New Lawn & Sod Installation – Turf Installation

The most successful grass species for turf areas in the Pacific Northwest is “perennial ryegrass.” It is well suited to our cool climate, disease resistant and moderately wear resistant to high traffic areas. New lawns can be installed using seed or sod.

Sod Installation

While sod does cost more than seed, it is still usually the first choice for residential lawn installations. The most obvious benefit of sod is the immediate results! The new lawn is often one of the final steps in a landscaping project. The contrast from bare soil to lush green lawn creates quite an impact! Sod also establishes faster than seed. It requires less water in the early stages and it can be installed just about any time of year in our climate.

Seed

A newly seeded lawn has specific temperature and moisture requirements. For full germination, perennial ryegrass needs a minimum 7 degrees celsius nighttime temperature for 2 weeks and pretty much constant moisture for 10-14 days. The main benefit of seed is that it is less costly than sod and therefore suitable for large areas. The prep work for seed and sod is generally the same: scrape out the old landscaping, place a layer of sandy soil, then rake and roll the substrate until it is optimally graded. But remember, sod will require another day or 2 of labour for a typical installation, while seed can be put down in less than an hour.