Artificial grass almost never fails in the middle of the lawn. It fails at the seams and the edges — and those are exactly the two things you can inspect yourself, in about ten minutes, before you pay the final invoice.
The turf itself is a manufactured product with a datasheet. The install is where quality varies enormously, and where a low quote usually finds its savings. This is what we look for when we are asked to assess someone else’s work, laid out so you can do the same walk-around.
Check the seams first
A seam is where two rolls meet. Done properly it is genuinely hard to find. Done badly it is the first thing every visitor’s eye lands on.
- Can you see a line? Stand at the far end of the lawn, then walk around to the opposite side and look again. Seams become visible when you view them against the pile direction, so check from at least two angles and in low afternoon light.
- Is the pile direction the same on both sides? This is the classic error. Artificial grass has a grain. If one roll is laid with the pile leaning north and the neighbouring roll leans south, the two halves will read as different colours forever. No amount of brushing fixes it — it is a re-lay.
- Is there a gap or an overlap? Run your fingers along the join. You should feel dense fibres, not a valley, and not a raised ridge where backing overlaps backing.
- Is backing visible? Look straight down the seam line. Any glimpse of grey or black backing means the rolls were cut short or trimmed through the wrong stitch row.
- Is it glued to tape? Lift a corner if one is accessible. Seams should be joined on a purpose-made joining tape with turf adhesive, not stapled, not taped with duct tape, and not simply butted and pegged.
- Are the selvedge rows removed? A good installer trims off the factory edge strip on both rolls before joining. Leaving it on causes a thin, visible stripe down the seam.
Then check the edges
- Does the turf finish against something solid? A paved soldier course, steel edging, a timber batten or a bonded perimeter. Turf that simply stops in mid-air over soil will curl.
- Is the edge continuous? Press down along the whole perimeter. Any section that lifts is a section the south-easter will find, particularly in Table View, Blouberg and Milnerton.
- Are the cuts clean? Curves around beds, trees and paving should follow the line smoothly. Ragged, stepped or wobbly cut lines are the fastest tell of a rushed job.
- Is the turf level with the paving? Turf should sit flush with adjoining paving or a hair proud of it. Sitting low creates a lip that catches water and toes.
- Any exposed pegs or nails? Fixings should be driven below the pile and invisible. Visible peg heads are both ugly and a trip hazard.
Under your feet: the base tells you the most
You cannot see the base, but you can feel it.
- Walk the whole area slowly. It should feel uniform. Soft spots mean the base was not compacted; hard high points mean it was not screeded level.
- Look for ripples in raking light. Late afternoon sun across the lawn shows every undulation. A properly prepared base reads flat.
- Check it after rain. Standing water anywhere on the lawn an hour after rain has stopped means the base is not draining. That is a build fault, not a settling-in issue.
- Press near the edges. Edge subsidence within weeks means the base was not carried far enough out.
Infill and finish
Part the pile with your fingers in a few places. On most systems you should find infill sand distributed evenly to a consistent depth, with the fibres standing up rather than lying flat. Common problems:
- No infill at all where the system specifies it — the pile will flatten quickly and the lawn will feel slippery.
- Uneven infill, heavy in one area and bare in another, showing it was thrown down rather than brushed in properly in stages.
- Infill visible on top of the pile, meaning it was not brushed in and will simply wash to the low point in the first winter storm.
- Flattened, crushed pile from a plate compactor run directly on the grass. That damage is permanent.
The five-minute checklist
| Check | Good | Bad |
|---|---|---|
| Pile direction | Identical across every roll | Two-tone stripe that changes with viewing angle |
| Seam join | Invisible from two angles, glued to tape | Visible line, gap, ridge, exposed backing |
| Perimeter | Continuously fixed to a solid edge | Loose sections, curling, exposed pegs |
| Surface | Flat under raking light, uniform underfoot | Ripples, soft spots, edge subsidence |
| Drainage | Dry within the hour after rain | Puddles that sit |
| Infill | Even, brushed in, fibres standing | Absent, patchy, or sitting on top of the pile |
Cape Town-specific failure points
Two local conditions punish weak installs faster than anywhere else in the country. The first is the south-easter. A perimeter that is fixed at intervals rather than continuously will eventually catch wind under an edge, and once a corner lifts on an exposed Table View or Big Bay property the wind works at it every summer afternoon until a whole strip is loose. Press the full perimeter, not just the visible corners.
The second is winter rainfall. Cape Town’s rain arrives in cold months when nothing dries quickly, so a base that drains slowly stays saturated for weeks rather than hours. A lawn that looks perfect in a February handover can ripple, sink at the edges and grow algae in the pile through its first July. That is why we tell people to hold back the final payment until they have seen the lawn after real rain, not just after a hose test on a summer afternoon — a hose will not find a drainage fault that a genuine winter storm will expose in an hour.
If the install was done in summer, walk the lawn again after the first serious front comes through and re-run the same checks.
What to do if it is already wrong
Raise it immediately and in writing, before the final payment clears. Most seam and edge faults are fixable: seams can be re-cut and re-joined, edges can be re-bonded, infill can be topped up and brushed. Pile-direction errors and a badly built base are the two that usually mean lifting and starting again, because no remedial work at the surface will hide either one.
The way to avoid all of this is at quote stage. Ask any installer, in writing, how many rolls the layout needs and where the seams will fall, what the base build-up is, how the perimeter will be fixed, and what infill they are using and at what rate. An installer who answers those four questions clearly is usually the one who does the work properly. Our guide to comparing landscaping quotes and our piece on choosing a contractor in Cape Town go deeper on the paperwork side.
For context on what a fair number looks like, professionally installed turf sits at R350 – R650 per m² all-in, with the grass itself between R89 and R420 per m² depending on grade — the full breakdown is in our artificial grass prices guide. A quote well under that range is not a bargain; it is a decision someone has made about the base, the seams or the fixings. If you want a second opinion on work already done, or a spec written properly from the start, our artificial lawn installation team will give you a straight answer.
Quick answers
Why can I see the seams in my artificial grass?
Usually because the two rolls were laid with the pile running in different directions, which makes them read as different shades. It can also be a gap, an overlap or an untrimmed factory selvedge along the join.
How should artificial grass seams be joined?
On a purpose-made joining tape with exterior turf adhesive, with the factory selvedge trimmed off both rolls and the pile running the same way. Staples, duct tape or simply butting the edges together will fail.
What does a bad artificial grass install look like after a year?
Lifting or curling edges, a visible seam line, ripples showing in low sunlight, water sitting after rain, and a flattened pile where infill was skipped. All of those trace back to the base, the seams or the perimeter fixing.