It’s becoming easier and easier to set up a fire pit in your backyard. Before, you had to dig a hole and make a ring of rocks, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, all you need to do is head down to a home improvement retailer and grab a premade fire pit. Unfortunately, the only place most of us have for these fire pits is our lawns. The outcome is a cozy night by the fire and a burnt spot in the middle of the lawn the next day.
So, how to fix burnt grass from a fire pit, and what is the best solution to repair your lawn? Let’s have a look.
Fixing a Lawn Burnt By a Fire Pit (The Short Answer)
If you have damaged grass from using a fire pit, here are 10 easy steps you can follow to repair the affected area.
- Inspect the Affected Area
- Remove the Burnt Grass
- Prepare the Soil
- Top Up the Soil
- Reseed or Re-Sod the Area
- Water the Area
- Don’t Use Your Lawn Mower
- Fertilize the Area
- Continue Watering the Area
- Begin Mowing Again
How to Fix Burnt Grass from Fire Pit (10 Things You Should Do)
Before you head out into your yard, you’ll need to gather some tools and materials first. Here’s a list of everything you’ll need for both sod and seed methods.
Tools & Materials Needed to Repair Grass Damaged From Use of a Fire Pit
- Spring Rake
- Garden Spade
- Garden Shovel
- Top Soil
- Sod or Grass Seed
- Garden Hose With an Adjustable Nozzle
- Fertilizer
Step 1 Inspect the Affected Area
The first thing you want to do is check how badly your lawn has been affected. You might find that the lower portions of the grass are okay, and the roots are doing just fine. So, use a garden shovel and dig into the burnt area and inspect the roots and the soil. If the roots and the soil are still moist, then you can jump down to step 6, as your grass should come back okay by itself.
But if your fire pit burned for several hours, you’ll probably find the soil completely dried out and the roots withered and dry. If so, move on to step 2.
Step 2 Remove the Burnt Grass
Removing the burnt grass will require two different processes depending on if you have a seeded lawn or a sodded lawn. Let’s take a look at the two processes.
Removing Burnt Grass from a Seed Lawn
If your lawn grows from seed like a fescue lawn, then you want to grab a rake, preferably a spring rake. Then rake the area the same as you would if you were dethatching your lawn. So, work your rake until you have removed all the burnt grass.
Removing Burnt Grass from a Sodded Lawn
If you have a sodded lawn like a St. Augustine or Floratam lawn, then raking won’t work. Instead, you’ll need to grab a garden spade and cut out the affected grass. So, use your spade to cut out the shape of the affected area.
Now, sod usually comes in 16’’x24″ pieces. When cutting the area out, remember these sizes to make laying sod easier and have less waste. Also, I recommend cutting the area slightly bigger than you need. This will compensate for any sod that might be damaged but not yet showing signs.
So, once you’ve cut the area, use your spade to cut under the sod. You want to remove just the top layer of grass and an inch or so of dirt.
Step 3 Prepare the Soil
Next, you’ll need to prepare the soil. Most likely, the fire pit baked the soil solid, which will make it difficult for your new sod and seeds to burrow roots. So, grab your spade and turn over the soil, making sure to break up any lumps. Then, rake the area so that it’s level, light, and fluffy. Finally, soak the area thoroughly with your garden hose.
Step 4 Top Up the Soil
This step is really for those who have removed the grass from a sodded lawn. It’s kind of difficult to remove damaged sod without removing soil. So, you could try removing the soil from the burnt sod and placing it back into the affected area, or you could backfill it with a bag of topsoil.
So, backfill the affected area leaving the soil an inch below the surrounding area. This is because cut sod usually comes on a bed of 1-inch soil. Finally, rake the area, so it’s level, light, and fluffy, just as if you were going to seed.
Step 5 Reseed or Re-Sod the Area
Now it’s time to plant the new grass. Here are two methods you can use for both sod and seeds.
Seeding the Affected Area
Depending on what type of grass you have will determine the amount of grass seed you’ll need to use. Usually, the grass seed spreading rate is calculated per 1000 ft2. For example, Bahia needs about 10lb/1000ft2, which equals about a tenth of an ounce per 1 ft2. This is just a pinch of grass seed at most. So, sprinkle the required amount of grass seed for your specific lawn type over your prepared area.
Sodding the Affected Area
There isn’t much to laying sod other than cutting the pieces to size, if needed, then laying them onto the affected area. Now, if you need to cut the sod, you can use any type of knife, just as long as it makes a clean cut. If you have an old wood hand saw, then these work pretty well.
Once you have the sod laid, you’ll want to walk it in. This helps to remove any air pockets that might be under the sod in the prepped ground. So, just walk across the newly laid sod, making sure to cover the whole area. If you happen to have a lawn roller, you could use this instead, but I find that walking over the sod works just as well.
Step 6 Water the Area
With your new grass laid, it’s time to give it a good soak. So, for sod, you can use pretty much any hose, but for grass seed, you’ll want to use a light jet setting. This is so that you don’t blast the seed and move it around in the soil. If you use a powerful jet, you’ll end up washing most of the seed away, and you’ll end up with the grass collected all in one area.
Step 7 Keep Away with the Lawn Mower
For step seven, you don’t actually want to do anything. This includes not mowing over your newly grassed area. Grass seeds can take quite a while to germinate, so you’ll want to wait until the seed has rooted and started to grow. Jumping on your lawn mower too early could damage the seeds, and you’ll have to start all over again.
For sod, it’s kind of the same thing. You want to make sure that the roots have grown into the subsoil and that the blades are growing nicely. Again, mowing too early could damage your new sod, and you might need to start back at step 2.
Step 8 Fertilize the Area
Once the grass has rooted and is growing, you can then give your new grass some extra feed. You can use a liquid fertilizer or a slow-release fertilizer to give the grass a quick feed. The only difference between the two is that slow-release will continue to feed up to 8 weeks later. Something like the Scotts Turf Builder Starter Food for New Grass should work nicely.
Step 9 Continue Watering the Area
Now that your lawn has been repaired, you’ll want to keep on top of watering regularly. So, if you have laid a few pieces of new St. Augustine sod, you’ll want to treat it like a completely new lawn. Here’s an example of how to water the new St. Augustine Sod.
- Days 1-10 – water twice per day
- Days 11-15 water once per day
- Days 16-30 – 1″ of water per week
You’ll want to water new grass seeds every day until they germinate, then continue monitoring them afterward. So, you might need to continue watering every day so that the top inch of the soil remains moist. Usually, after a month, you should be able to include the new grass within your regular watering schedule along with the rest of your lawn.
Step 10 Begin Mowing Again
Finally, when is it time to mow your new grass? Well, this all depends on how it is doing. What you’ll be looking for is for the seed to have germinated entirely and to have sprouted. For sod, you’ll want to make sure that the roots are firmly rooted. In addition, you’ll want to make sure that there is enough grass to mow.
So, as long as you have a few inches of new growth, you should be fine to start mowing. You just want to be careful. So, if you use a large lawn mower like a tractor or a zero-turn, try to avoid running over the area with the wheels, especially on newly sprouted seeds, as this can damage the delicate grass.
How Long Can It Take a Lawn to Recover From Fire Pit Burns?
Now that we’ve covered the 10 steps for how to fix burnt grass from a fire pit, the last question is how long will the whole process take? Again, this all depends on whether you have a sodded lawn or a seeded lawn, plus what time of year you are trying to repair your lawn. Usually, we fire up our fire pits during the fall and winter months. This is the time the grass will be dormant and growing slowly.
So, everything is going to take that much longer. But I’d say everything should return to normal after a month. The difference is that sod can be laid in a day, whereas seed has to germinate and fill in over a couple of weeks. But if you are trying to repair damaged grass after using a fire pit up north during the winter, you’ll have to wait for spring.
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