Q&A for How to Level a Bumpy Lawn

When your lawn has standing water and gets uneven, start by finding where the water is coming from. Often, it's runoff from the driveway, rain gutters, or sprinklers. Fixing those can stop more water from pooling up. For lawns that naturally collect water, try aerating with a spike or core aerator to improve drainage. For worse cases, adding a lawn drain to divert water or a French drain to help the soil drain may be needed. Those work great where the yard is low, the dirt is heavy clay, or the soil is super compact. Dealing with the excess water will help make your lawn smoother and healthier. The key is figuring out the source and using the right solutions for your situation.

If you’re hiring a professional to level a large, very uneven or sloping lawn, you may be looking at a price tag of around $2,000 or more. However, if you just need to flatten out a few lumps and bumps, the cost may be closer to $500. You’ll save a lot of money by doing the work yourself, but you’ll likely still need to spend some money on materials and tools.

Yes. This process is known as topdressing. Aerate your lawn first to allow the topdressing to penetrate better, then rake the soil mixture over any low spots or bald patches. If your grass is healthy and the depression you’re filling isn’t too low, you may not even need to reseed—just let your original grass peek through. You might need to reseed in bald areas or in places where you’ve filled a large hole.

Yes, your soil should be moist before you lay down any new turf or sod. Water it thoroughly 24-48 hours before you lay down the turf, so that it’s moist and well-saturated but not soggy or muddy. You’ll also need to water the new turf well after you lay it down.

Lawns can become bumpy over time due to various causes, some of which interact with each other to hasten the creation of dips and bumps. For example, lawns subjected to freeze and thaw cycles get compacted at varying levels across different areas of the whole lawn, which can lead to the creation of dips here and there. Car, bicycle and even foot traffic over a lawn can cause different areas of the lawn to be compressed, while unaffected areas stay at the original level. Digging by people, animals and equipment can also make lawns bumpy, especially if the holes are not evened out after they’re made. Natural subsidence or sinking may be another cause, depending on where you’re located, as well as pooling of water in some areas of the lawn. Damage from poor maintenance, insects, tree roots, drought, shade, and misuse can also cause uneven lawns.

To level uneven grass, you can use a lightweight lawn roller. And you can also top dress the lawn to fill in any low spots in the lawn, and if needed, add new lawn seeds to fix bare patches. You’ll find full instructions for both these methods outlined in the steps above.

Unless the lawn usually grows in a sandy soil environment, sand is not a good choice for leveling a lawn. Sand is not able to hold water well; rather, it drains water quickly, making it a poor choice for lawns that need to cope with hot summers and loss of moisture. Sand can also turn very hard if placed on top of a clay soil. If you want to use sand, mix it with some topsoil first and avoid adding it as the only leveling material.

Spring is usually the right time for rolling a lawn because the grass is refreshing itself after its winter rest. Since the roots of the grass will be in growth mode, they'll cope with the soil compaction from the rolling and the grass should continue to grow properly. Just be sure to use a lightweight roller, to avoid compacting the soil too much and damaging the roots of the lawn.

You can put sand on your lawn but only when it has been mixed with a topsoil appropriate for your grassed area. Sand by itself will harden if it comes into contact with clay soils (making a concrete-like mass that is unsuitable for growing grass) and it has poor water retention (making it useless for retaining moisture during the hotter months). As such, be careful to ensure that adding soil to your lawn will benefit it.

There could be many reasons why your grass is dying. If you live in an area that experiences droughts often, then your grass might be dying due to dehydration. If you get an overly large amount of rain, on the other hand, then your grass could be dying because it is too hydrated. Try fertilizer if it is too wet, and water it often if it is too dry.

Contact your local sod farm. They will tell you what type of grass grows best for your area and soil type.

Any type should work. Just make sure the lawn is established before letting dogs on it -- wait at least a month or two.

Generally, moles don't do any damage to foundations.