lawn
Scarifying, aeration and lawn renovation
£55 to £95 scarifies a lawn of about 100 square metres, and £135 to £175 covers 300. Turf choked with moss pushes that to £200 to £240, because the machine has to go over it twice. Hollow tine coring is quoted separately again, at £115 to £220.
What this covers
What it costs. £55 to £240 covers scarification on a domestic lawn, set by area and by how much moss is sitting in it. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Raking thatch and moss out of the sward
- Hollow tine aeration on compacted ground
- Overseeding into the lines the rake leaves
- Top dressing to level and improve the soil
- Clearing and removing the material that comes out
What is involved
Scarifying drags vertical blades through the sward to tear out thatch and moss, which is why a lawn looks ruined for a fortnight afterwards. Moss has to be dealt with first. Running a machine through living moss spreads it rather than removes it, so an iron sulphate treatment two to three weeks ahead is standard practice at £20 to £150. Blade depth is the judgement call that separates a good job from a bad one. Set 3mm into the thatch layer and the machine lifts debris; set 10mm and it lifts the grass plants along with it.
Aeration follows, and two quite different operations get quoted under that one word. Spiking pushes solid tines into the ground at £30 to £120 by lawn size, relieving surface compaction that closes up again within weeks. Hollow tine coring pulls plugs of soil out and drops them on the surface, at £115 to £145 for 100 square metres and £145 to £220 for 300. Coring is what actually fixes ground walked on by children and dogs all year, because it removes volume instead of shoving it sideways.
Seed and dressing go down while the holes are still open. Overseeding runs anywhere from £25 to £160 depending which guide you read, and a sand and loam dressing adds £35 to £180. September beats April across most of Britain: soil is warm, autumn rain is coming and weed seed has finished for the year. Debris volume catches people out. A mossy lawn of 200 square metres yields several barrows of sodden thatch, and shifting it is charged at £50 to £200.
Choosing someone for the job
Is the moss being killed off two to three weeks beforehand, or on the day the machine arrives? Blade depth belongs in thatch, not in soil, so get the figure in millimetres. Is the aeration quote for solid tine spiking or for hollow tine coring, given that roughly £100 separates them on one lawn? Agree who bags the thatch and what removal adds. Check the seed rate going down afterwards.
Common questions
When should a lawn be scarified?
September and early October across most of Britain, when soil is warm and autumn rain follows behind. March into April is the second window, though weed seed is active then and recovery takes longer. Midsummer leaves bare soil exposed at the worst possible moment.
What is the difference between spiking and hollow tine aeration?
Spiking drives solid tines in and displaces soil sideways, costing £30 to £120. Hollow tining pulls out cores and removes volume, at £115 to £220. Compacted clay needs the second; ground that drains reasonably gets by on the first.