Artificial Grass Between Pavers: Installation Guide

Planning artificial grass between pavers

Three choices decide most of the result before any turf is cut: gap width, the height relationship between turf and paver, and fiber direction.

Gap width. Gaps under about 3 inches are hard to secure and read as a mortar joint. Four to 8 inches gives room for fasteners and looks like turf. Ribbons of 12 inches and up behave like a small lawn and are the most forgiving.

Height. The fiber tips should sit flush with or a hair above the paver face. Too low and the pavers look like they are floating; too high and the edges get crushed by every footstep. Because pile heights vary from about 1 to 2 inches, the base in the gaps is built to a different elevation than the base under the pavers.

Grain. All strips should have the fibers leaning the same direction, usually toward the main viewpoint such as the house or patio door. Mixed grain shows as alternating light and dark strips.

Pro tip: choose a dense turf with a shorter pile (around 1.25 to 1.5 inches) for narrow strips. Tall, soft fibers flop over the paver edges.

How to lay artificial grass between pavers step by step

This is the order a crew follows on a new patio. If the pavers are already set, start at step 3 and excavate the joints by hand.

1. Excavate and build the main baseDig out the full area, install edge restraint, and place and compact crushed aggregate in lifts.
2. Set the paversLay pavers on a screeded bedding layer, checking lines with string and keeping the gap width consistent with spacers.
3. Build up the turf base in the gapsAdd fine aggregate or decomposed granite in each gap and compact with a hand tamper until the surface sits below the paver face by the turf’s backing-to-fiber-tip height minus a small allowance for infill. Check with a scrap of the actual turf.
4. Cut strips from the backFlip the turf, measure between stitch rows, and cut with a sharp hook blade so the cut runs alongside a row rather than through it. Strips should be a fraction wider than the gap so they tuck tight against the paver sides.
5. SecureOn an aggregate base, drive 5 to 6 inch galvanized nails every 6 to 8 inches along both edges, angled slightly toward the paver. On a bonded or concrete base, use turf adhesive on the backing and weight the strip until cured.
6. Infill and brushSpread kiln-dried sand with a scoop, work it in with a stiff hand brush, and brush fibers upright. Sand locks the strip down and keeps the edges from lifting.

Securing narrow strips so they stay flat

Most paver-and-turf patios fail because the strips are treated like a carpet remnant: nailed in a few places with no infill. The first hot afternoon shows the result as the backing expands and the strip bows up.

Intersections are the other weak point, since each corner where four strips meet is an unsupported edge. Installers either run one direction continuous and butt the cross strips to it, or lay a single large piece and cut the paver openings out of it, which eliminates most seams but takes careful templating.

Narrow work calls for different tools than a lawn; see the full list of artificial turf installation tools for what a crew brings to a job like this.

Drainage, pets and upkeep

Pavers shed water into the joints, so the strips take far more runoff per square foot than an open lawn. The gap base must be permeable, which is why crews use crushed aggregate or decomposed granite rather than mortar. On clay soil, the main base under the pavers should include a drainage path so the joints do not become trenches of standing water.

For pets, the same principles apply as any artificial turf install: a permeable base, a perforated backing and a rinse routine. Narrow strips surrounded by warm stone dry fast, which helps with odor.

Maintenance is light: sweep debris, brush the strips upright a few times a year, top up sand if fibers lie down, and check intersection corners each spring so a lifted corner can be re-nailed before it tears.

Why detail work separates good installs

A wide lawn hides small errors. A paver grid shows every one of them at once, with no infill depth or fiber height to blur the mistakes. The installers who do this detail well are usually the ones who also take base preparation and seaming seriously on larger jobs; the habits are the same.

Ask any crew how they set gap height, whether they cut from the back, and how many fasteners they use per strip. Clear answers tell you most of what you need to know. For a patio that looks as sharp in year five as on day one, start with professional turf installation from vetted local crews.