Removing the lawn

[rjw2]

Whats the best way to remove the lawn, spade, cut and lift, Or weedkill and then remove 50 mill or so of soil prior to gravelling. Any thoughts, as a turf striper is to expensive for the area, and just thought the weedkill method whould be easier and less rubbish to shift. About 50 sq metres

[Tony McC]

I'd strip the turf and then stack it to may a loam bank. Simply poisoning the ground may seem easy, but it leaves you with an organic-rich upper layer that will probably cause problems with the gravel covering in the medium-term.

And what's the gravel for? Is this just a decorative area or is it to be a hard-standing? If you're planning on it being a hard-standing, you need a sub-base, so you've no real option other than to excavate to formation level.

[rjw2]

A decortive area, I thought It would have killed the roots so as not to cause future problems, and Ive no room for a soil bank, I`d have to skip it....... ??? Might have to get the spade out then

[danensis]

Just stack the turves up on the edge of the pavement, and someone will liberate them PDQ.

[essexpaver]

have a look on www.hss.co.uk i found there turf cutters very fast and easy to use