The Turf Removal Process Before Artificial Grass Installation

Often, we are asked to complete an artificial grass install on both the front and the back gardens (even side gardens too!) And our Thornaby shows just that. We replaced both natural grass gardens with an artificial lawn. Our blog today is showing you the importance of turf removal. Including why it needs doing, and tips to make sure you get the best outcome possible!

This Thornaby garden had both lawns replaced with artificial in August

Turf Removal: Disposal

It seems obvious, right? The first part of installing artificial turf is to assess your current base and if it is natural grass then you can just spade it out and take it to the tip? What many people fail to recognise is that tonnes of natural grass come out of a garden during turf removal and it would be a fair few journeys to the tip or recycling centre to get rid of the turf. We always recommend recycling as this is much better for the environment. Garden waste can be recycled into nutritious soil conditioner.

For larger gardens, we urge you to hire a skip. Make sure that this is thought about for the turf removal process, ie where is it going to go? Will the journey from your garden to the skip be convenient enough?

Turf Removal: The tools you need to use

The soil that stands underneath where the artificial turf will be fitted needs to be very level. Approximately 50mm should be dug down to allow for the limestone base, edging and grass to sit. Use a turf cutter to ensure a smooth base. If this is not used you could run the risk of delves in the grass or an unsteady surface.

This turf cutter helps to cut the grass into much more manageable sections

If you plan on doing the dig out yourself before the installation, check out our 5 top tips below before you start:

• Time Management- it is a very lengthy process digging the garden out, a small garden of less than 10 square metres could take a few days depending on who is digging out and how often they will be working on the garden, disposal and amount of soil present
• Disposal- plan what you are going to do with the soil/turf you dig out
• Levels- where are you digging out to
• The mess- It is a messy process, have a pressure washer out just in case!
• The weather- weather may put jobs back, the last thing you want to do is to be stood in the torrential rain attempting turf removal!

We hope that helps with any questions you may have on turf removal. Remember in Lion Lawns installations, we can do all of this for you and it is included in the full installation price.

Contact us today for a quote on 01642 713 555 or info@lionlawns.co.uk