# Tire tracks on front lawn - What would you do?



## Mozart (Jul 17, 2018)

I noticed a tire track about 10-15 ft long along the border of my front lawn where it meets the street.

I'm sure it was accidental but I do not want this to happen again. I put a lot of time into making the lawn look nice and it only requires half a second to ruin it; in my opinion I'm not expecting much. Not sure if it was a neighbor or delivery truck.

What would you do? I've put up orange markers for now - is this too much? I don't want to be passive aggressive, does this action come off as such?

If I knew who did this I would kindly ask them to be mindful but I don't know.

What would YOU do?


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Orange markers are good. I've seen that a lot. If it's still a problem, people drive over the markers, put 2' tall stones along the border. It'll take something the size of a dump truck to not get messed up. Or a wrangler with big knobby tires...


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)




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## SNOWBOB11 (Aug 31, 2017)

:lol:


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## Polish Badger (Nov 30, 2018)

Mozart said:


> What would YOU do?


Hey Bud - I had the same issue on my front/center lawn (which is the piece of lawn that's my baby) and I finally ended up putting in a red granite shoulder edged with a buried ribbon of 4x4 treated lumber flush with the ground level. Between mail delivery, UPS. FedEx, and god forbid an actual guest to my house it was just nearly impossible to prevent. About 2 years in I had a little bit of warping and had to adjust one of the pieces of lumber but overall it's been holding up well for 4 years.

Also by hitting it with round up a couple times a year it looks nice and clean compared to orange cones. Good luck!


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## Chuck S (Nov 5, 2018)

For me (and the landscape architect I used to know) the landscape including the lawn should compliment and enhance the house. It's background that should draw attention to the main object, the house.

If a "non lawn care guy" drives by and exclaims "What a nice lawn!" we've blown it. He should note "What a nice house!" and notice the landscaping secondarily. The lawn is just there to draw attention to the building. Cones and orange stakes divert attention from both the house and landscape.

As to the original question: I'd personally just fix it and forget it. Those cones look worse than horrible. They detract from the very purpose of keeping our lawns nice: making our homes look nice. I'm sure some of the neighbors are having rude or at least comical thoughts about the property owner. Not everyone is obsessed with the edges of their lawns. Without curbs this is what it looks like next to any street. Would love to see Badgers setup though. 

-- Chuck


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

When I lived in NJ, I lived at a house with a border between the lawn and the street. I never had an issue with anyone driving over the edges. It even kept the lawn safe from the snowplows. But I suspect that the key to this was that the border was box-like in shape. 
I couldn't find a great picture, but it looked like this


Obviously, the barrier won't help with the weeds.

At my current house, the barrier is more like this


I've found that this kind of barrier does NOT prevent people from driving and/or parking on the edge of the grass. I've found plenty of tire marks at the edge of the lawn, especially when people park.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Just for the record I don't always have orange traffic cones setup along the street.


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## outdoorsmen (Jul 23, 2018)

I'd go on a man hunt


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

@Mozart, it looks like minor damage right at the edge. I can't tell if your edge is flush with the road for sure, but it looks that way. If the grade of the yard is above the grade of the road, of course it would look funny to have a squished down section.

That said, it looks something that will repair itself naturally next Spring, or with a bit of repair by you if not.

Finally, I would be more concerned about snow plows. We use the orange stakes (not everyone, but some people) in my area to prevent damage from the plows and snowblowers. It's not foolproof, but it helps. (One year before using them, it looked like someone took a sod cutter to the lawn, because the plow shaved the grass off.) They also protect the curb from damage if you have one.

Last year I actually had a truck apparently drive over (maybe mailman) the hellstrip soon after I had redone it, because a car was parked nearby and they had to backup but cut the steering wheel in the wrong direction. I had to dig up everything, which was starting to root, re-level it, put the grass back, use a fungicide, and start frequent watering (by hand) for sod establishment again.


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## craigdt (Apr 21, 2018)

Polish Badger said:


> Mozart said:
> 
> 
> > What would YOU do?
> ...


Care to hit us with a pic? This sounds like a great idea


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## FuzzeWuzze (Aug 25, 2017)

It fascinates me to see these neighborhoods with no curbs or sidewalks.


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## Polish Badger (Nov 30, 2018)

craigdt said:


> Polish Badger said:
> 
> 
> > Mozart said:
> ...


This is the best I can do with an old pic because we just got dumped with snow but this is from earlier this year. This is the trouble spot i mentioned earlier with warping that I have to fix up in spring. I might just need to replace the borad. I also need to top off with gravel again as it gradually gets worn away. It fixed all my tire track issues though!


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## silvercymbal (Sep 17, 2018)

I feel for you. We have barely had any snow yet so I have the same type of stakes up in my yard. Already 3 people have run on my lawn and delivery guys have broken 2 stakes. Not starting off too good here either.


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## Chuck S (Nov 5, 2018)

Thanks for the photo! Looks good and doesn't draw attention to itself. Maybe some dark stain would hide it even more?

We have a concrete curb here in Richmond that keeps street runoff channeled to the storm sewer but no sidewalk so the edging is minimal other than along the 222.87 feet of curb (yeah, I had it surveyed). I use a blade edger.

Just need to train these city folk to walk facing traffic. 

-- Chuck


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## x Wild Bill x (Aug 17, 2018)

Anyone use claymore mines? JK haha

Ugh, I can relate to everyone here with road edge grass and snow plows. We have over 400' of frontage that has grass right along the street and no curbs as we are rural. Also, due to the setup, we have our sprinkler heads flush with the edge of roadway. Oh and did I mention we have a corner lot so they like to push all of the snow into the corner and tear that up no matter what I do? Surprisingly, they haven't grabbed a sprinkler head yet, I think having them so close to the edge lets the plow go over them. If they start hitting them I plan to move them deeper into the ground and get taller heads.

As far as keeping the plows off the lawn in the first place I put up marker sticks, but that only does so much. There isn't much else we can do as we are not allowed to put fencing/stone etc. within a certain distance of the road.

I am thinking of converting the corner section to some type of natural flowers/ground cover that grows easily and quickly each year so I don't have to deal with the stress of fixing it every spring. I was hoping to find a solution, but at least I know I'm not alone in this battle.


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## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

Mozart said:


> I noticed a tire track about 10-15 ft long along the border of my front lawn where it meets the street.


If it doesn't happen very often, then using either (or both) a spading fork just in the tire rut to lift up the compressed soil a bit, and/or a hand tool cool aerator will restore the grass enough to recover in a couple weeks in times of good growth.



Mozart said:


> What would you do? I've put up orange markers for now - is this too much? I don't want to be passive aggressive, does this action come off as such?


The orange snow snakes are appropriate at this time of year, but look absurd in June or July, as others mention above. (Although the snow snakes are better than the cones somebody posted!)

I've instead decided to remove all grass from the outer 3' of ground nearest the road. Most of the "soil" in that area, once the sod and about 2" of soil were removed is basically just sand/rock, so grass doesn't much like to grow there, although weeds try. I put in a cobblestone border to separate the bare ground from the lawn and provide an alternative visual "edge" to the road. Essentially, I now have a "hard shoulder" along the road edge.

In the winter, I put up orange snow stakes, like the ones that you have, about every 25' along the road frontage, in the "bare ground" area a few inches closer to the road than the cobblestones.

I should note that I did the above only after a few years of trying to keep grass to the roadside edge for minimal maintenance, but eventually changed my plan due to issues each year with a combination of summer dieback along the road due to poor soil in that area, winter plow damage, and winter road salt damage.

Photo below, taken from our renovation thread with many other photos and more details on installation: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5671&p=97915&hilit=ken+n+nancy#p97992


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## outdoorsmen (Jul 23, 2018)

My mother-in-law strokes again. Parked a tire over the curb into my lawn. I just don't understand why people think they need to be so close. She left a depression and short rut. I live in a cul-de-sac and have told her a number of times how and where to park.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

outdoorsmen said:


> My mother-in-law strokes again. Parked a tire over the curb into my lawn. I just don't understand why people think they need to be so close. She left a depression and short rut. I live in a cul-de-sac and have told her a number of times how and where to park.


People mistakenly think they have to park right on the edge in order to let other vehicles get by.

Clear you driveway out before she comes, putting your own cars where you don't want her to park in the road, and tell her she can park right in the middle of the driveway! I do this when my aunt and uncle come over. He can't walk well. I then help direct them when they back down the driveway when they leave so she doesn't hit the edge.


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

I've seen some folks around my neighborhood use spaced out painted wooden balls or short stakes like used to mark golf tees to make a sort of indicator line. Seems to work. Looks a lot nicer than snow stakes. I'm thinking about doing the same. Only downside is if some kid with his face buried in his smartphone trips over it they will still sue you.


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## Noclssgt (Apr 6, 2018)

my mother in law watches my kids at my house. I've seen her park over into the yard multiple times. She used to park on the road and she said she tried to park over so cars can get by. I basically told her the yard has the right of way lol.
She parks in the driveway now and it has a curve to it, she occasionally gets the front tire over in the grass....that I just renovated this summer.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Anyone consider using this?


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

I've seen a block of new townhomes in Philly that have the permanent version of that for their driveways, a cement lattice with grass growing between. I thought it was a very interesting way to create green space in the concrete jungle.

I wonder how it would age as OM and thatch build up over top of the grid.


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## Robpin (Jul 4, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> Anyone consider using this?


Found this on This Old House
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-build-grass-driveway


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Robpin said:


> Suburban Jungle Life said:
> 
> 
> > Anyone consider using this?
> ...


That's what I was thinking about!! I watched all their episodes. Though, I don't agree with his lawn practices...


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

I've actually debated doing that. Our driveway is falling apart and it would be pretty cool. But it's got a good slope so I'm not sure how slippery it would be.

As for the original problem. Honestly, I gave up. I lost about a foot of the lawn so far since the fall due to my wife's parking. I honestly don't know what changed. Was never a problem but now its a good foot in.


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## Methodical (May 3, 2018)

I'm all for the decorative boulders. If they still insist on running close, they will have a big ole repair bill. My parents have this issue, too.


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## SPB903 (Aug 8, 2018)

Plows are the worst.... literally taking up chunks of turf and tossing the chunk further into the lawn. I dont have a sidewalk or a curb to separate my lawn from the roadway. Thinking about going the orange marker route. That I think that would also prevent someone parking so close to the edge because if you put enough of them out, they wont be able to open their doors. :lol: And on second thought.... I would include UPS, USPS and FedEx delivery guys.... I have brown foot prints on my lawn from them making deliveries... I dont think there would be a good way to prevent that though.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

https://www.smith-wesson.com/

Too far or not far enough?


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