Sometimes, having a beautiful natural garden is not an option. Or maybe not a preference. Living in UK could be a challenge weather-wise, and laying artificial turf is a low maintenance option for your garden. If you choose carefully, you can obtain forever-great-looking grass, without breaking the bank. So, how to install artificial grass on a low budget without compromises, and what are the common mistakes to avoid?

If you decide to do this yourself, it is important to follow a few steps in order to get the best results.

First, I need to explain why we installed artificial turf ourselves instead of hiring a professional. I think I called seven different companies in our area somewhere in May, but every single one was overbooked for the rest of the summer. With a toddler wanting to explore and enjoy his garden, we could not skip another warm season. We did our homework and our garden now is such a joy to see and use.

The reason we opted for artificial instead of natural is that our soil was infested with leatherjackets and a few other pests, not to mention some pretty nasty weeds. The developer installed sick turf  and, within a year, our back yard was compromised. Time became a problem as summer was approaching fast and everything looked terrible.

The artificial grass was installed on a surface of 4m x 5m. Basically not a big project, but enough for a small good playground.

Now if you have a plan, let’s see how to install artificial grass on a low budget and the breakdown cost!

1. Prepare the ground

Needless to say it again, each step is very important. Preparing the ground is crucial, it’s about the foundation of the whole work you’re about to do. The garden needs to be prepared in order to obtain a level surface, firm enough to hold everything in place and keeping a good drainage.

First thing to do is removing the compromised turf rolls – we used a simple shovel, and then dig in the soft soil, say around 100mm depth. We skipped digging only because of the very thin soil we had under the turf.

Expenses:

Shovel – £20

2. Create an edge – not necessarily a must when you install artificial grass on a low budget?

Arguably, it is wise to have a level edge installed around the area you work on. This could be either wood, plastic, brick or metal, why not. My advise is to do this, even though we haven’t. We decided to use the fence and the concrete slabs instead.

3. Apply the weed membrane

A weed membrane at this stage is important as it will be a strong barrier against weeds or even unwanted creatures, like worms. Use ground pins to fix the foil. Where joining is needed, overlap the edges by 0.5m to secure perfect coverage. We pinned the membrane every 0.6m around the perimeter and on the overlaps.

We applied two weed membranes, first one before the sub base and the second one on top of the compacted sub base.

Expenses:

2 x weed membrane – £24 (from B&M)

2 x bags of ground pins – £8 (from B&Q)

 

4. Lay a strong compacted sub base

The popular material for a proper sub base is called Mot Type 1, the cheapest aggregate on the market. But, with a bit of extra research, limestone or granite chipping came out to be ideal. Some experts say the Mot Type 1 is the best, but unfortunately the drainage properties aren’t so great.

Therefore, we used scalpings – 20mm down limestone sub base, and it was easy to work with. For a total area of approx. 8m x 5m, including the terrace and the lawn we needed to change, we ordered 3.5 tons of chipping. By far, this was my heaviest shopping ever! In order to install artificial grass, you need a sub base of around 10cm depth.

As we added a few bags of sub base later, we noticed the ideal size of the stones should be between 20mm – 40mm.

One common mistake is to use sand as a sub base. Sand is a soft foundation, despite compacting it, it will move and change shape, and you will end up with uneven surface or craters.

We used sand only for filling small gaps and then for making the cement to fix the concrete slabs.

Use a special metal rake to evenly distribute the stones before compacting. A compactor / wacker plate is not something you usually have around the house. So, unless your uncle doesn’t have one, you need to find a business to hire from. We hired a heavy-duty lightweight plate for a weekend, but turned out we finished everything within a couple of hours.

Expenses:

3.5t limestone – £180 (a bargain at Boswell Bros, otherwise it can be quite expensive)

10 bags of sharp sand – £35 (from Wickes)

5 bags of limestone £30 (from Wickes)

hire a wheelbarrow for the weekend £20 (could be half the price if you book online) , hire a compactor  for the weekend £59 (booked online at Brandon Hire Station)

metal rake – £15 (from B&Q)

5. Apply a second weed membrane

Now that you’ve finished the hardest part, it’s time to add a second weed membrane on top of the compacted sub base. It is a good idea if you deal with nasty weeds and bad soil.

6. Lay the artificial grass

The moment you’ve been waiting for is finally now!

When it comes to choosing the artificial grass, a few key factors should determine the type and quality. In our case, we considered our toddler, the two cats and the messy trees. We opted for a 42mm turf with high density, pet friendly, UV protection guaranteed for 10 years and with a beautiful natural aspect. Ideally, you should see it before buying it. We were able to choose our artificial grass after ordering 6 different samples.

Now back to installation – a few extra precautious steps and your job is done:

• Measure carefully before ordering your grass and add a little extra. It’s better to cut off than being too short. Our grass was cut shorter than what we ordered (warehouse fault), but luckily it did not ruin the project and it covered everything as planned.
• Ideally, order a whole piece instead of multiple cuts. If that’s not possible, make sure you get glue and joining tape. When joining two pieces together, pay attention to the pile direction and align the same orientation.
• Once the grass is delivered, unroll it and let it rest for 24h. Tip: with the pile running toward the house, you get the best looks of the grass. 
• If needed, cut edges as per correct measurements. You can use a cutting blade, it’s more efficient than a pair of scissors.
• Don’t forget the galvanized nails to fix the grass in place! We applied the nails every 0.45m, equally spread on the entire surface.

Expenses:

6m x 4m Zeus artificial grass 42 mm high density 3500g/sqm – £500 (on special offer,, regular price £850 – from Grasswarehouse)

5 x bags of galvanized nails – £35 (from Toolstation)

7. Apply infill

Now that you’re so close to a beautiful finish, do it in style! And by that, I mean don’t skip the last step, a very important one – the infill. It has the role to give the grass a beautiful natural look and to provide additional stability.

There are different types of infill. Silica sand is the cheapest but we avoided it due to health risk. Instead, we opted for the Envirofill. It is more expensive, but comes with all the other pluses.

As it’s been a gap of a few days between grass installation and the infill, I prepared the turf carefully by removing the debris. I used a plastic rake and the vacuum – the trees behind our garden are pretty messy.

It is very important to apply the infill only on dry grass. If the weather is not on your side, wait a bit longer until it’s all dry again. The easiest and cost-free way to apply the infill is by piercing the bag bottom (as in my photo above). Use the plastic rake agaim, to evenly distribute the granules all over the lawn. At the end, you can water the surface to speed up the settle. We didn’t water it, but waited for the rain.

Envirofill approx. coverage is 5 sq mtrs per bag.

Expenses:

4 x Envirofill bags – £135 (from ArtificialGrassDirect. Same product could be very expensive with different providers, and we wanted to install artificial grass on a low budget after all)

plastic rake – £25 (from B&M – it’s a must-have as it keeps your artificial lawn well maintained)

Was it easy? Definitely not, as it required some effort and patience. Have we made a few mistakes? Absolutely, but nothing bad enough to spoil the results. Choosing to install artificial grass on a rather small area in our garden was our biggest advantage.

This job should take just a few days, but bear in mind unexpected factors, like delivery delays, out of stock items, or weather. Prolonged bad weather and a few trips abroad made our project last a couple of months. Ugh!..

Total cost? A little difficult to give precise digits as the project involved the entire garden, not just the artificial grass. For the turf installation, I estimate a tad under £1000.

Although it was 100% DIY, we had a little expert supervising. ♥

We couldn’t be happier with the appearance of your garden today. You too can install yourself artificial grass on a low budget!

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