DIY vs PRO Lawn Level - Are these the Best Tools to Level a Lawn?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.ค. 2024
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Comparing two common tools people use to level their lawn & the PRO's and cons of each. The landzie lawn level (or lawn lute) and how it compares to levelling with a DIY wooden pallet. How to level your lawn with each tool. I have been provided the landzie lawn level for testing in this video.
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Thanks
Just water and do not cut
The comments here are very helpful too. I just used a pallet weighed down with 10kgs to level top soil before seeding and it seemed to have worked very well. Thanks for the vid- I can confirm it is very satisfying making the tool yourself!
I used a pallet. I found by using a standard rake (flipped) to spread my topsoil and then the pallet afterwards to level and mix worked perfectly.
Great video, which dispels the many hacks "make a lute yourself" type videos. £100 (now £110) is quite a bit; but if you are getting deliveries of sand and materials and comparing to getting a landscaper to visit to fix it becomes very reasonable. Many Thanks!
When I was re-turfing my lawn I rotorvated it which left it really lumpy but used a pallet to level it out. Worked an absolute treat. Had to way it down a bit though.
Yeah works much better is fresh soil
Brilliant video. I agree with the storage issue. Keeping a pallet around takes up so much space!
but you can prop it upright and use it to store tools, or use it as intended as a pallet to keep boxes off the ground and dry. when needed as a leveler you can add a pole to it using a hoe or a shovel to tie to the pallet and add bricks on top to give it more weight if needed. good work out for free
A pallet works well if you're levelling soil to lay a new lawn; it moves quite a bit of soil easily and gets you to the point where you could then start using a lute for the finer adjustment (plus you need a longer and wider "string" on the pallet than Matt was using, otherwise it will likely break, cut into your hand, and break your back becasue you have to bend to keep it level to the ground).
Yes I agree with you, the string could be improved that was builders line and wasn't really ideally but all I had at that time.
I used a similar method with a pallet and cut sections of old hose pipe for handles and put rope through them
Really appreciate your channel, thanks mate
Cheers bud 👍
If you want to go the extra mile, drill a few half to 1.25cm holes in the lawn facing side of the pallet to emulate what the lute does.
Good explaination and arguments. Thanks!
Looks like you are using the natural weight of the pallet but not JUST the natural weight of the lute. Adding weight to the pallet makes a huge difference.
How am I not using the natural weight of the lute, there is no weight added. I don't understand what you mean?
@@GardenLawncareGuy cause youre pushing it
True but that's how it's supposed to work going back and forward is one of the key merits of using one vs other methods that you can't do that with. In my opinion and experience even if I added some bricks to it would not be, manoeuvrable or as quick as you can't move it back a forward and it would take significantly more work. Its definitely an option to use depending on the needs and also more effective in situations like open soil areas and rough grading. I have used pallets and long blocks of wood before for sure. For larger areas a tow behind changes things because it reduces the manual work and increases the ammount passes you can realistically do
@@GardenLawncareGuy absolutely get your point... You're working it in(pressure) with the lute, not just a pass. I have 3/4 of an acre, so a pallet drag behind a ride on mower does a good job👍🏼
@@emlynhughes4695 yes for that size a ride on is a good solution for sure. Would be there all day for the whole lawn with any of the manual methods
I like both of them and you can store the lute on the pallet!
If you attached a broom type handle to the pallet you would be able to push and pull it more easily especially if it was a smaller size like the lute. Just a thought.
Off topic but after advice, I moved into my house 5 years ago to a lawn of weeds 3 foot high. It’s now at a standard of generally good grass with a bit of clover and crab grass (don’t know the correct name) Problem now is as I’ve used different grass seed over the years I have area’s growing at different speeds and looks patchy after a few days. I’ve bought 5kg All American dark green lawn seed and was wondering do I kill it all back and re seed from scratch which I don’t really want to do or giving a couple of years over seeding will it take over and even out. Cheers
What do you use for top dressing?
I use a bbq grill from an old weber on the end of a rope. works a treat.
Nice improvisation!
Excellent video
The pallet works well on bare soil. The issue doing it on a lawn is that it's not easily moved around, for 1 drag you can do multiple with a lute. I'd imagine the better alternative to a lute would be to use a rake upside down to push the soil into the low spots. All in the lute works best and I have actually seen them for as low as £59 recently!
Agree its much easier on grass
Love your video's!!! I live in Toronto Canada, and have been binge watching your videos. Thank you soo much for all the info you are putting out there, it has been a great help. If i may ask a question what kind/type of sand do you recommend to use for leveling? Thanks
Thanks 👍 the dressing I use silica sports sand
What sort of sand is that?.. if the areas of uneveness are larger, should you use top soil to fill them?... thanks.
Great video Matt. I have a lute and need to level in front and back garden. I was thinking of compost or top soil. Do I need to put seed down as well when I level the lawn? Thanks Matt
You can include seed if you want to thicken things up or are planning soke deeper levels as it can choke out existing grass is too deep
What is the soil mixture your using?
Good vid. I would love to see a vid on how you mow. With the double thick lines. That would help me no end!
Thanks for the suggestion, I have that planned soon!
Great Vid. Thank you. : )
How heavy is the Landzie level? I bought one from eBay years ago and it's so heavy it doesn't do a great job and the edges dig in. The proper lawn levels used by most on TH-cam look feather light and seem to glide over the turf.
A chain link fence gate also works great.
Thanks for the tip bud
Excellent video again as usual! please can you also recommend best soil for leveling the lawn? I see you are using sand or is it 50/50 mix? I used top soil from wickes for leveling my lawn, didn't have the best results.
Use 50 50 sand and potting soil mix that works the best.
Hi, thanks for your videos. Just a question can we use Seaweed, Nitrogen Liquid and Iron sulphate, the three fertilisers that you used, together. I appreciate your comments. Thanks
Yes, check the labels though in most cases it's fine
£99 for that lute I can live with but my god are those compost spreaders expensive I just can’t justify getting one of those a cheaper alternative would be good to find
I looked and thought the same they are so expensive for what they are. I'm gonna try and modify a my old garden roller that's not really used any more.
Useful timing - I badly need to level my lawn this autumn - I've actually got an eBay lute but was thinking a pallet might be quicker over a larger area, plus being that bit wider you'd think it would be even flatter but your demo has me wondering now. However are you levelling with sand there? I'd be using topsoil so not sure if that makes much difference to the experience?
Hi Paul, I am using topdressing 70/30 mix, probably not much of difference along as its dry. The dressing should be easier to spread than topsoil also
Great vid! for DIY does it need to be heavy or light? I saw some videos adding bricks to put weight on it but your lanzie looks featherlight and glides easily.
The weights on the DIY would more be to compensate the fact its difficult to move flat and wants to lift up when you pull it. Also the dressing I used is good quality and dry which makes a massive difference
Hi Lawrence, I've got a large clay soil lawn measuring 45m x 9m. I leveled my lawn 2 years ago with a digger before I seeded, and it was perfect. But now, I've got lots of holes and bumps everywhere. Is it a good idea to top dress with sand and use the pallet method to fill the holes in?
You can level the lawn but don't use pure sand. Either finely screened topsoil will be fine or a turf dressing of soil and sand mix
Great video as usual but the lawn lute works for me !
You should use the same movement of the "tools". With palet you didn't do reciprocate movement on each spor of sand.
I first used a pallet but found awkard to use as you can only pull it, I had seen the lutes on Y tube so I bought some steel and built my own (if you have a welder you can do that or if not nuts and bolts will work) advantage is you can push and pull ,much easier .
I've always used a pallet. It works pretty well when you add some ballast to it.
I think more weight would help it 👍
As usual a very informative video as your very watchable I really do enjoy them & have learned so much from you!
I wouldn’t be surprised if you got noticed by one of the main channels as I’m sure you wouldn’t be out of place on the big screen so move over Alan T! 🤣
Looks great, can’t wait to get it after almost 3 months….
Thanks Michal, this is actually an older video so it's already looking awesome 😎
@@GardenLawncareGuy your delay is still actuall…
Hi
Just scarified lawn once by mistake put on the deepest setting instead of just the lightest settings
Should I just water an leave it
What would you suggest
Yes if no rain you can water and let it repair
Hi useful video. What type of sand soil mix u use and where do u get the top dressing from?
Hello its 70% sand and 30% dressing gardenlawncareguy.com/shop/soil-dressing/70-30-top-dressing-bulk-bag-1000kg/
Thank you Sir . Is this the same 70/30mix you use for leveling an extremely bumpy lawn? Thank you in advance.
Yes if it'd extremely bumping you can use this also as a starting point, the dressing is for fine levelling work gardenlawncareguy.com/shop/soil-dressing/bulk-bag-top-soil-850kg/
What type of sand??
Matt you could make a homemade drag mat , i made one works really well.
I will look into that dave and maybe test it out.
Dave, it would be good to see your "drag mat". I'm looking at making a lute but never seen anything that resembles a mat.
Pallet deffo needs weight and longer rope ,made a loot out of metal handle, bracket ,and a metal outdoor mat.
where do you buy your sand/what sand do is best to level a lawn? uk also
70/30 pre mixed topdressing is the best for me this is exceptional gardenlawncareguy.com/shop/product-category/soil-dressing/. I also used the rolawn one too in the description section.
hi what are you using for leveling material? is it compost and sand mixed together?
70/30 topdressing mix sand and soil
@@GardenLawncareGuywhat type of sand please?
The pallet and string option demonstrated the issue I had with a home made tool made from two zip tied together redundant shelves from my old cooker, excessive bending to ensure that the tool remains flat on the lawn, I tried using longer string but I still needed to bend over more than was comfortable. I bought a no name lute with a long handle which I have found more usable, Shaun ? from Lawn Right gave a good tip when using the lute, rather than pushing the lute he suggested pulling it over the material especially with the first couple of passes.
Yes, when it's on the string it wants to lift up as you drag it unless you crouch down low. Pulling it can be easier yeah that good, just to move the soil a little
I read somewhere that you shouldn't use sand for levelling unless there is already sand present, is that really true?
I have a lawn that I've taken a path out from underneath and it's bumpy - I eventually want to move to a reel mower so it needs some levelling. Is sand fine or should I be looking more for top soil?
Hi Scott this was topdressing. 70% sand 30%topsoil mix. For fine levels I use that. For more than 1-2inch then probably go topsoil
@@GardenLawncareGuy thanks mate. I don't think I have anything worse than an inch, just a lot of dips.
Was a rip up and turf job a few years ago and I had no idea what I was doing. Only this year have I started wanted to push things onto the next level.
That levelling tool looks good for the price, I may invest when the time comes for my project!
Yeah it definitely made light work of moving the dressing around. I have used pieces of long wood etc before but the lute is far superior
If you move to sand you always have top it up with the same material. You want to avoid different layers of sub material.
Even a loam mix like used in the video.
As Matt said, more than a couple of inches go fine topsoil.
Or use rubber matting like premier lawns put on his video a few months ago. I made one the same it works a treat.
👍
Would a hard bristle broom work for this task?
To some extent but you would struggle with levels as you need a wide surface area contact really
I am planning on killing the lawn off and starting again. I want to level it off. Would you suggest rotovating the dead grass and level it off with sand and top soil? Or just level over the the dead grass? Many thanks Paul
Depends really how compacted etc it all is. If you rotavate under you will disturb alot of weeds likely and it can sink over time too.
@@GardenLawncareGuy very good point about sinking in over time. Thanks 👍
@@paulhopkins686 Years ago, I simply put 20 tonnes of soil over a 95m² lawn. That prevented the awful grass and weeds from getting sunlight and they simply died off. Seeded over..bingo, a lovely lawn.
@@janicewilson9827 thanks Janice
How does a lute manage with topsoil?
The key I would say with all medium is that it's dry. If it's compost, soil, dressing will be fine providing that it's dry. It becomes a nightmare to work with wet and even if the ground is too wet makes things difficult
Great video - I think the lawn lute is a must investment for long term.
If you are planning for this work long term then I tend to agree alan
Matt - @ 1.59 in to the video, where did your cat disappear to? 😁
Platform 9 3/4 🎩🔮
When my dad used to do his he used a sweeping brush ...🤔
Why are lawn lutes so expensive?
You can also get some free scrap wood from a construction site (with their permission) and make a lute. Best of both worlds.
I dragged an 8ft by 4ft pallet to level my soil before seeding to pull up any root fodder I screwed 5inch screws into it at the back of pallet so there was 2 inch sticking out it was a great lockdown exercise 😂 got brilliant results though
Nice effort! You do reap the rewards from putting the effort in
@@GardenLawncareGuy Deffinately. I just need to put more effort into weed control. Any tips on that like the best weed killer that's kind on grass would you recommend or it a case of "get up off your backside and pull them out" 😂
For home owners it's basically this amzn.to/2VfazWE or resolva
@@GardenLawncareGuy Fair enough I'll give it a try cheers. Btw your videos are brilliant I've learnt so much from your tips and methods I'll look forward to your autumn and winter care tips 😀
Have you ever tried a cheaper lute or are lanzie so much better but double the price
Which cheaper lute do you mean?
@@GardenLawncareGuy hi there are several on eBay for around £49.00 and they are made in a workshop in the uk. The only difference that I can see is the landzie has 5 bars and these cheaper ones has 4 bars. But they are 30mm angle bar by 1.2 mm thick
Not getting phased when that lady with the pushchair walked by gets a like from me
Ha ha already stopped about 5 times for cars and other people so just cracking on to get it done ✔
This is the equivalent of comparing how well a lawn mower cuts grass running vs not running. Without either adding weight to the pallet or just dragging the lawn level instead of pushing and working it across the lawn it's an unfair test that favors one over the other. It would be hilarious if the full pallet had too much weight and spread out the sand on a single pass, so it was cut in half to make it light enough to be ineffective.
The pallet is far heavier than the lute already and the fact the lute can be pushed or pulled is by default its most advantageous feature
What happened to the hedge ?!
Took it out, filled up now with a lavender hedge hope it takes. The beeches were poorly planted and looked bad still after 4 years of being there so got fed up
Pero poniéndole peso al palet? Y pasarlo con el tractorcito? But putting some weight on the palet? AND pushing with the grass machine? Sorry the inglish 😸
The ‘’ DIRT DRAG ‘’ Is for leveling DIRT ! The lawn rake is for established grass... that you’re trying to level or fine-tune with sand or soil , If I was trying to level my dirt before sod I would much rather have the pallet because dragging the pallet with the added weight of the wood will make dirt grade flatter.. if I was to use the lawn leveling rake on dirt it would be counterproductive and would almost be impossible to level your dirt with the back-and-forth motion that the leveling lawn rake is made for so this is not really a fair comparison between the two both are for different jobs of leveling different surfaces in my humble opinion.
I see you have removed some of your plants out the front
Yeah got rid of the beech trees, planted up some lavender now hopefully I can get a nice lavender hedge going!
Hi L
the lute you went back and forth, making it get 3-4 passes. Where as just walking and dragging the pallet is just as effective. Pallets are 100% free, just throw it away when you are done.
For the pallet, this one is too light, you need to put some weight on it and pull it.
time 2 make a wooden one be cheaper.
The pallet is meant for bare or new lawns as it spreads and levels - the lute levels and compresses
It isn’t much a comparison as both have its uses differently
You can't create a successful comparison if you don't use the same technique. You just dragged the pallet over the sand - whereas the lute was used as a rubbing action.
That is the comparatively how they are used and one drawback of using a pallet that many more passes are needed for a similar impact. Just as a hand saw would compare to an electric one - you cant use the same technique as they are not the same tool.
I just hired a wacker plate for 44 quid a week.........
Does it level the soil?
@GardenLawncareGuy better than a piece of metal or wood on a pole or string lol.
It also compacts it.
This is a nice ad for the lute but not very honest
Put some weight in the pallat
You need more weight on that pallet... put a breeze block in it, also the wood needs to be a perfect cut... pallet wood is round and will be warped... The lawn rakes should last about 20 years so works out cheap per use, you'll look a nob head dragging a pallet about your front lawn.
You’re not using the pallet the right way.
The lute is obviously better and made for the job, but im glad you gave the last point to the pallet as most people trying to better their garden on a tight budget will not be buying a lute and if you hadn't given the last point to the pallet, it would look like a lute sponsored video just showing that if you don't use a lute, you're a sorry loser and you will achieve trashy results.. personally I'd sooner try a yard broom to spread the sand but hey ho!?
We tried to fairly reflect the pro and cons of each. Of course a purpose built tool is more effective but with any tools there's a cost. And it's balancing out if that is worth the cost for you personally or not and there's another way that works better for you
Bet this guy doesn’t have a wife or GF lol
The Palette is not so good 😎
No, it did not do a great job of moving the dressing
Sorry mate I smell a rat with this video, great content as always but don't sell out...