Levelling a lawn with sand
Sand is great for getting a lawn smooth, but only on the right lawn. If yours sits on clay or ordinary topsoil, sand can do more harm than good. These videos show why, and how we use it on lawns that are already built on sand.
What I'd put down after filling the dips
Power Packs: the 2.5kg bags cover 70 to 100m². The 8kg bags cover 228 to 320m².
Not sure of your size? Measure your lawnThe secret to a perfectly smooth lawn
Jason and I topdress my lawn with sports sand, with a twist. It's a race: one of us spreads it from a pile, the other throws it straight off the barrow. Then it's a pro drag mat against one you can make for under £50.
- Scalping down to see the bumps
- Seed to keep the poa back
- Barrow or pile: which is quicker
- What makes USGA sand different
- A pro mat against a homemade one
- Why sand on clay causes a barrier
What happens in this one
The lawn gets scalped first so the humps and hollows show. Take the box off for that, because it's hard on a mower, and go carefully with an electric one so you don't burn the motor out. Seed goes down too. It's optional, but it thickens the lawn and helps keep annual meadow grass back.
The sand is USGA sports sand. It's a blend of three or four sands, graded so there aren't many coarse particles or fine ones. It's kept indoors, so it goes on like powder.
Then the bit that matters most for you. My lawn was built on 20 tons of 70/30 root zone, 70% sand and 30% soil, so sand suits it. Put sand on a clay lawn and it can sit as a layer a little way down, and the roots don't like growing through it. That's why you always see us using soil on customers' lawns.
The race between the barrow and the pile wasn't as close as I thought it would be.
Levelling with sand on a budget
Jason and I level my lawn with sand using cheap tools we've tested on the channel before, including a compost roller from Amazon that we hoped would save our backs.
- Breaking the one-third rule, once
- Finding the humps and hollows
- The compost roller test
- Builders' sand and play sand
- A cheap lawn lute against a DIY mat
- What a yard brush can and can't do
What happens in this one
The grass gets cut shorter than usual so the humps and hollows show. That breaks the one-third rule, which I'd only do as a one-off like this. To find the dips you can use a piece of string, a straight plank, a long level or even a set of ladders.
I explain why we're using sand here when I use soil in a lot of videos. My lawn's 70/30, 70% sand and 30% soil, so there's already a lot of sand in it. On a clay lawn, sand is great for levelling but it doesn't help the drainage the way people think it does.
Then the sands people ask about. Builders' sand is full of clay and silt. Play sand is washed, so everyone thinks it's fine, but the particles are really small, and on a clay soil it slows the drainage down and makes things worse.
The compost roller looked like the answer to our backs. Three guesses how that went.
Levelling a backyard putting green
A customer's lawn with a difference: a putting green in the back garden. It's built on sand, so this is one of the few jobs where sand is the right thing to put on.
- Checking the height with a prism gauge
- Why bare edges are hard to fix
- Aerating an all-sand green
- Scarifying in place of a verticut
- Seeding bent grass
- Sand, lute, mat and seaweed
What happens in this one
The prism gauge is an expensive magnifying glass that shows the height of cut. Round the edges the grass is starting to go, and on a green this small you can't grow some in at the side and cut it back in, the way you could on a golf course.
The cores show what you'd expect from a putting green: sand all the way down and the roots getting to the bottom. It gets scarified in two directions, because there's no verticutter for the job, then seeded with bent grass, which costs a fortune because the seed is so small.
Then the sports sand. It helps break down the thatch, levels the surface and gives the seed some cover. It's the lute first, a second go at any holes, then the mat, and a good drench of seaweed to finish.
Bent seed is so fine you can't see it coming out of the spreader. There's a simple way to make sure it goes on evenly.
Filling a dip round a tree
Just one area of my lawn this time, where it's dropping away round a tree because the mower goes round it every cut. I fill it with sand and try every levelling tool I've got.
- Finding a dip with a line
- Why my lawn gets sand
- Round sand against sharp sand
- Spreading it out thin
- Brush, rake, mat or lute
- Little and often
What happens in this one
A line across the lawn shows the dip straight away. It's not a big hole, but it's enough to make that part of the lawn bumpy. This lawn's built out of 70/30, so it gets sand.
Sports sand is round, because the washing takes the edges off. Plastering sand is angular and made to bind together, which is the last thing you want on a lawn. Keeping the sand dry helps too. Dry, it goes on like sugar. The damp stuff at the bottom of the pile is harder to work in.
Then the tools. A brush gets the sand in but won't level anything. The back of a landscaping rake has a straight edge to work off, and the homemade mat is great on big areas but tight round a tree.
Keep an eye on the rake. Something turns up in the sand that had no business being there.
Why you shouldn't use sand to level a bumpy lawn
I'm topdressing my own lawn with sand in this one, so I explain why I still tell most people not to. There's a test patch, a core out of the lawn and a look at what can come in a load of sand.
- What the test patch showed
- Why sand dulls a cylinder mower
- How much drainage a thin layer adds
- Weed seeds in loose sand
- Little and often, not American amounts
- Sports sand, not builders' sand
What happens in this one
Last autumn we killed off a strip of the test patch and covered it with plastering sand, topsoil and compost. The sand bit didn't grow at all. Sand is just stones, so there's no goodness in it for the grass.
A lot of people tell me sand will help their drainage. So I take a profile out of the lawn and put a topdressing's worth of sand on top. It's a thin layer, and I'd say it adds very little.
Loose sand can bring weeds with it too. Bagged, screened topsoil is usually heat treated to kill the weed seeds, and that's not the case with sand like this. And here in the UK it's little and often. Put on the amounts the American channels do and you'll smother the lawn.
And if you keep your drag mat rolled up in the corner of the shed, you're storing it wrong.
Why do they use sand on golf greens?
Terry Crawford, course manager at Clandeboye Golf Club, explains why greens get so much sand, and shows a machine he was the first to bring to Northern Ireland.
- Verti-draining before the sand
- Why greens need so much sand
- How the Dryject works
- A test for cheap sand
- Whether your lawn needs sand
- Verticut, scarify or grade
What happens in this one
The greens get verti-drained first, with 12mm tines going nine to ten inches down. The tines kick at the bottom and fracture the ground, so you don't see much on the surface, but the roots have new cracks to grow into.
Then comes the Dryject. Ken Siems explains how it blasts water down like a liquid tine and pulls sand in behind it, filling columns six to eight inches deep. Terry wants the sand down in the root zone, not just sitting on the top.
He also clears up three jobs people mix up: verticutting, scarifying and grading. Each one goes to a different depth for a different reason.
Before you buy sand for your own lawn, watch Terry's test. All you need is your hands.
Topdressing a customer's lawn with sand
A customer's lawn gets the works in this one from 2019, with sports sand for the topdressing. Even back then I said sand isn't what I'd put on most lawns. I'd rather use a 70/30 mix or soil.
- Pulling a lot of cores
- A hard double scarify
- Sports sand against plastering sand
- What's wrong with builders' sand
- Spreading it with no lumps
- Matting the sand in
What happens in this one
The aerator pulls a huge number of cores. That relieves compaction and takes a bit of thatch out, and because we're topdressing, the idea on the day was to get the sand down into those holes. Then the scarifier gets a double pass. I wouldn't usually go as hard, but with the lawn being overseeded on the day, I could really get into it.
We were lucky with the weather. On a sunny day the cores and debris dry out and clear up fast. The overseed is 100% fescue, to thicken the lawn up, and the iron and seaweed went on two weeks before we started.
Sand is inert, so there's no benefit in it for the soil. Sports sand is washed and round, so it doesn't pack down the way angular plastering sand does, and builders' sand is usually full of clay. Whatever you topdress with, don't leave it in lumps, because that makes it hard to work in.
At the end, the customer tells you why they wanted all this done.
About this guide
Sand gets more questions than anything else on levelling. It's great for getting a lawn smooth, but I only use it on lawns that are built on sand. My own lawn is 70/30, 70% sand and 30% soil, which is why you see me putting sand on it. On a clay lawn or ordinary topsoil, I'd use soil.
Not sure what your lawn's built on? Take a core out and have a look. If it's soil, the soil guide is the one for you.
If you're overseeding while you level, the Seeding Success Duo puts Seed and Establish Pro with Seaweed Lawn Booster, feeding the soil, not just the lawn. About a month later, move on to this season's Power Pack.
Worth taking home
The bits from these videos to know before you buy any sand.
Common questions
Should I use sand to level my lawn?
Only if your lawn's built on sand. On clay or ordinary topsoil, sand can settle into a layer a little way down, and the roots don't like growing through it. On those lawns, use soil. That's in video 1.
My own lawn is 70/30, 70% sand and 30% soil, so that's why you see sand going on it in these videos.
Will sand help my lawn drain?
Not much on its own. In video 5 I take a core out and put a topdressing's worth of sand on top. It's a thin layer, and it adds very little drainage.
On a clay lawn, sand helps with levelling but not with drainage the way people think. That's in video 2.
What sand should I use?
Sports sand. It's round, so it doesn't bind together. Plastering sand is angular and made to bind, and builders' sand is full of clay and silt.
Before you buy any, Terry's test in video 6 is worth a look.
Is play sand any good?
It's washed, so people assume it's fine, but the particles are really small. On a clay lawn it slows the drainage down and makes things worse. That's in video 2.
In video 4, which is older, I said play sand might do if you couldn't get sports sand. I hadn't tried it then, I was going on what people told me in the comments. Video 2 is the newer one, and that's the advice I'd go with.
Where can I get sports sand?
It's hard to buy in small amounts, because it's sold by the lorry load. My best advice is to make friends with a greenkeeper at your local golf course. That's in video 3.
