How to lay sod: preparation, quantity and aftercare
6 min read · Updated 2026-10-12 · BuildCalc
Sod gives you a finished lawn in an afternoon, which is why it costs more than seed and why it fails more often. The failure is rarely the turf and almost always the ground beneath it or the watering afterwards. Get the preparation and the first fortnight right and sod is remarkably reliable.
Preparing the ground
Strip out the old surface, remove weeds, and dig or rotavate the top few inches, then firm it. Sod laid on loose soil settles unevenly and leaves a bumpy lawn within months; the answer is to water the prepared ground and tread or roll it before laying, so it is firm but not compacted.
Level the surface with a slight fall away from the house for drainage, and add a starter fertiliser if your soil is poor. The top inch should be fine and stone-free, because any bump in the base becomes a hollow in the finished lawn once the turf knits.
Working out the quantity
Measure the lawn, break irregular shapes into rectangles and circles, and add a small allowance — about five per cent — for cutting around edges and curves. This is deliberately modest: unlike tiles, grass offcuts can often be used elsewhere, so heavy over-ordering just produces turf that dies on the pallet.
Sod is normally cut into rolls or slabs of around ten square feet and stacked on pallets covering several hundred square feet. Ordering by the pallet is cheaper per square foot but ties you to a large area; small repairs are better served by a handful of rolls. Ask whether delivery is included and whether pallets are collected.
Laying and the first two weeks
Lay the sod the day it arrives. Start along a straight edge, stagger the joints like brickwork, butt the edges tightly without overlapping, and cut around curves with a sharp knife. Work across the area standing on boards rather than on the new turf, and water each section as you finish it.
For the next two weeks, keep the soil beneath the turf consistently damp, which usually means watering every day in warm weather. Tug a corner gently after ten days: if it resists, roots have knitted. Keep off it, mow it lightly and high once it has grown, and never let it dry out completely in the first summer.
Run your own numbers
Free calculators that answer the “how much” version of this question. They run entirely in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded or stored.
Common questions
How much waste should I allow for sod?
About five per cent for cutting around edges and curves. Sod offcuts are often reusable, so a large spare quantity usually just dies.
How often should I water new sod?
Daily for the first week or two in warm weather, enough to keep the soil beneath it damp until the roots knit into the ground.
BuildCalc provides general information and planning estimates only, not professional construction, engineering or electrical advice. Material quantities are illustrative and depend on your own project, products and local codes. See our full disclaimer.