SoCal Artificial Turfs Team
Artificial turf, pavers, and landscaping specialists serving the Inland Empire.
Last updated: 2026-04-13
Last updated: April 2026
Why Are People Getting Rid of Artificial Grass?
Most homeowners who remove artificial grass are not unhappy with turf itself. They are dealing with failed installations: inadequate base prep causing wrinkles, poor drainage causing odor, or cheap turf that faded and hardened within 3-5 years. Properly installed quality turf lasts 15-20 years in the Inland Empire with minimal maintenance.
We are turf installers, so you might expect us to dodge this question. We will not. We rip out old turf regularly, and we learn something from every removal job. Some of what we find is genuinely bad. But most of the time, the turf was not the problem. The install was.
Problem One: No Real Base Preparation
This is the big one. We pulled up a 700 sq ft yard in a San Jacinto neighborhood near Park Hill last month. The turf was three years old and had waves you could trip over. Underneath: about half an inch of decomposed granite over bare dirt. No Class II road base. No compaction.
Proper base prep means 3-4 inches of compacted Class II aggregate, brought to 95% compaction with a plate compactor, then topped with a thin DG layer for final grading. That process takes half the total install time on any job. Installers who skip it save hours on the front end and create a callback within two years.
We have seen this from both DIY installs and from companies that quote $4-5 per square foot. At that price, they are not doing real base work. The math does not support it.
Problem Two: Wrong Turf for the Climate
Inland Empire summers hit 110 degrees. Not every turf product handles that. We pulled a yard in Hemet off Acacia Avenue where the turf had turned from green to olive-brown in two summers. The backing had gotten brittle enough to crack when we folded it.
That turf was a 40-oz face weight product with basic polyethylene fibers and no UV stabilization rated for desert conditions. It was probably fine for a yard in Seattle. In Hemet, it cooked.
We install 70-80 oz face weight turf with dual UV stabilizers and either T-Cool or HeatBlock backing as standard. The upfront cost difference is $1-2 per square foot. Over a 15-year lifespan, that is nothing compared to a full replacement at year four.
Problem Three: Pet Drainage Was an Afterthought
About a third of our removal jobs involve pet owners. The story is always the same: installer laid turf directly on compacted base with no drainage layer, owner has two dogs, and by the second summer the yard smells like a kennel.
Standard turf backing drains at around 30 inches per hour when new. On compacted desert soil in 105-degree heat, that rate drops by half within six months. Dog urine concentrates in the infill, bacteria build up, and no amount of enzyme spray fixes it because the liquid is not leaving fast enough.
We install a 1-inch crushed gravel drainage layer under every pet turf job. It costs $1.50-2.00 per square foot extra. It is not optional if you have dogs. Read our full breakdown of pet turf drainage systems for desert yards.
When Turf Itself Is the Wrong Choice
We will be honest. Turf is not right for every yard.
Heavy shade areas under dense tree canopy collect organic debris faster than most owners will clean it. Turf under a large mulberry or pine tree turns into a maintenance headache. For those areas, we often recommend decorative rock or bark mulch instead.
Yards with severe drainage issues where water pools after rain need grading work before any surface goes down. Turf does not fix a grading problem. It hides it until the turf floats.
What a Replacement Costs
Removing old turf and installing new runs $10-16 per square foot in the Inland Empire, depending on how much base repair is needed. If the original base was done right, we can sometimes reuse it after re-compacting, which saves $2-3 per square foot. If there is no real base, we are starting from scratch.
A 500 sq ft replacement job typically runs $5,000-8,000 all in. Demolition and disposal of the old turf adds $1-2 per square foot on top of a standard new install.
The Real Question
People are not getting rid of artificial grass because turf does not work. They are getting rid of bad installations. The product has improved dramatically in the last five years. The installation quality across the industry has not kept pace.
If you are considering turf for your Inland Empire yard, or if you are dealing with a failing install someone else did, contact us for a free assessment. We will tell you honestly whether your existing turf can be saved or needs to come out. We serve San Jacinto, Hemet, Menifee, Temecula, and the full Inland Empire.