Laying or seeding additional lawn

[apapuchi]

Hello all!

We are having decking replaced with 80% patio but would like the 20% (which is at the far end of the decking, furthest from the house) to merge into the existing lawn that is beyond the decking.

The deck is now up and it is soil and sand (and random crap) so how would we be best advised to approach this? I was thinking removing any rubbish and rubble, laying top soil, raking and seeding and then rolling turf on top. Is this sensible? Will we need to dig down and then build back up with new top soil?

Any advice is appreciate as I'm hoping we're capable of doing this part ourselves - what's being done professionally has pretty much broken the bank already! Thanks in advance for any insights 😊

Sounds like you're on the right lines. You'll need to remove all rubble and rubbish and get in nice and level. If you go for turf rather than seed, you'll need to factor in the thickness of that and dig a bit further down so it's level. Rake to a fine tilth.

I've never bothered with removing the existing soil and buying top soil to replace it. Having said that we have a dog, so have accepted that our lawn is never going to look amazing. If you've spent money on landscaping and want to do a professional job, I'd probably replace the soil. Wickes do some biggish bags for a few quid and the soil looks quite fine already, so you'll spend less time raking and removing stones.