Roots Out, Whole Lawn Re-sodded — SE Calgary

A front-yard tree had been taken down, and what it left behind was the usual: a root plate and a web of roots running out under the lawn. Patching the hole and leaving the rest wasn't going to work — roots left in the ground keep it uneven as they rot, and a patch of new sod in an old lawn never stops looking like a patch. The homeowner wanted one front lawn that looked like it belonged to the house, not a repair.

Location & scope

Neighbourhood: SE Calgary
Services performed: Root removal, sod replacement, grading, screened topsoil

The process

1. Roots out. Pulled the root plate and the larger roots running out under the lawn, and hauled them away with the old turf — sod laid over roots settles into hollows within a season as they break down.
2. Strip. Cut out the old grass across the whole front yard, not just around the hole, so the new lawn is one piece with no seam between old and new.
3. Rebuild the soil. Filled the excavation with screened topsoil, compacted in lifts so the spot where the tree stood won't sink later.
4. Grade. Re-cut the grade flush to the walkway and sloping away from the house, so the new lawn drains instead of pooling where the roots came out.
5. Sod. Fresh #1 nursery sod across the full front lawn, seams tight, cut clean along the walk and the beds, then rolled.
6. Finish. Full clean-up, first watering, and a written watering schedule for the first weeks.

Materials

• #1 nursery sod
• Screened topsoil

Equipment

Bobcat MT100 track loader, dump trailer, sod roller.

Result

The root mass is gone, the ground under it was rebuilt instead of just backfilled, and the front lawn is one continuous piece of new sod — graded to drain and cut clean to the walk. No patch, no dip where the tree used to be.

FAQ

Can you lay sod straight over where a tree was?

Not if you want it to stay flat. Roots and grindings left under new sod break down over a season or two and the lawn sinks into a hollow there. We take the root plate and the larger roots out, rebuild the spot with screened topsoil compacted in lifts, and grade it flush before any sod goes down.

Do you remove the tree or grind the stump?

No — an arborist or stump-grinding service does that first. We take over once the tree is down: roots and grindings out, soil rebuilt, grade corrected, new sod. If the stump is still in the ground, book that trade first and then us.

See all our projects on Google →