How to Lay Artificial Grass | Step by Step DIY Guide

Artificial Grass can be installed by both professionals and competent DIY’ers. In fact, it is an excellent home project that you can take great pride in once finished.

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We’re here to guide you every step of the way and make sure your lawn looks great. Get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to answer your questions and help you with the perfect installation.

Step 1: Planning

Planning your project is the most important step. You will need to work out how much artificial grass you’ll need and which accessories you’ll need.

Artificial grass comes in either 2m or 4m widths, and lengths of up to 25m. The grass has a directional pile (which means all the blades lean to one side). When you roll out a piece of grass, the blades will either lean away from you or towards you, never left to right. For the optimum look, try to make sure the blades are leaning towards the house or seating area.

So to plan this, you’ll need to draw out a scale diagram of your garden. Use our helpful Project Planner. Think about the layout of each roll of grass and draw rectangles for where they will go, onto your diagram.

Once you have this you will know how many rolls you’ll need and what their dimensions will be. You’ll also see how many joins you’ll have and how long they are, and you’ll be able to work out your perimeter for edging.

Step 2: Prepare what you’ll need

The type and size of your installation will determine what exactly you may need. Some elements are optional and depend on personal preference, some are essential.

Shovel
Sharp Knife
Hammer
Brush
A straight piece of timber for smoothing out sand
A wacker plate to compact the sand (larger areas)
Sharp Sand or Grano (6mm to dust) – This will serve are the base for all installations on soil.
Weed Membrane – We highly recommend that every outdoor installation uses Weed Membrane.
Shockpad Underlay – This is optional, although recommended for all installations especially on concrete.
Artificial Grass – either 2m or 4m rolls
Either our Self Adhesive Joining Tape, or a Joining Kit consisting of Tubs or Tubes of Adhesive and Jointing Tape.
Fixing Pins
Edging – This is optional but is recommended for creating the perfect finish. There are a few types of edging to consider.

See our extensive range of artificial accessories.

Step 3: Edges

If you want an extra neat finish to your project use one of our edging products. If you do this, you’ll need to work out the perimeter of your installation first. Once you start digging out the soil, install the specific edging that you require. You can opt for no edging if you wish, and so you can skip this step, but you will need to securely fasten the perimeter with our Fixing Pins at the end.

Step 4: Preparing the Ground

You will need to remove the top soil and dig to a depth of 35mm. Then, spread out the sharp sand or Grano over the area to create a neat flat finish. This is possibly the most essential step to get right. A neat flat sand layer will make all the difference.

Step 5: Weed Membrane and Underlay

Once the ground is flat lay out the Weed Membrane and Shockpad Underlay. Try to make sure that the Weed Membrane reaches all edges. The Shockpad underlay is often cut just before the perimeter to help securely fasten the edge.

Step 6: Laying out the artificial grass

This is the easy bit. Simply line up the grass and roll it out. Then shuffle it around until it is in its final position.

Step: 7 Joints

You will need to carefully connect any joins in your artificial grass. Line up the artificial grass and fold back the edges of the join. If you are using our Self-Adhesive Joining Tape, peel back the protective strip and place it on the ground, facing upwards and between the joins. Carefully fold back down the artificial grass and make sure the connection is seamless.

If you are using Tubes/Tubs or Glue and Jointing Tape, do the same process but lay out the Tape on the ground and gently apply the adhesive so that it spreads over the Tape evenly.