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Measuring Guide – How to measure for artificial grass

Understandably it can be a little daunting if you have never done it before. There are many things to take into consideration and it is easy to measure your lawn incorrectly.

To help you avoid the pitfalls and calculate exactly how much artificial grass you’ll need to complete your project, we’ll walk you through the process step by step, showing you a basic example along the way.

How to measure your garden for artificial grass

The best way to measure your garden would be to first draw an accurate plan on squared graph paper. Simply measure the widest and longest lengths of the area you are looking to lay your artificial turf. Take into account any extra areas you may need to cover if your garden is not a simple square or rectangular shape.

Top Tips to consider before measuring your lawn.

It’s important to read these tips before attempting to measure your lawn. They could save you time in the long run and ensure that the installation process is as stress-free as possible.

Always, measure both the widest and the longest points of your lawn

When measuring your lawn, be sure to measure both the widest and the longest points to see whether you’ll need more than one roll of artificial turf.

For lawns that are curved, this tip is especially important. If you’ll need to use, say, two rolls side-by-side to cover the width, mark out where your join will lie and then measure the length for each roll. Unless your garden has perfect 90-degree corners, then even if it’s roughly square or oblong, the chances are one roll will need to be a little longer than the other.

Consider extending flower beds to minimise wastage

Say your lawn measures 4.2m x 4.2m and the grass you’ve selected for your lawn only comes in a 4m or 2m width. You could cover this area by ordering 2 rolls of artificial grass, one measuring 4m x 4.2m and the other measuring 2m x 4.2m. This would result in approximately 7.5m2 of wastage and a join. You could alternatively select a grass that is 5m wide roll to cover the entire width and avoid a join, but you will still have to cut into the roll to fit it to your desired area and end up with some wastage.

Instead of paying for additional grass you won’t use, extend or create a plant bed along one edge to reduce one of the measurements to within 4m. That way you’d need just one 4m wide roll by 4.2m long.

Bonus Tip: to create a low maintenance plant bed, lay some slate or decorative stone on top of weed membrane. You can also put plant pots on top to add in some green.

Allow for cutting and measuring errors

We can cut our grass to the nearest 100mm and we strongly advise adding 100mm to each end of the artificial grass so if you make a mistake with cutting, you should still have enough for another attempt at cutting it in. It also allows a little room for measuring errors.

Consider the weight of the grass

When ordering artificial grass, always consider the weight of the rolls. You can find details of the weights of our products on our website.

Rather than ordering a 4m x 10m roll of grass, you may find it easier to order 2 rolls of 2m x 10m, as they will be much lighter to carry.

Of course, it depends on the weight of the artificial grass, but as a general rule, the most two men can lift together is about 30m2 of grass on one roll. Any more than that and you’d need a third helper or a carpet barrow to lift your grass into position.

Please note that our grass is delivered to curb only and it is not the responsibility of Trulawn or the courier to take it to your desired location. Therefore we recommend you have assistance with you when taking receipt of the grass.

Consider which way the pile direction will face

When you look closely at artificial grass, you’ll notice that it has a slight pile direction. This is true of all most artificial grass, regardless of quality. This is important to remember for two reasons.

Firstly, in an ideal world, the pile of your artificial grass will be facing towards the angle you’ll be viewing it from the most, i.e. you’ll be looking into the pile. This is generally considered to be the most aesthetically pleasing angle and it usually means the pile faces towards your house and/or patio area.

Secondly, when measuring your lawn you’ll need to remember that if you need to use more than one roll of artificial grass, both pieces will need to be facing in the same direction to form an invisible join.

If the pile direction isn’t facing the same way on both pieces of grass, each roll will appear to be a slightly different colour.

Square shaped lawn measuring guide

Square Lawns

For square and rectangular-shaped lawns, calculate the number of square meters by simply multiplying the length by the width.

(length) x (width) = total square meter

Round shaped lawn measuring guide

Round Lawns

For round lawns, work out the diameter in metres and round up to the nearest even number for the width. (This is due to roll widths being 2m or 4m). Then multiply this by itself.

(length) x (width) = total square meter

Angled shaped lawn measuring guide

Angled Lawns

To calculate how many square metres of artificial grass is needed for angled or curved lawns, again, multiply the width and the widest point with the length at the longest point.

(length) x (width) = total square meter

L shaped lawn measuring guide

L Shaped Lawns

With L-shaped lawns, you should split the lawn into two sections. Multiply the width by the length of one section, the width and length of the second section, and add these together to generate the total square metres required.

((a1 length) x (a1 width)) + ((a2 length) x (a2 width)) = total square meter

Easy Right?

Measuring your lawn for artificial grass is maybe not as straightforward as you might have first thought. But as long as you take into consideration everything we’ve mentioned, you shouldn’t have any problems and your artificial grass project should run without any hiccups.

Don’t fancy installing it yourself?

For a free installation survey, leave your contact details with our team and our installation team will organise a visit at a time that suits you!

Check out our installation guide.

This will give you a step by step guide on how to fit your artificial grass yourself.