A new sod lawn looks finished the day it's laid, but it isn't growing yet. It's a mat of grass with very short roots, sitting on top of soil it hasn't grown into. For the next few weeks its only job is to send roots down into that soil, and water is what makes that happen. Most new lawns that fail were watered wrong, not laid wrong.
Day one: soak it. As soon as the sod is down, it should be watered until the soil underneath is wet several inches down. Lift a corner to check. The sod and the soil below it should both be wet. That first deep soak settles the sod onto the soil and removes air pockets.
Weeks one and two: keep it moist. The roots are only just starting, so the soil right under the sod must never dry out. That usually means several short watering cycles a day rather than one long one, more in hot weather and less in cool, foggy weather. The seams and edges dry out first, so watch them closely. If the seams start to shrink or turn brown, it needs more water.
Weeks two to three: less often, but longer. Once the sod starts to hold on when you tug a corner, the roots are growing into the soil. Now you want to push them deeper, so you cut back to fewer cycles, and each cycle runs longer. The soil is allowed to dry slightly at the surface between waterings, which makes the roots grow down to find water.
After about a month: a normal schedule. By now the lawn should be firmly rooted, and you can water it like any established lawn: deeply, a few times a week, early in the morning. Then follow your water district's current watering rules.
The mistakes we see most often: watering in the evening so the grass stays wet all night, which invites fungus; one long daily soak in the first week that runs off instead of soaking in; forgetting the corners and edges the sprinklers barely reach; walking on it or mowing it too early; and a sprinkler system that doesn't cover the whole lawn evenly. That last one is why we check and adjust sprinkler coverage before we lay sod. Any spot the sprinklers miss will die, no matter how good the sod is.
When we install a new lawn, we set the controller for the first few weeks and tell you exactly when to change it. If you're thinking about a new lawn, or your new sod isn't taking, call Garcia's Sprinkler System at (510) 472-5942 for a free estimate anywhere in the East Bay and Tri-Valley.