DIY - How to install Artificial Grass in your garden

Check out our seven step guide for installing your own artificial lawn. This step by step guide will walk you through all the steps for a standard artificial grass installation. Hopefully by the end you'll have the confidence to take on the task yourself to transform your own space. Before we start we have outlined what sort of tools and materials you will need.

What you will need:

• Grass choice: Choose your artificial grass, check out our guide to help you select the right one for you.
• Weed-proof Membrane: to ensure that weeds don't grow though your artificial grass over time.
• Edging: We would suggest either a timber or composite edging that's secured into the ground to allow you to fix the grass in place. 
• Hand Tools or Hired Plant: Shovels, spades and rakes all come in handy for digging out your area and spreading out your aggregates. Hired plant such as a whacker plate to compact your base.
• Wheelbarrow: For transporting and distributing your aggregates & taking your waste off site. 
• Screeder: For levelling your base works. 
• Screws: Screw the grass into your edging.
• Drill: Fixing your edging and screwing the grass into the edging.
• Stanley knife: Cutting in the artificial grass.
• Power brush (or stiff brush): To brush up the fibres and give your garden life

You May Also Need:

• Glue: If you are fitting than one piece of grass and need to join them together.
• Joining Tape: that combines with the glue for artificial grass joins. 
• Mastic: Applying glue from mastic tubes to the joining tape. 
• Trowel: For spreading the glue on the tape evenly.

Here is a simple overview of what needs to be done to install the artificial grass:

1. Planning and surveying
2. Dig off/ remove turf from the area
3. Edging the area
4. Installing a compact base
5. Installing weed membrane 
6. Lay your grass and fitting you artificial grass
7. Finishing/ securing the grass (+gluing if needed) and bruising the lawn

Artificial Grass Installation process:

Step One: Planning

Planning is the first and a very important in any landscaping project. You will want to measure up and serve the area you are looking at installing your artificial lawn. You will want to assess the areas shape, size and levels to work out how much materials you need. Crucially you will want to take some measurements to work out the roll sizes that you need for your artificial grass. Drawing out your area to scale can help you work this out.

Measure the area you want to be artificial. From here you can work out what artificial grass you need to buy. Our artificial grasses are available in 2m and 4m wide rolls, with 2 grasses available in 5m rolls. As for the length, rolls come up to 25m long and can be cut down in 0.5-meter increments.

Step Two: Dig off

The first part of your installation will be to dig off and clear your area. Most of the time this will be a lawn that can be dug off with a turf cutter or by hand. Larger areas may require a mini digger to help speed up the process. You will want to make sure that you dig off enough to give a void in the ground to lay your groundwork for the grass, this is usually a minimum 50mm-60mm depth from your finished level.

Step Three: Edging

To create a long lasting installation you should edge the perimeter of your artificial grass area, ideally with a treated timber or composite frame. This is typically 2" x 1" of 20mm x 50mm. Install the edging around the perimeter by cutting them into shape, screwing them together and securing into the ground with steaks around 50-6ocm long, depending on the ground conditions. Ideally you want to fit a steak and secure it to the edging at least once every meter and at the end of each length, sometimes more frequently if the ground is softer. When setting out your edging, make sure the top of the edging is 10mm down from your finished level of the grass. This 10mm gives enough room to hide the black backing of the artificial grass, whilst letting the grass sit at the correct level in your area.

Step Four: Baseworks

With your area dug off and your edging installed you should be ready to install the base for your area. Start off with MOT type 1 stone. infill the entire area to the top of your ending. Once complete this will need compacting with a whacker plate (usually available to hire from most builders merchants). Once compacted the area will firm up and also drop slightly from the top of the edging, leaving you with around 20mm room to then install the sand. For the sand you want to use a course grit sand or limestone dust, granno dust also works, avoid using fine sand like sharp sand or building sand as it wont compact well enough. You will want to get a screeder to allow you to smooth out the sand as levelly as possible with your edging. Typically screed and compact the full area and then go over the area once more with a final screed to finish the area off.

Step Five: Weed Membrane

Next, roll out your weed membrane over your finished base works and then secure it to your edging, staples work well for this. Overlap each piece of membrane by around 20cm to ensure weeds can work their way in between the rolls. 

Step Six: Rolling out your artificial grass.

Roll out your artificial grass over the area like you did for your membrane. get all of the rolls into position ready before starting to fit. You will need to start cutting off the excess grass around the perimeter. Use a sharp Stanley knife, folding the grass back cutting through the backing of the grass, not through the top of the grass. for some edges you may need to leave some extra to fold the grass around your edging. for example if you are going up to a flower bed. Line up any joins in your artificial grass. we recommend trimming 2 stiches off each side of the join to ensure that the cut lines are straight and marry up nicely to each other. 

Step Seven: Finishing the artificial grass fit.

If you are happy with how the grass looks (and any joins line up). You can now screw the grass into the edging, securing it in place. If you are fitting artificial grass directly over tarmac, you can screw directly into the tarmac. 

If you have joins you have one extra thing to finish… the join. Joins are done with a 2-part process using joining tape and glue. Along the edge of the grass pieces either side of your join you will want to cut it as neatly as possible between the stitches of the grass. The goal is to get the gap between the 2 pieces of grass the same as the gap between the stitch lines to get it looking as seamless as possible. Once cut, the grass pieces back and roll out your joining tape, green side down. From here, spread glue over the tape neatly using your trowel and stick the grass as neatly and closely as possible.

For this give the glue at least 24 hours to dry before you brush the grass. You don’t want to rip up the join.

Now all you need to do is brush up the grass and you're done! When brushing, go against the pile of grass which will bring the grass blades standing up.

Your artificial grass installation should now be complete! If you are unsure of anything or have any questions, please feel free to get in touch for free installation advice.