For most homeowners, the area in front of their house is one of the most frequented areas on their property. After all, it’s where guests park and where children play. And even if you don’t live near a busy street with heavy traffic, your lawn may still suffer from ruts caused by cars driving up and down the street or from buses pulling into bus stops.
These ruts can be unsightly and they also make it more difficult to mow your lawn or maintain your landscaping. Fortunately, there are many ways you can fix these tire ruts, so read on for tips on how to fix tire ruts in lawn.
What are tire ruts?
In the simplest terms, tire ruts are indentations in your lawn caused by vehicles driving over them. The ruts may be very large or may only be a few inches deep, and they will often show up when a vehicle pulls into or out of a bus stop or parking spot.
However, ruts don’t need to be this deep or extensive to cause problems. Even if your lawn is perfectly flat and well-maintained, if tires are consistently traveling over your grass, they will sometimes create ruts in areas where there is little or no traffic.
There are some simple ways to avoid and prevent tire ruts from happening in your yard, including: If you park your car on the street, don’t drive over the bumpy lawn and throw the car into reverse.
Why do tire ruts happen?
In most instances, the cause of the ruts is a loose or uneven surface of the lawn. There are also several types of ruts to keep in mind. Here are the main types of ruts: Heavy, Heavy ruts are the most common form of ruts. They are caused by heavy vehicles such as trucks, buses, cars, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) that have rough surfaces, such as concrete and asphalt. Soft ruts are caused by vehicles traveling on soft surfaces, such as a lawn or concrete driveway.
For example, if you have an asphalt driveway, you will need to use a harder medium to absorb some of the impact. A soft surface typically has a low-friction quality that allows water to slide easily away from the wheels. This makes it more likely that water will erode the surface and create ruts.
How to fix them
Depending on the severity of the issue, there are two ways you can fix ruts in your lawn. The first involves choosing a replacement tire. If you feel it’s a severe problem, you can cut your existing tires down to fit your rut problem. However, this will leave you with more weight on the grass and possibly cause more damage.
An alternate solution is to buy a replacement that’s more appropriate for your lawn. The tread of most modern tires are designed to make them last longer. Once you’re down to a tire that is only 3/16″ or less, you can easily puncture it with a nail or a screwdriver. Then, you should move on to the following step. Tires and Dirt Removal Tires can have a tendency to stay wet for longer periods of time than you’d expect.
Remove the top layer of dirt in the area with a sharp shovel or rake
This is especially important in the area where tires usually puncture tires and the ruts form. At the beginning of the season, you can spot tire ruts in your lawn if there is a particularly low layer of dirt right along the road or bus stop.
This is where the vehicles tire has left a shallow depression that is less than an inch deep and usually less than a foot wide. Be sure to inspect the area with a shovel or rake to see if it is coated with dirt that has settled into the depression.
If the area has just recently been seeded or landscaped, the dirt and roots have not settled into the depression yet. If the soil in the area is packed down and the depression is significantly deeper than the vehicle tires would usually create, then you need to remove the top layer of dirt.
Add gravel and sand to create a new surface
The first thing you should do is purchase some gravel or sand and fill in any tire ruts in your lawn. This will give your grass a new, smooth surface and give it a chance to grow even better than it would if it were alone. This is particularly important if your lawn is near a busy street or in a neighborhood where children play.
You want to make sure that this area is safe and that you can monitor it from your home. While the original tire ruts may have occurred naturally, these are typically caused by people driving over the area and creating deeper ruts, so you should be careful to avoid them and if you do, you’ll want to fill in the ruts that are there.
Pick out the right mowing patterns. Next, it’s time to think about how to maintain your grass and how to keep the grass growing well.
Add straw to fill in any remaining holes
Piling up hay or straw is a great way to fill in these holes and create a more aesthetically pleasing lawn. All you need to do is put a generous amount of straw on top of the rut, then spread grass seed around the straw. Be careful not to plant in the mud underneath the straw, but it’s an effective way to fill in a large rut quickly and cheaply.
Use rubber grass seed to fill in ruts If the holes are only an inch or two deep, then it might be possible to use rubber grass seed to fill in the holes. Keep in mind that if you do this, you will need to water the seed frequently to prevent it from dying. You can even use grass clippings to fill in the ruts Grass clippings may not be as cost effective as grass seed, but they still work to fill in a rut.
Conclusion
Even though our lawn is a living thing and it changes over time, you can still use these tips to fix tire ruts in lawn. Use the tips we’ve provided in this article to get the job done. After all, it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labors.