Infilling artificial turf is almost on par with seaming joints as the most crucial aspect to installing artificial turf.

This is a very common question from both my clients that I install turf for and other contractors that I supply turf to and mentor.

There are two answers to this question

1. To add weight to area of turf that has just been installed, to assist with the prevention of the turf area moving away from the position it has been cut into. It also helps minimizing the amount of shrinkage of turf around the edges and on the seams.
2. To surround the base of each blade of grass to assist with keeping all blades of grass vertical and staying upright whilst turf area is being used by pedestrians.

The other really important part to infilling artificial turf is to use the correct sand. Artificial turf needs to be infilled with Kiln Dried Sand. This is the only way to truly get the sand to the base of the blades of grass. Any other brickies sand, quartz sand or putty sand will simply not work and you will be unable to get the correct amount of weight into the grass.

Below is my procedure for infilling turf with kiln dried sand.

1. Finish all cutting in, gluing of joins, nailing perimeter and cleaning turf area down by removing any off cuts or debris.
2. Using a motorised bristle brush or stiff bristled broom to stand the blades of grass up to a vertical position. (When the turf comes from the factory and is packed on a roll the blades of grass with lay one way, we need to drag those back upright to a vertical position).
3. Calculate the quantity of sand required to infill the area. There are many different rates recommended for different types of turf but it will most likely be somewhere between 4-12kg per m2.
4. Kiln dried sand should be inspected and ensure that it is perfectly dry.
5. Using a hand sand spreader to evenly spread the sand out over the entire area. A bucket could also be used around the edges to ensure the edges have ample amount of sand.
6. Last step is to use the motorised bristle brush or hand broom to re brush the area back to vertical and to ensure the sand is spread evenly. After this is done it’s a good option to then blow down the area to also assist with evenly spreading the sand and to clean the edges and surrounding surfaces to prepare to hand the job over to the clients.

There shouldn’t be any need to re infill the turf with more sand down the track unless some unforeseen flooding of the area removes the sand. This will be something that will need to be monitored as part of the maintenance of the turf area.