OK, all you pervs., stop grinning! 
B> (...)  I'd had a little preious experience laying sod before and was able 
B> to teach my S/O to do it in about 5 mins.
PT> So how do you do it?  Is there anything more to it than just 
PT> rolling it out like a carpet?
   Not much.
   The most complex tool you'l need is a butter knife.  That works the best 
for cutting off ends when you come to where you want to stop, an edge, a 
fence or whatever.
   The difficulty in laying it is determined by what type of area you want to 
cover.  If you're trying to save and doing it checkerboard hoping the areas 
in between fill in, then you need only roll it out and then water *thoroughly 
for the next week or so.  It's very important not to let the sod dry out 
until the roots get a chance to set or the edges will roll up and not root 
properly.  You'll end up with a series of ridges or bumps in your lawn.
    If you're laying a tight pattern, first look and see which direction you 
want to lay the rolls.  It's likely one direction is going to require less 
cuts and will make the work much easier.  I ussually find a fence line or 
wall the easiest point to start.  You want to butt the long side of the first 
rolls tightly up against your starting point.  I actually lay them so they 
slope up the wall (fence, etc) slightly and then pull the edge back and push 
it down into the corner.  Then I apply pressure along that edge to flatten it 
out.  When I get to the end, I cutt off the excess and use that to start the 
next row.  Since you can't avoid the long seams, I try to avoid lining up all 
the short seams so that I don't get a true criss-cross pattern.  When laying 
the next row, I use the same technique as I did with the first one, letting 
the next roll slightly overlap the first one and then lifting up the edge, 
tucking it up against the previous roll and then applying pressure to flatten 
it out.  This allows for the possibility of the rolls drying out a bit at the 
edge and prevents shrinkage from showing.
    Again, it's important to keep your new lawn wet for a week or so to 
prevent it from drying out and the seams showing.  When I've done it, I've 
watered twice a day for about an hour or so each time and then tapered off 
the next week until I could stop watering all together or use a more normal 
watering schedule.
        Byrd Mann
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