Looks like nice evenly cut sod from the pics. That will help it to be more smooth/level in the long run. Good job laying it also.

My understanding on watering fresh sod is you want to keep the dirt right under the sod moist. A couple times per day watering should do the trick. You can test an area by peeling up a SMALL corner of a piece of sod to see if it's wet underneath. This will work for the first week or two until it starts rooting into the soil underneath.

Bravo sir, that's nice work!

Either roll it down or walk over the entire area to ensure good contact between the bottom of the sod and the top of the soil.

Water it just like seed - 3x per day for 5-15 minutes each time, depending on how much your sprinklers put out.

That's a lot of walking...I vote for the roller option

Update on the reno. Finished all of my install. First a couple of pictures, then at the end, I have a couple of questions if all of you experts could help me out with.

Here's a panoramic of the entire yard

You can see up on the far right side of the panoramic (the back fencline of my yard) an unsodded area. That is in the middle of being turned into a mulched bed.

Here are a couple of shots of different sections of the yard.

Now on to questions.

1) I got the sod in two separate loads on two days (3.5 pallets each day). We noticed after installing on day 2, a distinct color difference between the two days shipment. I guess I'm looking for some reassurance that I didn't get two different types of bermuda (say one day they actually loaded me up with tif, then celebration). I don't know how much variation in color there can be amongst Celebration between different lots, especially when it's freshly cut and probably undergoing rapid change in chlorophyll levels. See picture below...I think it should be pretty clear the area I'm talking about.

2) I'm currently watering 3x per day, keeping the bottom of the sod moist (checking by peeling up a corner). The sod company recommended 2x/day, then no watering on day 4. I guess my question is, when should I back off from 3x/day to 2x per day and move toward the recommended deep and infrequent schedule?

3) I put down Dr. Earth Lawn Fertilizer (https://drearth.com/products/lawn-food/super-natural-lawn-fertilizer/) before laying. What should my fertilization schedule look like from here on it (I'm zone 7b)? When should my next application be and of what (soybean meal, alfalfa, etc)? For reference, the sod folks recommend a 13-13-13 at any time.

Now a random question...I have a chipmunk issue. Anyone have any effective way to get rid of chipmunks besides starting to shoot them?:-) Tired of them burrowing in the yard.

An update on the sod. We're 10 days post-install. I've managed to not kill the sod, and overall, I think it looks pretty decent.

Paniramic of the yard

Stilk a little worried that I got two varieties of Bermuda. Obviously it could still be an artifact of different lots/fields on the two days. Attaching some more pictures. There are definitely some "blue ", low growing pieces in batch 1, but much more so in batch 2. Batch 2 (the bluer stuff) arrived much drier than batch 1 (the "green" stuff). Batch 1 appears to have a more upright growth habit at this point. But I'm a complete noob to all of this.

Ironically, the best looking area so far is the area under my kids playhouse that gets shaded in site that will change over time, but fun to watch it really take off there right now

An update on the sod. We're 10 days post-install. I've managed to not kill the sod, and overall, I think it looks pretty decent.

Paniramic of the yard

Stilk a little worried that I got two varieties of Bermuda. Obviously it could still be an artifact of different lots/fields on the two days. Attaching some more pictures. There are definitely some "blue ", low growing pieces in batch 1, but much more so in batch 2. Batch 2 (the bluer stuff) arrived much drier than batch 1 (the "green" stuff). Batch 1 appears to have a more upright growth habit at this point. But I'm a complete noob to all of this.

Ironically, the best looking area so far is the area under my kids playhouse that gets shaded in site that will change over time, but fun to watch it really take off there right now

Well, hopefully they're both the same but you may not be able to tell until they've been treated identically for a full year. Did they have any markings on the sod pallet? Mine were delivered with CEL spray painted in orange on the side

Good question. Not sure if the pallets were marked (didn't look, honestly). I'm probably thinking about it too much at this point and just need to wait and see how it plays out. E.g. there are single pieces that have both "growth habits" (my word) on them...so basically look like a combo of the two types I identifies in my picture above. I'd say it's pretty clear that there aren't two varieties on a single piece of sod, so hopefully it'll even out. I really don't care that much at this point...I just want my couple hundred dollars back if I got something that wasn't Celebration;-)

How long should I wait until first mowing? 3 weeks? What should mowing height be the first time I cut?

Keep some leaf on there the first year. Maybe 2 weeks, then knock it down to an even level, maybe 2in or so. Scalping it now won't do any good, just cause extra stress