Are you thinking of brightening up a dull, grey concreted garden with realistic, luscious artificial grass?

Fake grass can make such a difference to any garden or patio, but you may be wondering if it can be successfully installed on concrete.

The good news is that it can! Most artificial grass installers will be happy to install over concrete or patio areas – as long as it’s in the right condition. It’s also still super low maintenance, and makes a much safer area for children to play on. Installing on concrete also works out slightly cheaper than a standard installation.

So, with that in mind, let me tell you what you should consider when installing artificial grass on concrete. And as an artificial grass specialist, I’ll also talk you through a typical installation.

How is artificial grass installed on concrete?

As long as your concrete area is level, with no cracks, it should be a relatively straightforward installation. Minor cracks can be fixed, but with larger cracks, we’d advise breaking out the concrete and carrying out a normal installation (including a dig-out of the area, and installing a sub-base layer).

If your concrete area is suitable for an artificial grass installation, it will still require appropriate drainage. This means either adding drainage holes, or ensuring your grass is on a slight fall.

After this, your chosen installer or specialist would install a weed barrier, before adding a safety shock pad layer, and finally laying the grass. Because concrete is so hard, a shock pad layer provides a soft, safe surface that’s pleasant under foot and suitable for children to play on. It comes in 10mm, 18mm, or 25mm thicknesses and can achieve a critical fall height of 2.6m.

The shock pad layer also helps to cover up and smooth out any imperfections in the concrete.

To secure the installation, an installer would cut the weed barrier and shock pad slightly shorter than the grass around the perimeter, so the grass can be laid over the weed barrier and shock pad. Then, the grass can be glued to the concrete to ensure no tripping hazard.

Advice from an artificial grass specialist

The best advice I can give you is to ensure your concrete surface is sound before installing artificial grass on top of it. If you’re not sure, an artificial grass specialist will be able to conduct an on-site assessment and advise you further.

To get the most out of your grass, it sound be completely level and you should have the appropriate draining. Otherwise this can lead to puddling. It may be that a normal garden installation (by removing the concrete) may be the best option if your concrete isn’t in good condition.

We have carried out a few concrete installations, both indoors and outdoors. Once we installed over a customer’s patio, which was quite a large area. It was in good condition, but looked very drab. Patio doors opened out onto it, and our customer wanted to create a more colourful, inviting space.

By adding the shock pad layer, then the grass, it meant our customer had a soft, green, more aesthetically pleasing space to enjoy. Whether it be for morning coffee or entertaining guests, it’s a large part of their garden that they’re now able to use more often.

We’ve also installed fake grass into a rugby training gym on top of concrete – for running with weights – and even putting greens on top of concrete. There’s no limit to what fake grass can transform!

Conclusion

I hope this blog has been helpful when discovering whether fake grass can be installed on concrete. It definitely can – as long as the concrete’s in a relatively good condition. Even minor cracks in your concrete can be fixed to achieve a smooth surface for your fake grass.

However, if you have large cracks in your concrete, it could be that removing it completely and carrying out a standard artificial grass installation might be best. An artificial grass specialist should be able to carry out a home visit and advise you further. As well as answer any questions you might have.

Do you have any questions about installing fake grass on concrete or patio? Just pop me a comment below. I’m always here to help!