Artificial Grass Installation in San Mateo & Santa Clara County

We start the process by having one of our professional design consultants assist you with your design to ensure we have a clear picture for your overall design needs and goals for the project. Our goal in this step is to create as few seams as possible, as this will result in a more realistic looking lawn once completed. During this step we will also go over an accurate project estimate and any revisions that are needed to the scope in order to meet your project needs. Once the design is finalized we will use the diagram to figure out the appropriate quantities of material to order.

Before demolition can even begin, all utilities (electrical, gas, water, sprinklers, etc.) must be properly located. This allows us to eliminate unnecessary problems during or after installation. If you have an existing sprinkler system, we can cap these for use at a later point in time or remove it all together depending on the customer’s preference. Any additions or modifications to the existing utilities must be accounted for at this time.

The existing soft-scape and/or hard-scape surface of your lawn area will be removed with a bob-cat. If a bob-cat isn’t necessary or it’s a smal space that a bob-cat can’t reach, we’ll use other demolition tools. If there are areas where trees or the foundation is protruding into the usable lawn space, saw-cutting may be necessary.

We will excavate 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches from final grade.

If the space requires additional drainage, we’ll install drains during this step to account for proper water flow away from your house.

Bender board or paver mow strips will be installed for aesthetics and structural integrity around the outside of your project, wherever we are abutting up against soft-scape surfaces.

Sub-base compacting is a crucial step as air gaps should never be left in the system, so we will use a plate compactor to compact the sub-base and prevent undulations or depressions later on.

Roughly 2-3 inches of Class II Road Base will be dispersed throughout the base of your turf project and once the Road Base is set, it gets hosed down and compacted until a 95% minimum compaction rate is reached. A bob-cat is then driven over the base to ensure it’s compacted as hard as a rock — at a 95% compaction rate, there won’t be any tire marks left on the surface. 

While not mandatory, we recommend installing a weed barrier fabric after the base preparation. This will ensure that weeds don’t sprout up through the turf. While weed turf is generally effective in preventing weeds, there is zero guarantee. We can do everything in our power to destroy them in terms of what is currently there, however, completely destroying root systems is nearly impossible. Weeds tend to sprout along the outer edges of the turf as it’s incredibly difficult to secure the edges. It’s important to note that while artificial grass is low maintenance that doesn’t mean you can install it and completely forget about it. Minor maintenance and care will still be needed over the lifetime for pristine looking turf. 

However, if you have pets, that will be using the turf as their bathroom, we highly recommend against installing the weed barrier as the barrier can soak up urine and hold onto a foul smell over time that is difficult to remove. We recommend Urine Zero to remove the urine odors on your artificial turf.

Because the turf comes rolled up like a carpet, it’s important to roll it out completely to and allow it to sit out in the sun prior to the installation to help eliminate any wrinkles and bunching. If you skip this step, it’s possible that air pockets may develop in your turf lawn once that grass has settled after installation. Rolling out the turf is part of propper planning that will make sure your lawn is as seamless as possible. Once the fake grass is positioned properly, we’ll remove any extra and unnecessary turf making the installation process easier. 

Once we’ve perfectly laid out the artificial grass, we’ll make sure the grass is rolled out in the same direction, meaning that all the blades of grass face the same direction. When it comes to seaming the sections of grass together, there are several seaming techniques and we may used a specific technique depending on the circumstance of the job. The various techniques include utilizing seaming tape in conjunction with adhesives, sewing tacks and nails (which are a popular method). Once the seams have been completed, the final step is to trim along the seams and edges of the grass.

In order to properly secure the border, we’ll nail down the perimeter of the installation area with 40-60d nails, which are 4-6 inches in length. We recommend placing them every 1-2 feet around the perimeter.

The next step is to prepare the turf for infill installation, where we’ll use a power broom to sweep the turf in the opposite direction that the blades are pointing. What this does is make sure the blades are propped upright, allowing for the infill material to properly penetrate the grass and fall to the turf base. 

Infill is important because it’s used to weight down the turf and make it more plush underfoot — this will depend on the infill you use. Infill is also helpful as an antimicrobial, preventing degradation, and reducing heat consumption/overheating. The infill can be installed using a standard seed drop spreader to install the infill. It’s important to determine the amount of infill prior to installation because you’ll want to leave 5/8″ (+/- 1/8″) of grass blades exposed. Note that the amount of infill you’ll need varies based on the specific turf chosen and the metric needed for infill will be pounds per sqft of artificial grass.

Lastly, we’ll do a walkthrough of the project to make sure there are no out of place grass blades. If everything looks perfect, we’ll hose down the turf lawn, which completes the installation project and makes your lawn ready for use.