Hey everyone! Over the past few summers here in Texas, the intense heat and lack of water have completely taken out my lawn. I'm planning to replace a chunk of it with decomposed granite. My patio is around 3.5-4 inches higher than my yard, which slopes down from it. I'm curious if I can just layer several inches of compacted decomposed granite directly on top of the dead grass (with some edging to keep it in place) without having to dig out the existing lawn or using gravel/stabilizer. Essentially, I'm looking at raising my yard to the granite's height. Also, I want to create a smaller area of fresh, native grass that will be surrounded by the elevated granite areas but won't be raised itself. Here are my questions:
1. How bad is it to install granite on top of my existing lawn without excavation? My soil is hard and compact, not clay.
2. Will having the grassy area lower than the granite cause drainage issues or a muddy mess?
3. If there will be issues, should I raise the grassy area to the same level as the granite, or just dig everything out to make it level?
1 Answer
It's generally not a great idea to just layer granite over your dead lawn. If you don’t remove the lawn first, the grass will break down over time, leading to the granite sinking and creating uneven spots. It's better to do it right the first time than have to redo it later.
Got it! So if I dig out around 2 inches of soil, would it be alright to put around 3 inches of aggregate and then 2-3 inches of granite? I'm just worried about raising my yard that way.