DIY - How to Install Artificial Grass on Dirt

You may remember the old days of old astro turf .

It was pretty ugly looking stuff , really artificial and it went down on hard concrete .

So it was even hard to walk on nothing natural about it .

These new turfs though , they've actually woven dead bits of grass into them .

So they have a realistic look and they get a realistic feel .

They don't go down on concrete .

Now , you have to prepare the area where you want to put it down .

You have to make sure if you had real grass in there that you kill it off first .

So you have to use round up usually in at least two , sometimes three applications .

And you can only do that during , during the warmer months when the nighttime temperatures stay above 65 degrees .

After you've done that , you dig out 2 to 3 inches of the soil , get all the roots out , tree roots , plant roots , everything and then bring in a quarter inch minus decomposed granite for your base .

We bring it in in about an inch at a time , wet it and roll it with a saw roller .

Get good compassion until you get to the level that you're trying to achieve , especially if you're going to put your turf down adjacent to a deck like here .

So that when we're finished , we pretty much don't have a tripper and we're at the same level as the deck .

So let's go ahead and get our sub base prepared .

Ok .

Now that our sub base is prepared , we're ready to put down our weed fabric and we need to put this down because we don't want weeds coming up through our new artificial turf .

This fabric goes on top of your sub base , not below it because you just put three inches of material down .

That weeds could grow into simple to do to get it in a four ft wide roll .

And this is a good commercial grade weed fabric and that's what you want to use .

We just lay it out and roll it out into place .

Take these really long nails .

We don't need to use a whole lot of them because we just want them to hold it in place and then we'll roll out our turf over the top of it .

So we've gone ahead and got all of our weed barrier down and I'm not bothering to follow our free form layout with that because I want it to overlap .

We'll be putting granite on top of that anyway , with plants around it .

Now , what we do want to do though is get this thing all the way laid out and then I'm just going to come in with a big pair of shears like these and cut my free form edge .

I don't have to follow the original pattern .

I just need to be close to it because we want this to look natural .

Let's go ahead guys .

Right .

So now that our artificial turf is starting to be laid down , we've kind of got it in a rough position where we want it .

We definitely want to be squared to these two edges of the deck .

We go ahead and we take these six inch long nails and we nail them in obviously at the corner and the grass will just kind of pull up over and hide those and then every four inches along the edge , my hammer happens to be four inches .

So it makes it nice and easy .

And after we get this whole edge nailed , then I'll go ahead and be ready to cut my free form pattern in to get that natural look to this long layout .

Now that we've cut the shape of our lawn and we've got it nailed down .

And in place , one of the last steps that we want to do is apply silica sand about 1.5 to £2 per square foot .

So I may make a few passes over this just to get it down the way I want it .

And then what we'll do is we'll come back and sweep this all in the joints and this will really firm it up and give it a nice natural feel .

And once you've got that sound down , it really makes this grass stand up and look natural .

Now , you've got a really beautiful lawn that you never have to mow for water .

Next on step outside .

Vitamins can help .

We're ready to put down our weed fabric and we need to put this down because we don't want weeds coming up through our new artificial turf .

This fabric goes on top of your sub base , not below it because you just put three inches of material down .

That weeds could grow into simple to do .

We get it in a four ft wide roll and this is a good commercial grade weed fabric and that's what you want to use .

We just lay it out and roll it out into place .

Take these really long nails .

We don't need to use a whole lot of them because we just want them to hold it in place and then we'll roll out our turf over the top of it .

So we've gone ahead and got all of our weed barrier down and I'm not bothering to follow our free form layout with that because I want it to overlap .

We'll be putting granite on top of that anyway , with plants around it .

Now , what we do want to do though is get this thing all the way laid out and then I'm just going to come in with a big pair of shears like these and cut my free form edge .

I don't have to follow the original pattern .

I just need to be close to it because we want this to look natural .

Let's go ahead guys .

Yeah .

So now that our artificial turf is starting to be laid down , we've kind of got it in a rough position where we want it .

We definitely want to be squared to these two edges of the deck .

We go ahead and we take these six inch long nails and we nail them in obviously at the corner and the grass will just kind of pull up over and hide those and then every four inches along the edge , my hammer happens to be four inches .

So it makes it nice and easy .

Yeah .

And after we get this whole edge nailed , then I'll go ahead and be ready to cut my free form pattern in to get that natural look to this long layout now that we've cut the shape of our lawn and we've got it nailed down and in place , one of the last steps that we want to do is apply silica sand about 1.5 to £2 per square foot .

So I may make a few passes over this just to get it down the way I want it .

And then what we'll do is we'll come back and sweep this all in the joints and this will really firm it up and give it a nice natural feel .

And once you've got that sound down , it really makes this grass stand up and look natural .

Now , you've got a really beautiful lawn that you never have to mow for water .

Next on step outside .

Vitamins can help our health .

Same is true for your plants .

How to give your soil a nutritional boost ?

And do you have a hard time getting your plants to grow ?

They may be in the wrong place .

That's next .