Sod Installation & Lawn Replacement

Floratam St. Augustine is the default across Palm Beach County — it is vigorous, widely available and handles our heat and rain. It needs at least six hours of sun and is the variety chinch bugs target first. For shadier lots, Palmetto or Bitter Blue St. Augustine perform better. Empire Zoysia gives a finer, denser lawn at higher cost, and Bahia is the economical choice for large unirrigated areas.

Keep traffic off for about two weeks while the roots knit into the soil. Give it a gentle tug at the two-week mark — if it resists lifting, it has rooted. Normal use is fine after three to four weeks.

Heavily and often at first: roughly twice a day for the first week to ten days, then tapering to once a day, then to a normal deep-and-infrequent schedule by week four. New sod fails from drying out far more often than from anything else.

Once it has rooted, usually around two to three weeks. Let it grow a little taller than normal for that first cut and make sure the mower blades are sharp so the new turf is cut cleanly rather than pulled.

We do not recommend it. Sod laid over old turf sits on a layer of decaying organic material instead of soil, roots poorly, and buries whatever weeds and pests were already there. Removing the old material is the difference between a lawn that lasts and one that thins out in a year.