How to Use a Sod Cutter | Step-by-Step Lawn Removal Guide - video Dailymotion

Shiva Tanamala

Need to remove grass quickly and cleanly? A sod cutter is the go-to tool for taking up turf without digging by hand. In this video, we’ll show you exactly how to use a sod cutter for landscaping, lawn replacement, garden prep, or patio installation.  💡 Pro Tip: Water your lawn 1–2 days before cutting. Slightly moist soil makes sod removal much easier and cleaner. 👍 If this helped you, give the video a like, leave your questions in the comments, and subscribe for more DIY landscaping tips and equipment guides!  #SodCutter #LawnCare #LandscapingTips #DIYYardWork #GrassRemoval

Transcript

00:00Hello, this unit that we're going to talk about today is called a sod cutter. Now, just as the

00:19name implies, this is for cutting sod. If you have an existing lawn and you want to remove it and

00:27say it's been infested with bugs or with grubs and you want to strip your lawn and get rid of it,

00:35this would be a better choice than going along and using a rototiller, tilling up all the lawn and

00:41the grass and then having that job of raking and raking it all out and spending hours. Now, what

00:48this does is it will strip the grass off, roll it up and take it away. If it's bad grass, then you can

00:56spray it for grubs or whatever and then replace it at some point, but it leaves you a nice smooth

01:01surface as opposed to a surface that you have to rake to get smooth from using a rototiller.

01:08Let's say you're going to put in a above ground pool. You have to strip the grass off. You can mark where

01:14you're going to put your pool. You can go, usually they're circular above grounds. You can go all the

01:19way around it and cut the grass off very easily, but the beauty part about it is it's going to leave

01:26you a flat surface. If you have an irregular surface and you're putting your pool on top, even if you put

01:32sand or anything, eventually that surface underneath becomes very uneven and ragged and sometimes to the

01:39point allowing items to project through your bottom of your pool liner. Now, one thing people remember is to

01:50cut the soil, but say you're going to put a little dish in the, as a lot of people do, you know, you don't

01:56usually leave the pool bottom flat. You want to have a little deeper in the middle. Well, you can strip off

02:02the grass, but then you can go over it again and just cut the dirt. And by cutting the dirt, at least you're

02:07breaking it up. So it's very easily, very easy to rake the soil off. And again, still leaving you a nice

02:13flat surface underneath. It does a great job for that. It saves a lot of work, but it'll also allow

02:21you, if you're going to put foam underneath or sand, have a nice, perfect surface to work with.

02:27So some of the things that you need to know on a sod cutter is, this is the blade under here.

02:36This blade will be going back and forth very quickly. The wheel will be turning. So on this

02:44particular machine, it will cut you a swath of sod 18 inches wide. It will cut the sod to a depth that

02:52you can adjust. Right here with this lever here, you can adjust it up or down. You can make the blade go

02:59up or down. And I'll just show you here by unlocking it. You'll see the blade moves up and down. You can

03:09adjust that depth. Of course, it's going to be lower than the wheel in front. So you can adjust that

03:14depth, lock it, and then cut your sod. If you're going to get rid of your sod, you can make it very thin

03:23so that you don't take a lot of your soil with it. If you're going to keep the sod and use it

03:27somewhere else, you can make it a little thicker. Then it's easy to roll up because this is cutting

03:32it. It's up to you to roll it up. So you can cut it to the length that you want so that it's easy to

03:38handle, but you can make it a little thicker. Take it and put it in your other spot where you want to

03:43use it. Now that's all adjustable. And sometimes it depends on how firm or how good the grass is,

03:50is how thick you can make it as well. Now here's your other lever to do that, to release it and drop

04:01it. And a little tip when you're using it for the first time is because that blade is below the drum

04:08in the front or the drive wheel, dig yourself a little trench. Loosen it off, drop the blade down to

04:16the depth you think you want to try, lock it, and then you can go forward. Because if you don't have

04:21it locked in a little ditch to start off with, you're going to have to have the machine up in the

04:26air like this to start. And sometimes it gets going a little fast because the wheel will start turning,

04:31the blade's going. And what you do is you scoop it into the soil, you use it, and then as you go along,

04:38you're going to pick it up to pull it out of the grass. And that's how you get out of your cut.

04:42There is no reverse on these machines. So don't run yourself straight into a fence or run yourself

04:49into a spot where you can't get out. Because it's a little ugly when you have some grass underneath

04:54there and you're stuck against a fence or a wall or something. The only way to get it out is to

05:00pull it out. So that you want to avoid if you can. So the thing you're going to do is adjust that,

05:08lock your blade. I'm going to show you on this particular machine on this other side a couple

05:14of levers. All right, we've got a red one and a yellow one in this particular unit.

05:20When this red one is up, that sends power to the wheel. When this one's up, that engages and sends

05:32power to the blade. So the blade can go back and forth. That would be your operating position.

05:40You put your fail safe handy handle down. As long as this handles down, the things will operate.

05:47If this is up at all, or if you trip or fall or something happens, you let that handle go,

05:52everything stops, but the engine keeps going. So this has to be down. That's a safety handle.

05:58And you run your speed, full speed when you're using these units. Now you can't stand around and

06:04just walk at any kind of slow pace. The machine will dictate how fast it's going to go along.

06:10This, the red handle, is what engages everything. And what it's doing is pushing an idler against a

06:15belt that puts tension on it. And then the machine operates. So you can have both hands on the handles

06:22as you're using it. If you come along and you want to stop, you would pull this handle up

06:27and to stop the unit from going. Now, one thing to do is when you're loading it, or say you want to,

06:36you've got it at your property and you want to take it around to the backyard. Some people turn around

06:41and they just push it. Well, start the machine, put your drive wheel on, give power to the drive wheel,

06:47and then you can drive it around to your backyard or drive it back out or drive it up a ramp onto a

06:53truck or a trailer for transporting. And that way you can use the power of the unit rather than just

07:00trying to push it around because the unit is fairly heavy. And it takes a little bit to push this,

07:05especially if you're trying to go up hills or anything. So again, use this where you want to

07:12strip lawns. You want to replace a lawn. You want to put in a pool or have some reason that you want

07:21to take up putting in a deck or something. Some reason you may want to reuse the sod if it's good,

07:26or if it's not good, you want to dispose of it. Don't use it when it's muddy or too wet. And

07:34take your time when you're using it. And make sure when you transport this machine, particularly,

07:40that it's secure. Because if it tips over, you're going to have a hard time getting this thing

07:46restarted. So good luck on your projects. Hopefully you'll be putting a pool in soon

07:51and you'll think about this machine.

How to Use a Sod Cutter | Step-by-Step Lawn Removal Guide

Category

Transcript

Recommended