Hello,
I’m currently in the middle of a total renovation project. Part of the work is to get the front and back yards in shape. These yards have suffered years of neglect and dumping. I have cleared off the big stuff, but what’s left is proving to be a pain to clean up.
Lots of shards of broken glass, small plastic household doohickeys, sharp pieces of splintered bricks, cinder clinkers of all sizes, old dog bones, you name it and it’s buried somewhere in this lawn. This is not a place to let the young ones out with bare feet.
So I’m trying to find some kind of walk-behind machine that will till up the soil and screen it at the same time. The yards are not very big, less than .5 acre total. My local tool rent-all guy has no suggestions, so I’m turning to this forum. Hopefully someone here can recommend such a machine? I have not done this kind of yard work before.
thanks,
pio
Replies
PIO
Machines do exist, but are big and expensive.
I have a lousy topsoil here with alot of rock, and short of buying truckfulls of topsoil you need to do something.
I asked a friend who works at a golf course and he told me of the machines used, but no one has one around here.
I ended up building a small screener myself and did the top few inches.
Good luck
Jeff
I have seen them.
Call an environmental company or a rental place.
people who search thru old munitions disposal sites use them to find the bullets etc.
yes, its called a square point shovel and rake
Go to your local Salvation Army or similar work force. Use Brownbagg's excellent idea. Treat these people kindly, get in their with them crank up the music. Before you know it a job well done and much cheaper and environmental friendly.
yes, its called a square point shovel and rake and a home made 2x4 frame with chicken wire stretched across it.Do it right, or do it twice.
Speak to some landscape contractors. There is a machine called a power rake which will separate out hard material while it tills the top few inches of soil fairly well. The contractor who hydroseeded my lawn used a power rake as part of the preparation.
It separates the rocks and such from the soil and piles them in windrows. They you can shovel them into a wheelbarrow. It works really well. You need to have the grading done first, because it only works the top couple of inches of soil. I'd recommend applying starter fertilizer before power raking because it will work it down a couple of inches. After cleaning up the windrows, people around hear tow a bedspring around behind a four-wheeler to smooth the soil. Then after final smoothing, another application of starter fertilizer is good.
If you want a showplace lawn, you need real topsoil, though, but you can make poorer soil work passably with fertilizer and, if available, organic matter.
One recommendation I've read is to prepare the soil, then water for three weeks. Most of the weeds will sprout. Then kill them with Roundup, then seed.
I don't know the cost of power raking. It was built into the cost of hydroseeding, which was 5 cents per square foot.
The power rake seems to be the right thing for this, I have not used one before. But I wish it could go deeper down. Thanks for the suggestion, I will visit the rental store and check it out.
the roto rake attached to a HP skidsteer might solve your dilema. Sodding contractors use it to weed out rocks and such prior to laying sod.
pio, a suggestion, make the phone calls, ie, whats it gonna cost to have a backhoe operator/ with dump truck, to haul in clean "dirt", while at the same time haul off the old dirt. Have your yard dimensions in front of you before you call. best of luck, Jim J, if you go that route don't forget to call Blue Stake
These folks http://www.glenmac.com/ recently acquired Cherrington Screeners and have the complete line on their site.
They also make a complete line of power rakes for just about any kind of tractor you can imagine.
I have no experience with them, but have hear that Cherrington is/was well-known in the beach cleaning biz.
K
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places that rent them are commercial renters - big dozers etc trench boxes etc.
That might explain why I'm having a devil of a time finding one of these to rent. All of the regular tool rental places have never heard of such a thing as the Cherrington Beach Screener. When I get to explaining what it does, I know there's no chance they have it. Even the local Harley/Cherrington dealer/rep did not know what it was... go figure. I will try the large equipment places next.