Artificial Turf Terms
 Custom Search Learn these artificial turf terms to speak 'the same language' with your turf supplier or local turf installer. Defibrillation simply means to brush synthetic turf in the opposite direction of its turf lean. Defibrillation can be done manually with a push broom or mechanically with a motorized sweeper. Turf defibrillation gets out many of the 'unwanted' qualities that synthetic turf has when it's 'hot off the presses' from the manufacturer. (Also called Turf Fluffing). Defibrillating your turf will get your turf piles standing toward the vertical position. Also, it will untangle any piles that are intertwined or braided. Finally, defibrillation will seperate any 'conjoined' turf piles. (picture w/pointers forthcoming) Face Weight is a unit of measure used to quantify the amount of yarn that is used to make turf. Face Weight is usually used to measure of the amount of 'lawn blades / thatch' that is in your grass. Face weight is measured by taking 1 square yard of turf, removing the turf backing, and putting lawn blades/thatch on a scale to weigh it. The unit of measure is in ounces per square yard of turf (oz./sqyd) (See Total Turf Weight below). Artificial turf's pile height, pile density, pile thickness, and amount of thatch all affect artificial turf face weight. Infill is a granular material such as sand or rubber pellets about the size of sand grains. Artificial turf infill is distributed on top of artificial grass to keep the lawn fibers standing (sand or rubber) and to give the synthetic lawn cushion (rubber). Infill Turf is artificial grass that requires some kind of granules (e.g., sand, rubber) to be spread on top of turf. Granules are raked and/or swept in between the lawn fibers. Sand or rubber granules serve to keep the lawn fibers standing. Rubber granules also give your turf more buoyance. Picture of Infill Turf (Rubber Infill, Sand Infill 
No-Infill Turf is artificial turf that does not require granules to be spread between the lawn fibers. Although, Synthetic-Turf-Installer.com recommends that some amount of infill be installed on all turf to reduce 'turf lean' over time. Picture of No-Infill Turf (Notice 'curly' fibers which help lawn piles stand vertical.) 
Turf Lean - This is the tendency of synthetic turf fibers to lay away from vertical. Turf lean can be decreased with the use of infill and / or by brushing the grass against the grain to 'lift the blades'. Total Turf Weight is Face Weight plus the weight of the turf's backing. So, for example, if a grass's Face Weight is 48oz and it's Total Weight is 68oz, how much does this turf's backing weigh? Answer: 20oz. (See Face Weight above.) When comparing grass weights across companies, make sure you are comparing Face Weight to Face Weight or Total Weight to Total Weight to do a fair comparison. Urethane Backing – The black coating on the back of artificial turf. Some turfs have multiple layers of urethane backing to support more traffic. 
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Turf Tips
Pea Gravel
Never Use
for Turf Base
Roto Tiller
Never Use
for Dirt Removal
Orient Turf
Correctly
Pressure Wash
Turf