Lawncare Tips & Advice

How To Create a New Lawn From Artificial Turf

If you’d like a beautiful garden without the maintenance that comes with it, artificial grass is a great option. With a real-grass look but offering greater wear and weather resistance, it’s an excellent grass alternative for low maintenance gardeners. Ideal for urban and small gardens, there’s no need to water it in dry weather and the artificial turf is porous so won’t have puddles in the rain. Our step by step guide explains how to lay an artificial lawn in your garden.

What you’ll need:

  1. Clear the area

    Start by removing the existing turf from your garden. For small areas you can do this with a spade, but if you have a large area to clear hiring a turf cutter can make this job a lot easier and faster. Ideally remove a depth of about 40mm.
  2. Prepare the base layer

    Spread out a layer of sharp builder’s sand to a depth of 35mm as a base to the artificial turf.
  3. Level it out

    Level and compact the sand evenly across the area to ensure a firm base below the grass. You can use a builder’s plank and heavy hammer to compact the sand and then smooth the sand down. The ground doesn't need to be entirely flat and can include gentle slopes or mounds.
  4. Keep the weeds out

    Roll out a weed membrane over the top of the sand and make sure it overlaps joints by 300mm.
  5. Time to roll out your new lawn

    Roll out the artificial grass to cover the area, but make sure the ends of the grass rolls are staggered so they don't end in a line. Artificial grass doesn’t stand perfectly straight - it has a slight angle to it. Lay the grass with the pile leaning towards the house so it has a full, natural look when you’re viewing it from the house. It’s important to make sure the grass rolls are laid in the same direction and that the blades of grass all point the same way. Lay the rolls directly next to each other with no blades caught in-between.
  6. Keep it neat & tidy

    Use a craft knife to trim the edges of the artificial grass rolls.
  7. Bring it all together

    Once you’ve rolled out all of the artificial grass, you need to fix the different rolls together. Use jointing tape - rough side up - and spread it along where the rolls would join. Add adhesive to the tape and place the edges onto the tape, making sure no blades touch the glue.
  8. Hide the joins

    Once two rolls are joined, ruffle up the grass fibres at the joints to disguise the seal.
  9. Secure those edges

    Use ground pins to fix down the edges of the artificial grass rolls every 20cm, again ruffling the grass over the pin heads to disguise them.
  10. The finishing touch

    Brushing the grass pile with a stiff brush after you're finished makes it look fuller and more natural.

Artificial grass is an ideal solution to keep your lawn looking clean and fresh all year round, with very little lawn maintenance! With an artificial lawn you’ll have no more muddy footprints or dirt being brought into your home by pets or young children.

Say goodbye to yellow grass in the hot Summer months – with artificial grass, your lawn will look green and pristine whatever the weather and bare patches will be a thing of the past. If you worry about how ‘fake grass’ will look, we stock artificial turf solutions to suit every budget, from value synthetic turf tiles to luxury artificial grass rolls for a luscious looking lawn.

With the right garden tools, artificial grass installation is easier than you think and this step by step guide will show you how! Browse the Homebase range of bedding plants to finish off your artificial turf with some beautiful garden borders.



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