Artificial Grass Installation Help

ConorC1

Hi

I ordered a roll of artificial grass to replace and existing lawn of about 30 square meters and it arrived today. I'd like to save costs on digging out existing grass/clay, getting stone infill etc as much as possible. Has anyone done this themselves or any advice to offer?

part time punk

No advice as I think artificial grass is

lawred2

The finish you get with artificial is 100% a result of the ground work done. Even the slightest lump, bump or depression shows up. It's effectively a carpet. You'll need to dig out a good bit and then heavily compact the appropriate infill.

raxy

It depends on the grass you are putting in. If you have 40mm grass you won't notice small bumps under it, you will feel it walking over it though. I compacted mine with a lawn roller & it's holding up fine.

If its thin grass you will see bumps. Its also hard to judge how much grit you will need as well so I'd order more than you think you will need. I could have put an extra tonne when laying the front garden, will need to pull it up at some stage to finish it properly.

I also used treated 2*4's around the edges. They're heavy enough that you don't need to fix them down & makes nailing the grass down easier

Citizen Six

..

Manzoor14

I laid some 40mm recently at home. Two areas, both around 25sqm. I dug out the topsoil down to about 5 or 6". Then put down a few inches of 804, whacked it and then racked out an inch or two or gravel dust on top to level it out. I was advised to put some weed control then, so rolled that out and then laid the grass on top of that. Make sure to roll out the grass with the thatch facing towards where the lawn will be most viewed from.

I assumed the weight of the grass would hold down the weed control fabric, but the wind caught it a few times when I was stretching the grass and folded it over and caused me the world of hassle, so it might be worth tacking it down (or leaving it out altogether, I couldn't see the need for it really). I rolled the grass and left it a couple of days, then used a carpet kicker to stretch our any ripples.

Around the edges I tacked down the grass using a 6" galvanized nail (recommended and supplied to me by the guy who supplied the carpet) every 0.5m or so. And then a few scattered around the centre of the grass area where I had some issues with ripples in the grass. I used the carpet kicked to stretch out the ripple, pushed back the thatch, hammered the nail in and folded the thatch back over. In the 40mm pile they aren't even noticeable. In fact, I ran short of nails around the edges so wanted to lift a few from the central grass area and I struggled to find them.

Mine is 99% smooth now with one problem area in one corner which looks a little bumpy. I had a lump of concrete (possible a wall foundation) about 3" below the surface, so after I put in the 804 I didn't have much room for the gravel dust to smooth it out. I hadn't even noticed it was bumpy/not level until the grass went down.

As another poster said, every single little bump will be noticeable unless the ground works is correct. Before I tacked down I noticed another bump in mine towards the edge, so I folded back the grass and it was where I had some excess weed fabric and rather than cutting it I took the lazy option and just folded it over on itself. That slight bump was noticeable through the grass.

Also try and go for the longer pile if at all possible, there is a vast difference between the 30mm and the 40mm I thought. Our supplier was excellent (happy to PM the details) and had large samples of all in stock that we could take a look at. He had similar pile lengths with different thatch etc available.

stickman1019

https://artificialgrass.ie/artificial-grass-installation

I did 32m squared myself from the above company.

Video on that page fairly bomb proof.

Try not to cut corners on the digout and filling will only come back to haunt you.

Much more expensive and time consuming to repair afterwards

Sorry for piggybacking, but roughly how much would it cost to get an installation of artificial grass on a 20x17ft area of back garden? It would need the existing grass/weeds dug out. Most places I have looked at don't have a guideline price.

thanks

stickman1019

the dunne

I was quoted €3750 for mine pre-lockdown. Ended up around €750 DIY (free gravel)

best bet would be to get a few quotes kind of hard to put a ball park figure on it as there are so many variables from garden to garden.

lots of things to take into account access to property, machinery required / available, soil removal, drainage needed ect.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119266647#Comment_119266647

Thanks for that. I hadn't expected the ballpark to be that high...

Back to the drawing board methinks.

Thanks again.

stickman1019

Ya think that was on the high side personally.

That's why I would say shop around get 3 or 4 quotes and take it from there

raxy

I'd look at some of the installers advertising Facebook if looking for quotes. It's mad what the main installers charge.

When I was getting mine I was quoted ~1600 for 30sqm & thought that wasn't bad so went with it. Another quote was 3300. They promised to lift the paving that was there, put a proper foundation & then lay the grass.

They came & glued the grass to the paving. Filled in missing paving slabs with grit. Took them less than 2 hours & they spent the rest of the morning sleeping in my garden. When I complained they said they did the work for the price I paid. Didn't care that they made the quote. Offered a slight reduction if I kept it. In the end I had to threaten to bring them to court. Made them pay €1000 compensation for damaging the existing paving. Certainly didn't make my garden a sanctuary like their name suggested.

Decided DIY was the way after that.

ConorC1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119265919#Comment_119265919

Thanks for that very detailed advice. Just what I was looking for.

In terms of the dig out...did you hire machinery or do it manually?

Did you just put the 6" nails straight into the ground or did you use timber?

I've 30mm here and ready to lay so can't go with 40mm now. Was advised to go with that pile height as it will be used by kids a lot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119268700#Comment_119268700

Just quoted €5800...

I think I'll just put down new grass :)

Manzoor14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119270368#Comment_119270368

Machinery. I'm in a new build estate so the builders were kind enough to dig it out for me. Took them about half an hour with an excavator. I had to manually dig out a small bit the machinery couldn't get to, i'm not sure I would have fancied doing the whole plot that way, it was tough going.

Nails went straight into the ground. You can get them out by wiggling and loosening them a bit, so I was a bit worried they wouldn't hold. But a few months on they seem to be holding grand, albeit my grass area doesn't have too much traffic on it. One obvious thing here is make sure you've no pipes/cables etc around.

stickman1019

Excellent price 😥

DIY route will save a fortune

okedoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119265919#Comment_119265919

I DIY laid out around 30sqm of artificial grass for a play area, following almost exactly the same approach as Mazoor. ONly major difference was i put the weed membrane under the 804, then 804, then a few inches of dust and compacted it til it was like glass. Looks great a 18 months on. Cost around €1K altogether from what i remember (the grass was about 750 of this)

okedoke

Its hard work but no particular skill required I found

Thelonious Monk

The stuff is disgraceful, it should be banned. Why on earth would you want to do that to your surrounds?

https://twitter.com/shitlawns?lang=en

Good Twitter account there that showcases the hideous trend of artificial grass.

riddles

Did a patch 28 metre sq in a 110 metre squared garden couldn’t recommend it highly enough down about 5 years now still looks good. If you can frame it with planting brings it up great. Did the front patch as well recently again framed with planting. The occasional hoover is all it needs.

daheff

Personally I prefer real grass. But in our garden the walls around it meant that a lot of the time there isn't enough sunlight to help dry it out or for the grass to grow...so we ended up with a mossy swamp.

Talked to some garden folks and to a man they all advised going artificial.

Now it's in, I really like it.

If it rains, the grass is dry about a half hour later. No sitting on wet patches or bringing in mud from the garden. We find we use the outside much more now than we did before.

SuperBowserWorld

Would you like some fake plastic trees with that fake plastic lawn 🤣 🤣🤣

The world has gone **** mad.

Her green plastic watering can

For her fake Chinese rubber plant

In the fake plastic earth

That she bought from a rubber man

In a town full of rubber plans

To get rid of itself

It wears her out

It wears her out

It wears her out

It wears her out

She lives with a broken man

A cracked polystyrene man

Who just crumbles and burns

He used to do surgery

For girls in the eighties

But gravity always wins

And it wears him out

It wears him out

It wears him out

It wears

She looks like the real thing

She tastes like the real thing

My fake plastic love

But I can't help the feeling

I could blow through the ceiling

If I just turn and run

And it wears me out

It wears me out

It wears me out

It wears me out

And if I could be who you wanted

If I could be who you wanted

All the time

All the time

ConorC1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119340406#Comment_119340406

Had you much 804 and dust to buy? if your grass was €750 then €250 for everything seems like a great price! I was quoted over €650 for just 6 tonnes of 804 along with 1 ton of dust

ConorC1

Resurrecting this to ask about weed membrane for under the artificial grass. Is there particular type to go for or are they all pretty standard?

raxy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120590661#Comment_120590661

any will do. I found the fabric kind is easier to use that the plasticy woven type.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119264173#Comment_119264173

100% this, and I know it sounds like trite advice to the OP.

Preparation is key. Drainage is a very important consideration and one that's often forgotten.

My area of artificial grass is lain in a split level garden. It's on the high portion. I dug out to a single level, laid perforated drainage and linked back to lower garden drainage.

Then hardcore to raise the levels to height I required. Run over with a compactor. Followed by 4 or 5" of sand and then that compacted again to a smooth and level finish.

Then it's lay the artificial grass, fit to rough shape and edges and pins in. Then lay down kiln dried/it silica sand and brush in well, may take a few attempts to get it sufficiently brushed in and grass standing.

Once you have that done, finish off your edges and enjoy.

I can't stress enough the importance of good drainage and a firm and level substrate to get the best out of any artificial lawn.

It's a hard job, but do it right and you'll only ever need to worry about replacing the lawn when it wears rather than remediation on boggy, uneven and poor draining area if you rush it.

SuperBowserWorld

Reminds me of the song Fake Plastic Trees 🤣