Removing entire grass lawn, any tips?

[peterb]

Hello! My significant other and I bought a house last July here in sunny Chandler Arizona and we want to completely remove the grass front and side lawns and most of the grass in the back yard as well, leaving a small portion of grass for her 6 year old to play on. Has anyone here ever had their grass lawn completely removed? We need some tips. I am definitely not doing that work myself, but will be doing all the planting of cacti and succulents after the grass is removed. I assume there needs to be weed control plastic sheets under the rock we are planning to put down? The soil is rather heavy with a lot of clay, so I'm also assume we will need to work in some kind of gravelly amendment or something to aerate it.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Peter

[keith]

Hello Peter, I removed my entire back lawn myself you can see the end result in "Rock garden so far". it took over 2 years chucking the dead grass mixed with dirt into my yard waste can.

I think only bermuda grass grows there ? If I do it again I will hire somebody and rent a dumpster.

Most people do put down a weed control fabric I didn't. Use organic to amend your soil, even coffee grounds. Arizona even though I lived there for 3 years I did very little yard work except pulling weeds. Too hot plus I was a renter. I like Palo Brea trees they are cool looking.

[cactushobbyman]

I have not done it yet, but have been thinking about it. My front lawn, about 1800 sq. ft., would be a big job. It is bermuda grass. I was told by a local nursery that I should have treated it last fall with something, forgot the name, and just rototill it in come springtime. I was worried about the roots, they can be very deep. Maybe it would compost in over time, but maybe to rich of a soil. When I repair the sprinklers the root mass is 3 inches thick give or take. My soil underneath is sandy loam that I had brought in when I built the house. I do know after I remove the grass I will have to decide whether or not to put down chicken wire to keep the gophers under control. They are bad out here in the country. After that, weed cloth. I know I will have to bring in soil of some type to raise the whole area to recover the thickness of the grass and to elevate for drainage. I'm guessing around 12 yards, 24 pick-up loads. I can have it brought in, but with sidewalks and driveways, that's too much weight. I could have it dump on the street and brought in by hand, but that's too much . My mixture would be topsoil, DG about 3/8 to 1/2", and we do have some color DG available. Here in CA they are talking about metering private wells, just more big brother, but I'm wanting to do it because I'm tried of mowing, repairing sprinklers(hard water) and the electric to run the pump to water. I still have a backyard fenced that is bigger so I will still have a lawn to keep me busy and another acre or more to mow, but I use a riding mower on that.

[peterb]

It is a fairly standard procedure here in suburban Arizona, it turns out. Everyone has pretty much the same protocol. Estimates have not been too bad to have it done, either. There's a "no Bermuda grass guarantee" from one of the contractors, which is cool.

Thanks for the suggestions,

Peter