How to Install Artificial Grass in Six Easy Steps

Installing Artificial Grass yourself is not difficult if you follow these six simple steps.

So you’ve decided to ditch the natural grass and go Artificial Turf?

Congratulations! You’ll be joining the thousands of homeowners who have made the switch to synthetic turf. It’s a great choice for those looking for a low-maintenance lawn solution.

In this guide I’ll show you how to install Artificial Grass in six easy steps so that you will never need to think of lawn mowers ever again.

How to Install Artificial Grass in Six Easy Steps.

1. 1. Measure your area and order.
   2. Excavate your existing grass and Prepare.
   3. Screed to Level.
   4. Lay the Grass and stick joints.
   5. Adjust the grass and fix in place.
   6. Broom in washed sand.

But before we start we need to determine which type of Artificial Lawn suits our needs.

There are a lot of different types on the market, from budget-friendly options to more premium ones.

The turf you choose will depend on your budget and needs. If you have pets, for example, you’ll want to choose a turf that is durable and can withstand pet traffic as compared to real grass.

There are three main types of Artificial Grass.

1. Nylon Grass

This is the toughest of all artificial grasses that is available on the market. It’s also the most expensive.

Nylon Artificial Lawn can stand up to heavy weight and extreme temperatures without getting flattened and loosing its shape. It is commonly used in high traffic areas, sporting complexes, council areas and kids playgrounds.

Due to the texture and stiffness of the pile, this type of artificial grass does not feel very natural, but does look great and tends to last for a very long time when it has been installed correctly.

2. Polyethylene

This is a mid-priced Artificial Lawn that is a good all-rounder. It’s durable and has a natural look. When homeowners are looking to install artificial grass at their homes, the majority of them opt for polyethylene products.

This type of artificial grass not only looks amazing with bright green colors and plenty of textures but also feels softer and more natural under foot than nylon does. It is mostly used for landscaping lawn, as well as athletic fields such as soccer, football, and baseball etc.

Taking care of polyethylene artificial grass is relatively easy and low maintenance. It only needs to be raked or brushed from time to time to ensure that the blades are upright and looking their best.

This type of artificial lawn is what most closely resembles natural grass, and is usually what homeowners decide to install into their homes as backyard lawns or front lawn landscaping.

3. Polypropylene

This is the most common type of Artificial Turf that is used in homes. It’s also the cheapest and least durable.

Polypropylene Artificial Grass has a more natural look to it and feels softer than nylon Artificial Grass, bit it will not withstand well to people traffic or kids playing on it.

However, you will encounter over time that your dogs wee odor will accumulate.

To get urine smells out of your turf, you’ll need a cleaning product with enzymes and live bacteria that break down the source of those tough ammonia odors. Simple Green Outdoor Odor Eliminator uses safe, naturally-occurring bacterial microbes that eliminate odors at the source.

A product that I recommend is Simple Green Outdoor Odor Eliminator.

It quickly removes odors left behind by urine, stool, vomit and other organic matter and can be used on grass, artificial turf, gravel, concrete, brick and more.

Now that you know what type is best for your needs, it’s time to install it!

Tools and Materials that you will need to Install Artificial Grass

While Artificial Turf installation is a fairly easy job to do by yourself, you’ll have to invest in a few tools in order to have the best chance at achieving a professional result. Here is what you’ll need to lay artificial grass:

TOOLS

• Hammer and Galvanized Flathead nails
• Landscaping Rake, shovel, tape measure, pegs and string line
• Utility knife with spare blades.
• Knee Pads, Gloves
• Wheel Barrow
• Broom
• Water

MATERIALS

• Decomposed Granite or Crushed Rock ( Must be at least 14mm and compactable) For your main base, this will help as a weed barrier.
• Washed Paving Sand for an uneven surface. (For Spreading or Leveling)
• Washed white silica sand (To broom into your grass to keep blades upright) – Check with your Artificial Grass supplier for the recommended sand for your product.
• Power Blower and Broom
• Plate Compactor
• Mini Digger (If your area is large enough to warrant it)

Here are the Six Steps to Install Your Artificial Grass

Step 1 – Peg out and Measure your Area

Measure and Peg Out Area

Peg out the area that you will be installing your Artificial Turf adding an extra 200mm to the perimeter. Allow room for working and fixing down the edges of the grass. It’s important to get this measurement right so you can order the correct amount of turf.

Order your Turf

Once you know how much Artificial Grass you need, add an extra 30cm on all sides to allow for trimming and place the order with your Artificial Grass Supplier.

Now that you have the dimensions of the area you intend on installing the Turf grass, you can also determine the other materials that you will require.

Step 2 – Excavate and Prepare your Base

Excavate

The next step in how to install artificial grass is to excavate the entire area and your existing lawn and soil to a depth of around 75mm. This allows for a layer of base material (crushed rock) and weed barrier to be laid before you begin installing Artificial Grass to help prevent weeds growing.

If you are doing a large area, say more than 50m2, it may be advantageous to hire your self a mini digger, it will save your back big time and you can also empty the soil straight into your trailer, saving on double handling.

Spread Decomposed Granite Base

Once you have excavated the area of the existing soil, you will need to level it out. An easy way to do this is by using a string line and spirit level or laser level.

Once you have a nice flat surface, you can spread your decomposed granite evenly across the excavated area using a wheel barrow and rake. (or the hired digger if you have one) This needs to be done in order for the new Artificial lawn to have something to fix to and also ensures good drainage to all the turf.

Once you have an even spread of road base at a minimum thickness of 60mm, then go over it all thoroughly with a compactor plate.

Wet the road base regularly with water after each pass of the compactor plate.This is very important to ensure a solid base that wont sink or dip over time resulting in an uneven finish of the artificial grass.

Step 3 – Screed the Entire Area

This step is not common practice, but I would recommend it and if was my job, I would be doing it.

It is going to be very unlikely that you have achieved a dead flat surface for your artificial grass to be laid on. However, if you are happy with the result you’ve achieved after compacting, you can go straight onto Step 4 the laying step.

But, if the result you are looking for is an artificial grass that looks like a Bowling Green, or as flat as a Pool Table, then I would thoroughly recommend screeding.

This is the exact same process as if you were laying pavers. You lay a very thin layer of paving sand, approx 5 – 10mm to the entire area. You then screed it smooth with a long straight edge, using guides if your really fussy, achieving a very flat level surface to lay your Artificial Grass on.

Step 4 – Time to Start Installing Artificial Grass

Great! You’ve done the hard stuff, now its time for the fun stuff. Once you’ve compacted the base and have it as level as your happy with, it’s time to lay out the synthetic turf itself.

It has most likely been stored rolled, so you should leave it unrolled for two or three hours, preferably in the sun to allow it to set in place and even out any creases.

One of the most important steps in making your artificial grass look like real is to ensure proper joining of the individual pieces.

After laying out all your rows of synthetic grass in the same direction, make sure that they are all as close as possible. To achieve the best result ensure that each row is not touching and has at least a millimeter or two gap.

Roll out the joining tape that you would have received from your artificial grass supplier, the entire length of the joint.

Carefully roll one of the edges of grass up enough to lay the tape under the adjoining piece of grass. Remove the backing tape from the joining tape as you go and lay under the grass that’s laying flat with a half of the joining tape still exposed.

Now lay the rolled edge of the adjoining grass down onto the tape and apply pressure all the way along the joint. Congratulation, you have just completed a full joint. Now just co,complete this process for all your joints

Step 5 – Adjust the Artificial Grass and Fix in Place.

Almost done. The Artificial grass pieces are joined, perfectly placed in there position, nice and flat, looks great, ready for your family to enjoy and spend time on, but to ensure that it remains this way, you still have a couple of steps to go.

You will need your hammer and the nails that we mentioned earlier. You may be thinking “Are we nailing down the grass?”…Yes we are. Make sure you use a galvanized nail. (to prevent corrosion) Use a Flat Head Nail about 40mm in length with a head size of approx 3mm.

You don’t want a nail head to large so they aren’t too noticeable from above. Nail down all the edges of the Synthetic Grass with a nail every 300mm making sure to not trap any blades of grass under the head of the nails.

Step 6 – Sand the blades of Grass

We are nearly there.

In this final step, we will be using the Washed white sand as mentioned earlier to brush into the Turf Blades.

Spread the Sand

Gently spread the sand throughout the artificial grass. Use the rake to gently spread out the fine sand and make sure it’s even throughout the whole area.

Then go over the entire area with a stiff broom, making sure to work the sand in between all the turf blades of grass. This will make each individual blade of grass stand up and look much more natural. The sand also acts as a barrier to water etc.

Clean Up Excess

When your happy with the result, grab your power blower or garden hose and blow off any excess sand from the artificial grass.

Congratulations, you have just completed installing your artificial grass. By this stage you should be sitting back with a cold one and admiring your new artificial grass that all your neighbors will be so envious off.