Levelling a large area of lawn

Hello,

I have moved into a "new build" house. The garden is essentially one large lawn which slopes gently at one side with maybe a 10 degree decline. I want to level an area on this slope on which to place a shed.
I have some bags (around 20 refuse sacks) of topsoil/lawn from where we dug flower beds out.
The lawn has quite poor drainage.

Is it possible to level the lawn using soil and compacting down manually? Or should I involve professionals?

Any other tips?

Thanks

Rick

 

Hi,

There are many ways to prepare a base for a shed.

However with a new build its likely your lawn is a thin layer of topsoil over recently added clay infill so its going to be settling for a good few years.

If you intend to stay there a while or put anything heavy in the shed then I would suggest removing the top soil, replacing with hardcore and laying a concrete base slightly higher than the level of the lawn so the water runs of the concrete , not the other way around.

An alternative would be to use flags instead of concrete, but still remove the soft topsoil and replace with hardcore.

Just using timbers on soft topsoil with poor drainage will soon lead to all sorts of problems.

There are modern alternatives, but never seen them used or costed.
eg ProBASE Garden Building & Shed Base System

 

Personally I'd do a concrete base with a water proofing additive in and vertical slabs to edge the main base, possibly sticking out a inch or two above your lawn height, to minimise the moisture to the bottom of the shed coming up from the lawn.
If you have bikes or other expensive equipment, it gives you the option to drill/screw/bolt a metal loop into the floor of the shed & concrete in which to run a chain through to secure items, as sheds can be easily broken into, and I know some mountain bikes can costs thousands, making unchained bikes in sheds an easy target.