[rich24uk]

Hi all. Am after some advice from anyone that has been in a similar situation. We've just had our front drive paved and have a left some room for a couple of nice borders and a lawn. As part of the work the ground level has risen about 2 inches and the old lawn that we had needs to be raised up. It's in a pretty bad way (due to the heavy machinery that was placed on it during the works) and is quite compacted (not to mention clay).

Would I be ok to simply raise the level with topsoil and re-turf over the top or does the original lawn need to be dug over? There will be about 2 inches of nice loam soil going over the top for the new lawn.

[robbodaveuk]

I personally, would treat the original lawn with a systemic weed killer, wait a couple of days then top soil and returf.

  Dave.

[tosca100]

In your area, your biggest problem with turf is that you must keep it well watered, or at best it will shrink and if you get no rain and can't use your hose, it will simply die.

Patching might be a better option till the weather is wetter.

[Goosegirl]

Personally, I would kill the grass off, rotovate it whilst incorporating lots of horticultural grit and, depending on the area and your pocket, either re-seed or get some good turf. Two inches isn't much of a height to help drainage problems on clay by putting topsoil on top. The effort and expense will be well worth it in time - believe me.