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Are you considering replacing an old lawn with a new one(USA)? This might help.

Old lawns are quite irritating sometimes as they don't give the grass its full potential to grow and a lush green look. Even it may look bad as time goes on. 

If you are irritated by your old lawn then I'll suggest you renovate only a small section of your lawn to try at least the results. 

Here, I'll give you details and a guide to implementing the old lawn so that you can turn it into a healthy green lawn step by step. 

Replacing an old lawn into a new one DIY

If you are considering replacing an old lawn with a new one, you should at least have experience dealing with lawn weeds, grass turf, lawn care processes, and maintenance. 

Turning an old lawn into a new lawn

Possible reasons for the new lawn over the old lawn

Turning a small or average-sized lawn(which is old) into a new lawn is not as difficult as handling a large-sized lawn. 

Sometimes, old lawns get settled for lawn grass better but most of the time, you need to replace them with new ones to get lush green and healthy lawn grass. Let's see some key points of replacing the old lawn with a new one- 

  • Old lawns face many ups and downs with diseases, pests, and weeds. So at some stage, your efforts of recovering grass will not help much to keep the grass green and healthy. In such cases, replacing the old lawn is a better option. 
  • The new lawn need least aeration and dethatching than the old one. Hence, maintenance of old lawns takes a lot of time and money. 
  • Grass recovery of old lawns is very difficult because of various diseases, moss, algae, and pests. Even sometimes buying professional lawn care services doesn't help much. It is the opposite with new lawns if you establish them with the proper process and method. 
  • Weeds grow excessively in older lawns because of less use of pre-emergent herbicides. It becomes very often that in every season, new weeds come up and try to takeover over the lawn. With new lawns, you use pre-emergents on time before seeding. So it gets less affected by weeds.  

When to turn an old lawn into a new one?

The point of replacing an old lawn with a new one is to establish the new one. So you need enough time so that new lawn grass can get settled properly. 

For that, you can start this process from spring to mid-summer. After that, it'll become very difficult because weeds get their space and establish themselves. 

Although you shouldn't start the renovation of the lawn after mid-summer if the temperature doesn't drop drastically, and overcast conditions do not disturb the lawn, it has two months at least from here to establish the grass. 

But things become worst after the winter and frost. Winter dormancy on newly unestablished lawns can be a reason for grass kill. Therefore, you can't recover it back in spring.

So try to be practical and do this work from spring to mid-summer. 

Basic requirements

Tools required

  • Raking tool 
  • Turf removing tools
  • Plowing machine
  • Hoe 
  • Spade 
  • Boots and safety gloves

Materials required

  • Drainage pipes
  • Sprinklers for each corner
  • 2 inches pipes for water supply 
  • Organic fertilizers
  • Pre-emergents herbicides 

Step-by-step process of replacing old lawn with a new one

Step 1- Removing the old lawn turf

You have two basic options for removing the old lawn turf. Removing the old lawn by killing grass is a slow process but removing the turf directly is an easy and convenient method. 

Ultimately, it depends on you how you want to remove your old grass. But it should be cleaned properly otherwise, it'll leave its scars on the new lawn. 

A good method to kill lawn grass is to reduce the soil moisture and cover it with a heat-absorbing sheet. This sheet kills the grass fast as it dries the moisture all along.

Step 2- Installing drainage of new lawn 

After removing all the old grass turf, you'll have left an open soil surface. You can start it plowing with a machine or manually(if it is a small lawn). 

Now, start installing the drainage pipes for the lawn or give it a natural slope for drainage or overwatering. 

Step 3- Sprinklers installation for irrigation

Now, you need to install the primary pipeline for sprinklers in the lawn. If it already exists then be careful while plowing the lawn. Check if any replacement or maintenance is required on the lawn. 

After installing the main line, you need to install the sprinklers at the end at all corners. Cross-check all the connections and control valves. 

Step 4- Leveling the soil for seeding

Now, you can start leveling the soil surface so that you can start sowing seeds. 

Use a spade to distribute the soil in all the space to level the soil surface. 

Step 5- Adding organic pre-emergents in the soil

Now, you need to add pre-emergent herbicides so that you can restrict the weeds under the turf surface. 

Buy only quality pre-emergents organic of a branded company. Check all the instructions and approval signs and licenses. 

Read instructions carefully and use only as suggested on the packets. 

Step 6- Fertilization of soil according to the nature of the soil

Check the soil pH before using direct fertilizers in it. Otherwise, you may see some changes in grass color and problems like compacted soil and brown patches. 

After neutralizing soil, you need to use only organic lawn feed to improve its fertility for grass seeds.  

Step 7- Grass seeding and propagation 

You can use a seed scattering tool or just scatter the seeds directly in the soil. But precision in even distribution of seeds is very important. 

If you follow the right method and maintain the right moisture in the soil, your seeds will start sprouting soon in a few weeks. 

Step 8- Further care of grass

Once your grass starts growing after sprouting, you need to care for them regularly till the establishment. For that, follow every step of lawn care according to the season change. 

Thus, you can replace an old lawn with a new one DIY just by following basic steps. 

At some stage, you may need some help from experts and manpower but ultimately it's not that difficult work as it is time-consuming. 

I hope this description will help you to renovate your lawn. But it'll be more satisfactory when you'll successfully apply this to your lawn. 

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