Outdoor living · 2026

Backyard turf build

A bare, rutted side yard graded, based, bordered and laid in turf. Poolside, and flat enough to putt on.

Category

Outdoor living

Timeline

Nineteen days from bare ground to finished

Scope

6 line items

Services

Turf & hardscape, Outdoor living

Before to after

The same yard finished with flat green turf and a gravel border

Bare rutted dirt side yard churned up by machine tracks

Before

After

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Scope of work

Clear and grade
Compacted aggregate base
Timber borders set to line
Weed barrier
Turf laid, seamed and infilled
Gravel border detail

01 · The challenge

The yard started as bare sand churned into ruts, running between a wood fence on one side and a pool enclosure on the other. Sandy coastal soil moves, and a turf field that is not based properly telegraphs every low spot within a season. On a surface this long and this visible, any dip would be obvious from the pool deck.

02 · What we did

Graded first, then a compacted aggregate base brought up in lifts rather than dumped and raked. Timber borders set to a string line to hold the edge, weed barrier over the base, and the turf laid, seamed and infilled so the pile stands up instead of laying over.

03 · The result

A flat, drainable lawn that stays green through a Wilmington August and takes no water. The gravel border keeps the turf edge off the fence line where it would otherwise hold moisture.

On site