Laying Fake Grass: Mistakes that DIYers Often Make

DIY laying fake grass is a great way to save money. Installing your fake grass yourself is relatively straightforward; however, there are several mistakes to watch out for. You need to be prepared with the right resources, tools and skills. We have listed some of the most common mistakes you should try to avoid when DIY installing your lawn.

Starting out with an imported, poor quality product

It is vital to make sure that you purchase premium-quality lawn and not a poor-quality product. You cannot expect a top-class result when your raw materials are not high-quality raw materials. Therefore, it is important to find Australian Made fake grass as well as all the supplementary raw materials, so that you will have an excellent base from which to start installing your artificial lawn. The problem with some imported products is that they are manufactured the cheapest possible way, oftentimes by using heavy metals which can have a serious health effect on children. So make sure you search for the AUSTRALIAN MADE logo on the lawn rolls.

Ignoring the importance of laying a proper foundation

A solid foundation will ensure that your grass is evenly laid. Otherwise, the grass will collapse, and holes will form when you walk on the lawn or put anything large on the lawn. The correctly-laid foundation will also provide adequate drainage and water runoff so that the water does not pool on top of your synthetic turf. The best way of doing this is digging out existing lawn or the existing base to a minimum depth of 70mm and then filling it in with Blue Metal Dust to a minimum depth of 50mm. You need a compactor and a lot of time for this, make sure it’s perfect and even.

Using the wrong hardware and tools to install your lawn

It is important to understand the climate and local soil conditions so that you can use the correct tools when installing your artificial grass. For example, if you live in an area where it gets freezing in winter, you cannot use traditional nails to hold down the grass strips. They will freeze and eventually break. Furthermore, if you live in an area that is very sandy, and you do not use a heavy roller to compact the sand when laying the foundation, your lawn will sink when it rains.

Laying the lawn strips in the wrong direction

The artificial grass leaves need to be brushed once the lawn has been installed to force them to stand up. They will also only stand up in one direction; therefore, you need to lay the strips so that the pile stands up in the direction you want it to stand up in.

Once laid, the lawn needs to be secured with heavy duty steel pins and joined with commercial level joining tape.

DIY laying your artificial turf takes a lot of time and resources. If you are trying to save money in the long run, we recommend using a professional synthetic grass installation company. Australian Synthetic Lawns cover their workmanship with a warranty and the Australian made synthetic grass we use comes with a 7-year warranty for your piece of mind.