Like Hardwood said, you will want to get the area cleaned-up and leveled prior to spreading the loam. You should have atleast a gentle slope away from the house. If the base is fresh be real careful about driving over your septic field and even more important is the main tile from your house to the septic. I've heard of allot of people having trouble with the soil not being packed correctly beneath this main and when it does compact, it pinches off the tube to the septic tank. Do-do comes back into your new house. That's real bad!

After you've gotten the base established with your rake, box scraper, pulverizer or whatever (either works), be hopeful of a nice rain. This will settle your grade (from working it, some areas that you worked may have more fluff than others) and may make some gulleys or mounds as it settles. You can then visually check it out from a distance and from several angles to see how it looks and make adjustments accordingly.

Depending upon how large your lawn is you may want the loam dropped in one spot or several. I use my loader to fill in and start at one corner and drop several (Half dozen or so) bucket loads about 4 feet apart or so and then back drag to level it. Once I've worked a corner out, I then try to do rows and get it pretty level to desired thickness of about 4". Since I'm not a professional, I cheat and poke sticks in the ground and wrap masking tape at the desired thicknesses. In the area prior to where I'm working. Doing it this way is like laying strips of asphalt to getting uniform thickness. I keep back dragging sections at a time to get them level and smooth. When the entire job is filled, I back drag N to S and then E to W and then at diagonals. That way all the gulleys get backdragged level. At the end only a slight tilt is necessary on the bucket so you are not pushing much dirt and that it doesn't flow much over the side edges of the bucket making large ridges. I then go over it with a lawn tractor pulling an upside down wooden skid (like 36" x 42" hooked to the tractor by a chain anchored at each front corner with enough chain slack, so it is about 2 to 3 feet behind the hitching point. The hitching point should bring the skid up at the front just slightly. I throw some blocks at the rear. This gives me a finish level and breaks up some of the clumps. Very little hand raking is then necessary. I usually broadcast my seed and then go over it again with the skid to work it in. Then pray for light rain frequently for the next week or so. I generally broadcast 12-12-12 fertilizer and work that in as well. Hydro seeding is better but you either need to rent equipment or have it done.

Don't work the ground when it is wet otherwise you will get big soil clumps that look like rocks and breakup like cement. You need good conditions. If you wait too long and get in a summer dryspell you can't retain enough moisture for seed germination. Hydro seeding is definitely better when planting in dry weather conditions, since the chipped paper or whatever helps to retain the moisture. Manual sprinkling may also be a must. I broadcast my grass seed allot thicker than specified to get a real full lawn. Keep the lawn growing with moisture and cut it "long" when it becomes necessary. There may be a number of methods to get the same final results. I've given you my method which seems to work for me.

Lots of luck with your project!!

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