Can you install artificial turf over a concrete patio?
Artificial turf can go over concrete when the slab is sound and drains. We drill weep holes through the low spots, patch the dips, glue down a shock pad, then bond turf to the pad. A heaving or badly cracked slab gets broken out instead. Cost runs $9 to $14 per square foot.
Last updated: July 2026
These calls all start about the same way. Somebody has a slab off the back door that is too hot to stand on by two in the afternoon and does nothing for them the rest of the year.
Sometimes we keep it. Sometimes we break it out. The slab decides, not the customer and not us.
When is a slab worth keeping?
We look at three things. Cracks, slope, and what the perimeter edges are doing.
Hairline cracks are fine. A crack you can catch a fingernail in, with one side sitting higher than the other, means the soil under there moved. Turf over that reads as a ridge underfoot inside of a season, and it will telegraph through the pad no matter how thick the pad is.
Slope matters more than people expect. A patio with a quarter inch of fall per foot running away from the house is a good candidate. Dead flat is workable. Anything pitched back toward the foundation comes out, because now you are holding water against stucco under a layer that stays damp.
Edges tell you about the base. If a corner has settled and you can slide your hand into a gap under the perimeter, the fill under that pour was never compacted properly. We have found voids under Hemet patios big enough to swallow a shovel handle.
Drainage is the whole decision
Concrete does not drain. Turf backing does, at roughly 30 inches of water per hour, so everything that passes through the blades hits the slab and has to go somewhere.
On a patio with real fall, we let it sheet off the front edge and into the planter. On a flat slab we core weep holes with a half inch masonry bit, roughly one every 12 to 18 inches, tighter in the low corners. Every hole gets packed with pea gravel so it does not silt shut in year two.
Skip that and the first October storm turns the pad into a sponge that stays wet for days. Dogs make it worse. Urine has nowhere to flush, and the smell sets into the pad instead of rinsing through to a rock base.
Turf over concrete vs turf over a rock base
| Over concrete | Over a rock base | |
|---|---|---|
| Prep | Grind high spots, patch dips, drill weep holes | Excavate 4 inches, lay Class II base, compact in two lifts |
| Drainage | Only as good as the holes you drill | Drains through the full base section |
| Attachment | Urethane adhesive and seam tape, no nails | Nails on 6 inch centers at the perimeter |
| Settling risk | Whatever the slab does, the turf does | Controlled by compaction quality |
| Install time | 1 to 2 days | 2 to 3 days |
| Cost | $9 to $14 per sq ft | $9 to $14 per sq ft |
What does it cost in the Inland Empire?
Residential turf runs $9 to $14 per square foot installed either way. Over a slab you save the excavation and the haul-off. You spend it right back on the shock pad, the adhesive, and the drilling.
A 400 square foot patio we did in Menifee this spring landed mid range. The slab was clean, took eleven weep holes and one bag of self leveling patch, and the crew was off site the second afternoon.
Demolition is where the number actually moves. Breaking out and hauling off that same 400 square feet adds a full day and dump fees, and if the patio has footings tied into a patio cover, we are working around posts the whole time.
How the turf attaches when there is no dirt to nail into
No nails, no staples. A 3/8 inch shock pad goes down first, glued at the perimeter and along every pad seam. Then urethane adhesive under the turf, spread with a notched trowel, and seam tape under any joint between rolls.
Heat is the part installers get wrong. Turf grows when the slab surface hits 140 degrees, which happens most afternoons here from June through September. We roll it out and let it relax in the sun for at least two hours before we cut anything. Cut it cold and tight, and by the first cool November night it has pulled back off the edge and left you a gap along the house.
Infill still goes in. Silica or zeolite, brushed in and power broomed, because the infill is what holds the blades upright and keeps the turf from wrinkling across a hard surface.
What to expect on the job
Most patio conversions are one to two working days. The turf carries a 16-year manufacturer warranty. We do not template these. Every slab gets checked with a level and a straightedge before we quote it, and if it needs to come out we tell you that on the walk-through instead of after the deposit.
More on how we build the base when there is no slab: why base prep decides a turf install, and what a full residential turf installation includes. If you are weighing the patio against pavers instead, we wrote up paver versus concrete patio cost.
If we converted a slab at your place in Menifee, Hemet, or Murrieta, mentioning the neighborhood and the job in a Google review helps more people find us than anything else we do.