Installing artificial grass involves six real steps: removing the old lawn, grading and compacting a new base, laying a weed barrier, cutting and seaming the turf to fit your yard, securing the edges, and brushing in infill. Skip or rush any one of them and the lawn fails early. Call (689) 337-5455 to get an installer who does all six correctly.
Six stages, in order: demo, grading, base compaction, weed barrier, turf placement and seaming, then infill and brushing. Most residential jobs move through all six within a few days, though the exact time spent on each stage depends on the size of the yard and what's currently growing in it. Here's the short version before the detail below.
Everything currently growing has to come out, roots included, or it grows back up through the turf within a season. A crew typically strips the existing grass with a sod cutter or a skid steer, then digs out root systems, especially from anything woody like old shrubs or tree suckers growing at the edge of the lawn. In Orlando yards, that usually means clearing out St. Augustinegrass runners, which spread aggressively enough that a partial removal leaves plenty of live root to push back up through a weed barrier eventually. The old material gets hauled off site, not buried under the new base, since decomposing organic matter under turf creates uneven settling later, sometimes years later, long after the crew that cut the corner is gone.
This is the step that determines whether your lawn looks good for fifteen years or needs to be redone in three. After demo, the soil gets graded to a slope, usually a slight pitch away from the house and toward an existing drainage path, so water moves instead of pooling against a wall or a fence line. A base material, most often crushed granite or a similar decomposed aggregate, goes down in layers, typically two to four inches at a time, with each layer compacted by a plate compactor before the next one goes on top. Compacting in layers matters more than compacting once at the end. A single deep pass over loose material leaves air pockets that settle unevenly under foot traffic later, and that's exactly what causes the low spots and puddles that show up in cut-rate installs a year or two in. There's no way to see this step once the turf is down, which is also why it's the step most tempting to rush.
Turf itself is only part of a drainage system. A layer of permeable weed barrier fabric sits between the base and the turf, blocking weed growth while still letting water pass through into the compacted aggregate below, which is built to drain rather than hold water the way native Florida soil does. Combined with Central Florida's rainy season, a base that doesn't drain turns a yard into a shallow pond every time a summer storm rolls through, sometimes for hours after the rain has already stopped. Getting the slope and base material right during preparation is what keeps that from happening, not anything built into the turf fibers themselves.
Turf comes in rolls, usually 15 feet wide, which almost never matches the exact shape of a yard. Panels get rolled out, trimmed to fit around beds, walkways, and curves, and joined at the seams using turf glue and seaming tape rather than just butting two edges together and hoping they hold. A good seam is nearly invisible once infill is brushed in. A bad one shows a visible line and can start separating within a year. Around the perimeter, turf gets secured with galvanized nails or staples spaced closely enough that wind and foot traffic don't work the edges loose over time.
Infill is the granular material brushed down into the turf fibers after the panels are secured, and it does more work than most homeowners expect from something that looks like sand. It weighs the blades down so they don't flatten permanently under foot traffic, helps the blades stand upright instead of matting over, and adds a small amount of cushioning underfoot. Silica sand is the standard option for a straightforward residential lawn. Homes with dogs typically use an antimicrobial infill instead, covered in more detail on the pet-friendly turf page, and some installers offer a cooling infill meant to reduce how hot the surface gets in direct sun. Infill also settles and compacts slightly over the years, which is why a top-up every so often keeps a lawn performing the way it did on day one.
Not much, but a few things help the job move faster. Clear the yard of furniture, planters, and anything else sitting on the grass, and let the crew know where sprinkler lines, irrigation valves, or shallow utility lines run if you're aware of any. Pets should stay inside or in a separate part of the yard while equipment is running, both for their safety and because a curious dog and a bucket of infill rarely mix well. Beyond that, there's no real prep homeowners need to do themselves. The installer handles everything from demo through the final brush of infill.
Ready to get your yard measured? Call (689) 337-5455 for a free, on-site estimate on artificial grass installation anywhere in the Orlando area.
Most residential jobs finish in one to three days once work actually starts, with base preparation taking up more of that time than laying the turf itself. A small front yard or side strip might wrap up in a single day. A full backyard with a pool deck, multiple planting beds, or a steep grade to correct can stretch closer to a week. Weather adds the biggest variable in this part of the state. A base that gets rained on mid-installation needs time to dry, and sometimes needs to be recompacted before turf goes down, which is why installers here build some flexibility into their schedules during the summer rainy season rather than promising a hard date months out.
Pile height, face weight, and blade shape all affect how a lawn looks and holds up, and the right combination depends on what the yard is actually for. A shorter, denser pile handles heavy foot traffic and high-visibility front yards well. A taller, more natural-looking blade suits a backyard meant mostly for looking at rather than walking on constantly. Homes with dogs need a different backing and infill entirely, covered on the pet-friendly turf page, and a backyard practice green is built to a different spec altogether, covered on the putting greens page. An installer walking your property can tell you which grade fits your specific use case instead of guessing from a sample swatch on a showroom wall.
No, not properly. The existing grass and its root system have to come out first. Laying turf over live grass traps moisture and organic material underneath, which decomposes, settles unevenly, and can smell as it breaks down. Any installer willing to skip this step to save time is cutting a corner that shows up later.
Not for the turf itself. An occasional rinse helps with dust, pollen, and cooling the surface on a hot day, but there's no watering schedule to maintain and no irrigation system required to keep it looking the same year round.
Yes, better than real grass does in most cases. St. Augustinegrass struggles under heavy tree canopy and thins out over time without direct sun. Turf doesn't need light to survive, so shaded yards that have always struggled to grow real grass are often good candidates.
A properly installed weed barrier under the base blocks most growth from below. Airborne seeds can still land on top of the turf and sprout in accumulated dirt or organic debris, which is why an occasional rinse and brush keeps a lawn from developing surface weeds over the years.
Yes, and it's a common combination in Orlando yards. Turf doesn't track mud or clippings into the pool and stays consistent right up to the deck edge. The base and drainage plan need to account for pool splash-out and nearby deck drainage, which a competent installer factors into the grading plan from the start.