If you’ve got an area of grass that won’t grow or a small patch of lawn that’s hardly worth getting the lawnmower out for, then installing some artificial lawn could be just the thing for you.
It’s low maintenance, and looks great. In fact, these days you can hardly tell it’s not real.
There are a few regulations you need to comply with, so check with your local council before you get stuck in.
Prep the area
Remove any existing organic matter. Dig out 80mm, or until you get to a solid surface, then rake the dirt level.
If your lawn area is prone to being boggy, then now’s the perfect time to install some drainage. A perforated drainage coil, with filter sock, can be laid and connected to a cess pit. You’ll then need a drainlayer to connect the cess pit to the stormwater.
Garden borders create a nice clean edge for the artificial lawn to butt up against, so if you don’t have any, it’s a good idea to create some. (See our Easy As Garden Border video guides to find out how.)
GETTING IT DONE
Laying the base
Follow the steps in the diagram below to get a nice flat area to lay your lawn.
Handy Hints:
Before you pour on the Gap 7 base course, lay down two lengths of 30mm thick PVC pipe on top of the compacted Gap 20 base course. This will help you level out the Gap 7 to exactly the depth you need, with a nice flat finish.
Remove the pipes then fill in and compact down.
Laying the lawn
Measure up your lawn area and draw a scale map. This will help you plan out how much artificial lawn you’ll need, and help you decide where any joins will go. It’ll also help you eliminate wastage.
Roll out the artificial lawn according to your plan, making sure each roll is rolled out in the same direction.
Handy Hint:
It’s a good idea to roll out the lawn left to right as you’re looking at it from the house, that way you’re less likely to see any joins.
Overhang the lawn over any garden borders, so you can accurately cut it into place later on.
Butt the rolls against each other ready to join.
Trim any excess black rubber on the edges so that when the two rolls are joined together the distance between the rows of stitching is maintained through the join – this will avoid any unsightly black lines.
Join the seams together with your joining tape. To do this, first lightly mark a line in the Gap 7 where the join will go. Now roll out the tape along this line. Then, make sure the back of the artificial lawn is clean, so the tape sticks properly. Peel off the back of the tape. Fold down the grass one side at a time onto the exposed tape, then the other side, ensuring you don’t get any grass strands in there. Join about a metre at a time, and take it slowly.
Begin pinning down the lawn. For a longer length lawn you can use weed mat staples across the joins every 200mm or so. For a shorter lawn use 6 inch flat-head galvanised nails and place them 60mm from the edge of the borders, 200mm apart. While you’re pinning it down make sure that the lawn is stretched nice and tight in place, with no wrinkles. You can also add a nail in the middle of every square metre of lawn if needed. Just make sure none of the grass is trapped under the nail or staple.
Now trim the outside edges neatly against the garden borders. Use an extendable blade, make sure it’s sharp, and carefully cut it hard up against the border. Try not to over-cut the mark. Use the same technique for any pavers, or trees that you need to cut around.
Pin the lawn down around any pavers or trees that you’ve cut around.
Give the grass a sweep against the grain with an outdoor broom, or plastic rake – this will lift the grass up.
Lightly spread out handfuls of fine, kiln-dried sand over the lawn. This helps weight down the lawn, it stops any organic matter blocking the holes and stopping drainage, and it helps the blades of grass stay standing up straight.
Finally, brush the sand into the lawn.
Handy Hint:
Use kiln-dried sand because it doesn’t clump, and will be easier to brush into the lawn.
