A Brief Overview of the Process
Step 1: Measure area
- Measure out the area in which you intend to install the artificial turf. Mark the areas that you will be working in.
Step 2: Remove sod
- Once you know the area that you will be working in, take your sod cutter and remove sod. Also remove any other areas that are planning on being turfed.
Step 3: Haul in crusher fine
- Once the fabric is laid, start bringing in your crusher fine.
- Fill areas with about 3-5 inches of crusher fine to achieve desired base layer.
Step 4: Rake out crusher fine
- Once the crusher fine is in, rake it out to flatten the areas out. Make sure as you rake that you keep water drainage in mind and make sure that the turf does not have any low spot in the middle where water can pool up. Give your crusher fine base a certain amount of pitch to allow water to drain off properly.
Step 5: Hose down the crusher fine
- Once the dry crusher fine is at the desired level of flatness and has the correct pitch, hose down the crusher fine.
- Water is 80% of what helps to compact the crusher fine. Hose down the area enough but DO NOT over water the area otherwise this will create ruts in the crusher fine when you put the compactor on it.
Step 6: Compact crusher
- Once it is hosed down, you can start using the plate compactor on the crusher fine. The water and the plate compactor together help the crusher fine to begin to act like concrete. The dirt will begin to harden up and ultimately take shape.
- Once you compact the whole area, rake out any ruts that you see, fill any low spots with excess crusher fine, and make sure the base layer looks smooth before moving on.
- Once you smooth the crusher out to the desired area, hose down the area one more time. If you believe that the area needs another compaction, do the process over another time, if you think the area is hard enough and smooth enough, move onto the next step.
Step 7: Weed fabric
- Once the sod is removed, place weed fabric in the areas that will be receiving artificial turf. Secure the fabric with lawn staples.
Step 8: Roll out turf
- Once the base layer is finished, it is time to start laying turf.
- Roll out your rolls in the desired locations. Place them overlapping one another if you are dealing with more than one roll, you will seam these rolls together later. If you are laying more than one roll in a yard, place one roll of turf six tuft layers over top of the other roll of turf all the way down the seam line.
- Repeat this process over if there are more than two pieces of turf being used for a project.
- Cover your desired area completely with your rolls of turf.
- As you place your turf rolls in your desired locations, put lawn staples that go half way into the ground in all four corners about a foot away from the bottom and sides of the piece of turf. This will hold the carpet in place as you walk on it so it will not move on you.
- Once everything is covered and secured down, you can move onto the next step.
Step 9: Cutting seams
- When you cut seams, the reason why you line the pieces of turf up six lines to one tuft is so that you can cut three tuft lines on both pieces of turf so that they sit flush with one another.
- To do this, fold open both pieces of turf so that the backing is showing.
- Go to one of the pieces on the end of the turf and count three tuft lines in from the very end of the carpet. Once you count your three lines, cut the tuft from the backing of the turf following your tuft in a straight line all the way down using the tuft line as your guide.
- Once one is cut, repeat this process on the other piece of turf.
- Once they are both cut, fold the turf back over to make sure that the seams line up. If they line up without overlapping or without any large gaps, the process is finished. If there was a mistake made, either shave down areas that are overlapping or cut in a small filler piece for the turf if the gap is too large.
- Repeat this whole process for any other seams that you may have.
- Once the seams are cut, it is time to glue them together.
Step 10: Gluing seams
- When your seams line up perfectly, you can then move onto gluing them.
- Start by folding back both pieces of turf exposing the crusher fine/ weed fabric underneath the turf.
- Find the absolute middle of the seam, and roll out your seam fabric.
- Once the fabric is in the middle of both pieces of turf, secure the fabric down with lawn staples.
- Once the fabric is placed, mix your glue and begin pouring glue on the fabric.
- Use a glue trowel to spread out the glue on the seam evenly, making sure the amount that is poured out is thick with glue, but not too thick. If there is too much glue it may begin to seep up onto the turf.
- Once the glue is spread pout properly, place both pieces of turf down gently at the same time having one person hold open the pieces of turf, while the other one closes the seam, making sure that the turf lays down flat and is not bubbled or mohawked. Use this process all the way down until the seam is laid flat completely.
- Once it is laid flat, have one person take their hand and follow the seam all the way from the base of the seam to the top of the seam to take out any bubbles and to help secure both pieces of turf to the adhesive glue.
- Repeat this process for every seam.
- Seams typically take 1-1.5 hours to dry and hold when the weather is about 70 degrees and up, any colder and this process could take longer. Do not glue seams if it raining, or going to rain soon after the glue is spread. Water with not allow for the glue to dry and the seam will not hold.
Step 11: Cut in the perimeter of the turf
- Once the glue is down and beginning to set, start cutting in the perimeter of your turf to your desired shape and area using your carpet knife. Use a very sharp knife and either use concreted edging or other certain outlines to help you cut your turf to your desired shape.
- Make your way around the whole perimeter until it is completely cut in.
Step 12: Staple the perimeter of the turf
- Using lawn staples, go around the entire perimeter of the turf and sink lawn staples into the turf.
- Place each staple approximately 6-8 inches between one another.
- Hammer the staples into the turf, and sink them securely into the ground.
- If any fibers get stuck under the staple, use the end of another staple to work the fibers out from underneath the staple so that the staple is no longer visible.
- Do this until the entire outside of the turf is stapled and secured.
Step 13: Spread sand
- Once everything else is done, it is time to start spreading sand. First, take your zeodorizor and spread that out. 1-2 bags of this should be enough for a 5-1000 sq ft yard. Dumpo the bag into the sand spreader and cover the yard.
- Next, take your silica sand and cover the yard as well. You typically want to use around 2-3 pounds of silica per square foot or turf that you are installing. Cover the entire yard and try to spread the sand out as evenly as possible.
- Once the silica is done, spread the bags of opti fill to cover up the white silica sand. This usually take about one pound of opti fill per sq ft of turf being laid.
Step 14: Power broom
- Once the sand is all in, take out the power broom and start brooming the yard. Start with the power broom facing the fibers in the direction that they are laying down. Walk with the power broom from one end of the turf to the other allowing to spread the sand out.
- Once you reach the first end of the turf, walk backwards with the power broom over the same area. You will be brooming against the grain in this situation. This will allow the broom to put more force on the turf fibers and stand them up properly.
- Repeat this process going over the whole yard.
Step 15: Check for any mistakes
- Once this is taken care of, go around and look for any potential mishaps and fix them to the best of your ability.
Step 16: Hose turf down
- Once this is all finished, hose down the entire area that was just turfed. This will help all of the sand that you just out in settle to the bottom and will give the turf that clean finished look.