DIY Lawn Guy

Thanks Fuzze', that's a good idea.

The city I live in is small, but packed with many businesses, I'll look around for your idea.


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