Lay turf on top of gravel?

Leon_gentle

We're looking to replace all our stoney gravel with grass turf. The soil underneath the gravel is Clay. There is generally a problem with drainage in the area because of the clay. I'm worried that if I replace the stony gravel with grass turf I'll have drainage issues. One idea I had was to put a membrane over the stoney gravel (to keep the stones from surfacing) and then put topsoil on top of the membrane, then put compost on top of the topsoil and then turf on top of that. That way there will be a layer of stoney gravel underneath the top soil compost and turf to help with drainage. Is that a good or bad idea?

KT53

A layer of gravel isn't really going to help drainage much if it's on top of clay as the clay is stopping the water draining any further.  The underlying problem of drainage really needs to be addressed first.

treehugger80

if you can put 6 inches of sandy topsoil on top of the gravel that might work, less than 2 inches won't do anything, you might want to consider laying land drains under the gravel to assist with drainage

Leon_gentle

Thanks. At the moment there is no drainage issues on the stoney gravel, but the other half of our lawn is grass (seperated by A path) and the grass is squelchy but the gravel is fine. I don't want to replace the gravel with grass that will be squelchy because of drainage.