Leveling and Topdressing Your Lawn: What It Is and Why It Matters

Elevate Outdoors
Jul 3, 2025
2 min read

A lush, healthy lawn doesn’t happen by accident—it takes the right care at the right time. One of the most effective but often overlooked services we offer at Elevate Outdoors is leveling and topdressing, a critical part of turf health that can completely transform uneven, patchy, or compacted lawns.

What is Lawn Leveling?

Over time, your lawn can develop low spots, dips, or uneven areas due to soil erosion, foot traffic, settling, or drainage issues. Lawn leveling is the process of correcting these imperfections by spreading a soil mixture evenly across your turf, helping create a smoother, more uniform surface. Not only does this improve curb appeal—it also enhances mowing, drainage, and turf health.

What is Topdressing?

Topdressing is the practice of applying a thin layer of material—usually a sand, compost, or soil mix—over the surface of your lawn. This layer works its way into the grass canopy and soil, helping to:

Improve soil structure
Promote root development
Enhance nutrient retention
Reduce thatch buildup
Encourage thicker, healthier grass

At Elevate Outdoors, we carefully select the topdressing mix based on your lawn’s specific needs. Typically, we use a blend of coarse sand and screened compost to promote both drainage and fertility.

Why We Include Core Aeration

Before leveling and topdressing, we strongly recommend core aeration. This process pulls small plugs of soil from your lawn, relieving compaction and allowing water, nutrients, and oxygen to penetrate deeper into the root zone. Aeration creates the perfect foundation for topdressing materials to integrate into the soil profile, accelerating results and maximizing effectiveness.

Our Process

Here’s how our Leveling and Topdressing service works from start to finish:

Initial Lawn AssessmentWe evaluate your lawn’s grading, soil type, and turf condition to determine the best approach.
Core AerationWe perform aeration to open up the soil and reduce compaction—essential before applying topdressing.
Leveling Low SpotsUsing a sand and compost mix, we fill in visible low areas by hand or with leveling tools to create a more uniform grade.
Topdressing ApplicationWe spread a thin, even layer (usually ¼ to ½ inch) of our custom topdressing blend across the lawn.
Brushing and Watering InWe lightly rake or broom the material into the turf and water it to help settle it into the soil profile.

When is the Best Time to Topdress?

The ideal time for leveling and topdressing is during the growing season—typically late spring to early fall—when your grass is actively growing and can quickly recover from the process. In North Texas, April through September is usually prime time for this service.