Ange, I really sympathise with you but I'm not sure what to suggest other than contacting the lawn company that installed it for you. I know they probably wouldn't come and do anything but they may be able to give some advice.
Cheers,
Dee.

Angelee
Is your bore reticulation working, maybe you have a blockage? It seems strange that no water would seep through the grass at all.

yes the reticulation is definitely working, and it runs for 10 minutes every other evening at 9pm.

The soil on our block is terrible and has been since we moved in, it is dry, sandy and almost completely water repellent. If you dig a hole and fill it with water, you can reach in and scoop out handfuls of dry soil. Water has a real hard time penetrating the surface.

We put down a bed of turf soil when we laid the turf, watered it really well for a couple of days, used soil wetting agents and when the time came to lay the turf, water would penetrate quite readily, but obviously over time, the soil has become repellent again!

ange, soil wetters only work for about 6 months especially on our soil, you need to reapply at the start of each spring.

Ange
Check out the 'Lawn' forum on this site. It's a US site, but the guys on there are amazing. Very informative just reading the posts let alone ask a question. They will have heaps of advice for you, probably will have you putting much more organic material into your lawn, mulch mowing helps too. If you don't have a mulch mower, you just leave the catcher off an ordinary mower and in a straight line mow then back over the same line. This cuts the grass up really fine and powdery and is perfect organic material for your soil which will help with the water repelling problem. Go and check it out, although it's winter there now and most of their lawns will be covered in snow, they are very knowlegable and love to here from an aussie.
As they say, healthy soil, healthy grass.
good luck
Andrea

as a follow up to my last post, Im just going to address what you said in your original post, hope you dont mind

"We thought we'd solved the problem before we laid our new turf, but obviously not! wetting agents and soil conditioners seem to have done nothing to repair our damaged soil..."

ange, the type of soil youre talking about (and most people in perth have it) is that it is inherently water repellant, you will never fix it permanently, and it will always return to the way it is, unless you continually work at it. so even though you did all the right things when you put down the lawn, the soil conditioners and soil wetter isnt there anymore, so if you apply soil wetter each spring (a good dose) it will see you through the summer, you dont need to reapply for the winter. organic matter is also a good idea, but the soil wetter is always a good idea to break up the oiliness in the sand.

>yes the reticulation is definitely working, and it runs for 10 minutes every other evening at 9pm. I suspect it's not getting enough water for it to soak through. 10 minutes every second day seems to me to be enough to keep it alive, if that, but not enough for the grass to want to send down roots to toughen it up. At the first sign of a heatwave it would struggle terribly.

I don't know how you do things in WA but be have always been advised to give a deep soaking, equivalent to 25mls rain or so, once a week in summer, less often in winter. The grass then sends its roots down deeper which will help with the water resistance deep down. Water will travel along tracks the roots make.

I've had a very similar problem with my new Sir Walter lawn which was laid last autumn. I rang the supplier and asked them to come look - which they were happy to do so. In fact they were very helpful. They spent about 30 minutes here and determined the problem was water penetration in one particular spot. They recommended a series of steps: 1. Apply a wetting agent - not granular, they take too long. Get the concentrate you mix up. 2. Wait about 24 hours then use a fork to pierce holes as deep as possible all over the dead patch. 3. Apply another solution of wetting agent straight away (letting it sink into the holes). Apply it very slowly using a watering can so you can be certain it is getting in rather than running straight off. Leave it a week and repeat if necessary. Test it by pouring water over the area and carefully check to see if it is getting in or running off. This seemed to work well for us, but I get the feeling I am going to have to do it again after a while. Good luck!

We had the turf laid 2mths ago and was growing extremly well during that time we had a huge amount of rain and in the past 2weeks the lawn has stopped growing and in some parts dying off. The ground underneath the grass is quite wet,do you have any Idea what may be causing this to happen
Cheers
Tony

I rolledon my new sir walter lawn on 100 sqm area. Rotary hoe, underlay soil (4 cm) and laid the turf tightly. It has been a week I am watering it twice a day but dont see any sign on growth. Instead I see the gaps are appearing and grass on some places is dryin which cause it uproot. I haven't walked on it yet. I am worried wether this will end up dying. Can you guys can help me what to do or just keep watering and wait and see ?

Thanks in advance.
Amir

I would have thought cooler months were not the ideal time to lay turf but maybe I'm completely wrong - I'd waste no time contacting the source's information for advice the s.w. site below

Here is a link that might be useful: sir walter website

Remove the thatch and let nutrients penetrate through the soil. You can
do this by using a plug aerator. This is the best thing you can do for
your lawn. Been there, done that, and my Sir Walter was brought back to
life after that. Core Aeration works well and that you do it once or
twice a year to keep your turf soft and luscious. You'll see the overall
health of your lawn greatly improves.

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