Levelling a telly-tubby lawn- where can I get the sand and topsoil?

[Tansie]

Other than buying it in itsy-bitsy bags like at B&Q, so the whole project'll cost hundreds of pounds?? Garden suppliers seem to only be interested in delivering a tonne of stuff- how on earth much is that?

The area concerned is possibly 8m squared, which needs covering to a depth of between 4cms and 1 cm i.e. a total of about 0.25m3 of material (how much would that weigh?!). I believe it's lawn laid over an old garden bed which has subsided to the extent you could twist an ankle!

I have read that you put dry sand and dry sieved topsoil on a dry lawn and work it in, maybe with reseeding where necessary as the blades of grass which protrude more than 75% of their length above the new surface will survive, so I'd probably not do the whole thing at once as the 4cm depth of material will smother the underlying lawn.

Any ideas? TIA

It sounds to me, if it's a very up-and-down lawn, that it might be easier to hire or borrow a Rotavator, and dig the whole area over. Then rake it level (with strings across if you like, to get it level), incorporate compost or peat (and a bit of sand if you wish, but not too much).

Compact it down a bit, (Gardeners World they usually walk on their heels over it) let it stand for weed seeds to germinate, get rid of them, and finally re-seed or turf the whole area.