6 Things To Do With Your Excess Artificial Turf

Publsihed April 18, 2023

Artificial Turf, much like carpet, is manufactured in certain widths, 15’ or 12’.  While the length of the roll can be cut to your custom size, the roll itself will be 15’ wide.  In some cases, you may see 12’ wide.  It is simply not economically feasible for turf manufacturers to cut rolls of carpet, or turf, lengthwise in large quantities and be left with 2 x 100 remnants, for example.  In addition, it is better to always have slightly more turf width than your exact measurements.   

Believe it or not, some buildings or spaces, especially older ones, are sometimes not perfectly symmetrical.  One end of a space may be 4 inches wider than the other end and if only one end was measured, the turf may fall 4 inches short of the wall on the other end.  Mismeasurement is even more common in outside areas that are not flat, because it is harder to measure the actual floor of an uneven surface.   Hence, its always better and easier to have a little more turf than you think you need.

Example: 

Let’s say our space is 50’ wide by 70’ long.   You would need to order 4, 15’ x 70’ rolls, which would give you 60’ x 70’ of turf, with a 10’ x 70’ piece remaining.  In this case you would have 210 feet of seam.(3 seams x 70’) 

Or, you can flip the width and length, and order 5, 15’ x 50’ rolls, requiring 10 feet less seam (4 seams x 50’ = 200)  And, would leave you with only a 5’ x 50’ length remnant roll, which would be more economical.

Note: As a rule of thumb in turf installation, you want to lay the turf in whichever direction requires less seam to reduce variables in the playing surface; however, grain direction can also be a factor.

So what can you do with the excess turf? 

1. Batting & Golf Mats – Cut the remnant up into Ondeck circles, batting mats or pitching mats to use around your baseball or softball complex.   In our example, the 5’ x 50’ length could be cut up into 4, 5’ x 12’ hitting mats.  Spray paint some batter’s box lines and homeplate on it and you are good to go.  Hint: use a plastic throw down plate, so you can flip the batting mat around as it gets more wear.
2. Door Mats – Cut the remnant into door mats, or any other size to fit small walkways, hallways or office areas.  Entrances to locker rooms and concession areas are often very slippery. Turf it with your remnant turf! 
3. Track Bridge – Protect the track around the football field by rolling out your remnant 5’ x 50’ over it before and after games for the players to cross. The track coach will thank you later!
4. Pavers – Use it between paver stones.  You may have seen this before.  It looks great and requires very little square footage of turf.
5. Truck Bed Liner –  When it gets dirty, its easy to take out and hose off.  Also keeps coolers and gas tanks from sliding around.
6. Turf Maintenance – And the final, least exciting use, keep the remnant turf rolled up in storage, in case you ever need to patch or replace high traffic areas as your turf gets older.  Read our blog on patching turf here.

So there you have it.  Don’t sweat the amount of excess turf coming with your turf order.  There is almost always some way to get value out of your excess turf.   Really need the money instead? Sell it to a neighbor on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.  

As always, contact your rep at ATXTurf to discuss which sizes and dimensions are right for your area.