How to Excavate High Spots in a Yard

Excavate high spots in your yard with a shovel and rake.

If your yard has a rustic, natural look, it will likely contain high and low spots throughout. If you want to give your yard a smooth, graded and professional appearance, you'll have to remove the hills and dips throughout. Achieving this task ranges in difficulty, based on the size of your yard and the high spots. With patience and the right tools, however, you can dig out the high spots and give your yard a smooth, professional-looking grade.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Wheelbarrow
• Pry bar
• Heavy rake
• Grass seed

Instructions

1. Use the shovel to dig into any high spots in your yard to remove the dirt and level the ground. Load excess dirt and grass into a wheelbarrow. If you have low spots in your lawn, you can use this dirt to raise these spots.

2. Remove any small rocks with the shovel. If you encounter large boulders that you can't lift with the shovel, slip a pry bar under one side of the rock and push on the bar until you can lift the rock. Position your shovel under the rock and lift it out, using others to help you, if possible.

3. Rake the recently excavated area with a heavy rake to create a smooth transition between this area and the lawn around it. The goal is to have a seamless transition between your existing lawn and the newly created smooth areas.

4. Plant grass seed in the newly leveled area. If the sod you removed during the excavation process is still adequately intact, you can push it into place so you don't have to wait for grass to grow.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have more high spots than low spots, fill the low spots with topsoil and add grass seed. Doing so will smooth out your yard quicker than digging out all the high spots.

• Ideally, your yard should grade gently away from your house to prevent water from accumulating near your foundation. Remove any hills to allow water to channel away from the building.

• You can rent a lawn roller, which is essentially a large rolling drum, to roll over the lawn to help you identify high spots.

References

• University of Connecticut Integrated Pest Management: Lawn Construction and Maintenance
• All About Lawns; Preparing Your Soil, Grading and Edging; Dawn West; Aug. 21, 2006
• Super Soil: Preparation for Lawn
• Grange Co-Op: Establishing a New Lawn