Help - Weed membrane or not under turf?

mm79comps

Hi, I've got very little gardening experience so thought I'd reach out here for some advice.

To give my issue a bit of background.

I have a lawn area of approx 5.4m x 11m so 60m2. This had been neglected for some time and had several varieties weeds growing including horsetail, nettles, thistles etc. Last year I tried to kill off all the weeds using glyphosate but they kept coming back. In September I made the decision to completely cover the lawn area to starve it of light and I've now reached the stage where I would like to buy some turf and try to lay a new lawn.

My plan was to buy some plantex weed control fabric and put that down, then use about 8 tonnes of topsoil to raise the height of the lawn by 3-4 inches before laying some turf.

I've read various people say that using the fabric isn't necessary and may hinder the lawn knitting together/growing at all. I just want to do all I can to prevent the weeds (especially the horsetail) from coming back.

Any advice gratefully received.

JennyJ

Horsetail will come through tarmac so I think it would laugh in the face of weed membrane. And its roots go a few metres deep so a few inches of soil on top of membrane will be nothing to it. Better to have well-rooted turf without membrane and mow it little and often once it's established. Frequent mowing should weaken the horsetail over time, but you'll need to watch for it coming up in adjacent borders etc.

Obelixx

Using membrane will be a waste of time and money for the reasons stated by @JennyJ and it will hinder your grass.

Careful soil preparation is key to success, whether you import top soil or not.  Have a look a these links - https://www.rhs.org.uk/videos/advice/Laying-a-lawn-from-seed-and-turf

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=410