How to Level a Yard Yourself, and When It Needs More

You can level a yard yourself when the dips are shallow and the lawn over them is healthy: a thin layer of soil worked into the grass a few times a season, or a deeper dip lifted, filled and laid back, will fix it. When the whole yard is lumpy, the dips are deep, or the ground tilts toward the house, patching will not hold, and the lawn has to come off so the soil underneath can be levelled properly.

This post is the do-it-yourself side of the job: how to tell which kind of uneven yard you have, the two methods a homeowner can do with a shovel and a rake, and where those methods stop working. When it is past that point, our yard levelling and grading service strips, regrades and sods the yard in one job.

First, how uneven is it?

Before you buy a single bag of soil, measure. Twenty minutes tells you whether this is a weekend job or not.

• Lay a long straight board across the worst spots and measure the gap under it at the lowest point.
• Push a stake in at every dip and ridge you feel as you walk the lawn in straight lines. A few stakes in one corner is a small job. Stakes all over the yard is a different job.
• Watch it after a rain. Water that sits in the dips for a day, or runs toward the house, tells you the problem is the grade, not just the surface.

Our page on why a lawn goes bumpy goes through the causes: old trenches settling, frost heave in clay, roots, and builder’s fill. Knowing the cause matters, because a dip over a trench that is still settling will sink again however well you fill it.

Shallow dips: a thin layer of soil, a little at a time

For dips of a couple of centimetres in a lawn that is thick and growing, the gentle method works. Homeowners usually call it topdressing.

1. Mow the area short so the soil can reach the ground.
2. Spread a screened mix of topsoil and sand over the low spot, no more than about a centimetre deep.
3. Work it into the grass with the back of a rake or a push broom until the blades poke through. Grass buried completely under soil will die.
4. Water it in, let the grass grow up through it for a few weeks, and repeat until the dip is gone.

Do it while the grass is actively growing, in spring or early fall. It is slow, and a deep dip can take a whole season of passes, but the lawn never comes up.

Deeper dips: lift the sod, fill, and lay it back

For a low spot that is too deep for thin layers, cut the turf instead of burying it.

1. Cut an H or a cross through the turf over the dip with a flat spade, and peel the flaps back with as much root as you can keep.
2. Fill the hollow with topsoil in thin layers, pressing each one down firmly with your foot or a hand tamper. Loose soil settles, and an untamped fill becomes next spring’s dip.
3. Check it with your straight board, leaving the fill just a touch high to allow for settling.
4. Lay the turf back, press it down so the roots touch the new soil, and water it every day until it knits in.

This is the same thing we do for a few dips in an otherwise sound lawn.

What does not work

• Rolling the lawn. A heavy roller does not move soil from the bumps into the dips. On clay, it mostly packs the ground harder, which makes it drain worse.
• Dumping a thick layer of soil over the grass. More than a centimetre or so at once smothers the lawn, and you end up with bare patches on top of the dip.
• Laying new sod over the old lawn. Sod takes the shape of whatever is under it, so every bump shows through. Our post on laying sod over existing grass explains why the old lawn has to come off first.

When does it stop being a do-it-yourself job?

Patching works for a few spots. It stops working when:

• the whole lawn is lumpy, from one fence to the other;
• the dips are deep enough that you could lose a foot in them;
• the same spots sink again every spring;
• water sits in the low spots for days, or runs toward the foundation;
• the grass over the bumps is thin and weedy, so there is nothing worth saving.

On newer lots, from Stoney Creek to the Mountain, the builder’s fill around the house and over the service trenches can keep settling for years. Filling those dips by hand turns into a yearly chore, because the ground underneath is still moving.

What a proper levelling job involves

When a yard is past patching, we take the old lawn off the uneven area, roots and all, so we are working on the soil and not on grass laid over the bumps. Roots and rubble near the surface come out. The high spots are cut down and the low spots are built up in thin layers, each one compacted so it does not settle into a new dip. Topsoil goes on to the finished grade with a gentle fall so rain runs off instead of sitting in the grass, and new sod goes down tight and rolled, with a written care plan.

The backyard above is one of ours. The lawn under those mature trees was uneven across the yard, not in one or two spots, so filling dips one at a time would have left it lumpy. We stripped it, levelled the soil in compacted layers and laid new sod over the whole area, which is why it now reads as one smooth lawn from the fence to the shed.

If the yard also slopes toward the house, levelling the surface is not enough. The ground near the foundation has to be regraded so it falls away from the house, and the downspouts have to let out past it. We often do both as one job, with the same crew.

Short questions

When is the best time to level a lawn?

Spring or early fall, while the grass is growing and can root back in. Our season runs from late March or early April to the end of November, and a strip and sod job fits anywhere in it while the ground is not frozen or soaked.

Should I use sand or soil to fill low spots?

For thin layers worked into the grass, a screened mix of topsoil and sand spreads and settles well. For filling under lifted sod, use topsoil and tamp it in layers. Pure sand on top of a clay lawn can leave a layer that water and roots do not like to cross.

Is there anything to check before digging?

Yes. A long, straight dip running from the house toward the street is often an old trench over a water, gas or sewer line. Get a locate through Ontario One Call before you dig into it.

Do I need a permit to level my yard?

Small lawn levelling usually falls under an exemption. Hamilton’s site alteration by-law exempts lawn maintenance, landscaping and gardening when the fill is no more than 15 centimetres deep anywhere, drainage to the neighbours does not change, and no swale is changed or blocked. The City’s page notes that exemptions are confirmed in writing by City staff, so deeper fill or a bigger regrade is a question for the City before any soil arrives. We tell you before we quote when a permit is needed.

Get a free quote to level your yard

If your yard is past the weekend fix, call (905) 906-0671 or send the form on our site for a free written quote. Tell us roughly how big the area is and send a few photos of the bumps and low spots, after a rain if you can. We are fully insured, back our work with a 1-year craftsmanship warranty, and bill soil and sod at what they cost us, with no markup.