Artificial Turf Installation: How the Job Actually Works

Demolition and what gets found

Out comes the old surface — tired grass, gravel, failed turf — plus enough soil to make room for a real base. This is when yards reveal their secrets: irrigation lines to cap, roots to address, caliche-hard spots that fight excavation, and grade problems the lawn was hiding. Findings get discussed before they get solved; demolition surprises priced mid-job without a conversation are how turf quotes earn their bad reputation.

Base: the actual product

The base is several inches of select aggregate, placed in lifts, compacted hard, and graded to drain. Skimp the depth and the surface ripples; skip compaction passes and footprints become permanent; ignore grade and monsoon water ponds under the turf. When two quotes differ sharply, the difference is almost always buried here — ask both how deep, what material, and how it will be compacted, and the cheap quote usually explains itself.

Drainage, designed not hoped

Desert rain is rare and violent, so drainage gets engineered: surface grade carrying monsoon bursts away from the house, low spots corrected rather than carpeted over, and extra capacity built under pet zones and pool splash areas. Turf backing is perforated and drains well — but only into a base that has somewhere to send the water.

Layout, seams, edges, infill

Turf has grain, and every roll on a project must run the same direction or seams flash in afternoon light. Good layout plans roll direction around the main viewing angles, places seams off the traffic lines, and cuts deliberately around curves. Edges get hard restraint — bender board or equivalent — because unrestrained edges lift and invite the decomposed granite in. Infill (silica, coated, or pet-specific) ballasts the turf, stands the blades up, and moderates heat; the right one depends on use and exposure. Then power-brooming, and the yard is done — with the quality already locked in three layers down.