Stripping a Lawn Methods

• 1). Cut the lawn into strips of 1 to 2 feet using a sharp spade or edger. Pull up each strip, ensuring that even the deep taproots are cut clean from the soil. A three-tined garden fork may work better if the soil underneath the strip is loose. Stack the lawn strips either for disposal or to sell as new sod.
  
  
• 2). Tear up the yard using a heavy duty tiller. Churning up the grass keeps the original organic material in the yard while creating a suitable soil bed for a new layer of sod. It does, however, take some effort to maneuver the machine and it exposes the under layer of soil to weed seeds.
  
  
• 3). Kill your grass by covering it with newspaper, cardboard or dark plastic. This process takes several months, but it's effective in creating a receptive layer for the new sod. All it requires is plugging the seeds into the dead spots.
  
  
• 4). Spray herbicide on the grass to kill it quickly. The downside is that a strong breeze or rain can spread the herbicide to other plants in your garden or lawn and kill them, too.
  
  
• 5). Investigate the lawn and the soil after removing the grass and search for insects that are harmful to your grass. Take care of this problem before installing new grass, lest you waste your money and have to start over soon.
  
  

Planting Grass Methods

• 1). Determine the area and total square footage of your yard before buying new grass. Height multiplied by width is the simple formula to determine rectangular and square lawn footage, but it will take some more advanced formulas to calculate the area of curved yards.
  
  
• 2). Spread a layer of organic compost material and fertilizer over your lawn to give it a healthy foundation. It should be a layer about 3 to 4 inches thick. Kill weed seeds by laying a thin sheet of plastic over the soil for about two weeks.
  
  
• 3). Buy high-quality seeds. Inspect the label, which should indicate how fresh the seeds are and should not include "weeds" or "other crop seed" on the label. Distribute the seeds by hand by sprinkling them across the yard in even proportion.
  
  
• 4). Soak newly arrived sod for a day or two. When it's moist, but not soggy, lay out the sod in a uniform pattern across the yard. Plan to ask for help because each strip of sod can weigh around 50 lbs. Kneel on plywood so you don't leave impressions on the soft soil.