Artificial Grass for a Front Yard

Can you put artificial grass in a front yard?

Yes. A front lawn takes the same artificial turf as a backyard, on the same compacted base. What a front yard adds: it is seen from the street, it usually meets a sidewalk, driveway or planting beds, and an HOA may set a process for landscaping changes. Artificial Grass & Landscaping sells 7 Always Green lawn turfs and the supplies, and we provide contractors to install them.

• Every lawn turf compared by pile height, face weight, roll width and price: artificial grass for your backyard. This page covers what is different out front.
• How turf fits with beds, rock and paving across the whole yard: artificial grass landscaping.
• The compacted base, step by step: base preparation.

Which artificial grass looks right from the street?

Choose by color, pile height and seams, and judge the color from a sample outdoors. The 7 lawn turfs have piles from 1.34" (34 mm) to 2" (51 mm), each in the supplier's own blend of greens, listed below as the catalog names them. A front lawn no wider than one roll goes down in one piece, with no seam: cut turf comes up to 15 ft wide.

The warranty says “Slight variation in color from lot to lot and color changes over the life of the product is common and to be expected”, so look at a sample of the turf you will order in daylight, from as far away as the street (the warranty).

How do you edge artificial grass along a sidewalk, driveway and beds?

Frame the turf with edging: the store's base preparation steps call for framing the area with bender board or metal edging, to protect the turf from soil and loose debris, such as soil from the planting beds beside a front lawn. The store sells plastic bender board, which its catalog describes as “100% recycled landscape edging that is reusable”, sold as a 16 ft board with 4 stakes for $27.95.

• Plastic Bender Board Set (3.3" 16 ft & 4 Stakes): “Flexible plastic will not split”, in a “Teak color”, $27.95 a set.
• Framing all four sides of the 15 ft x 20 ft example below is 70 ft of edging: 5 boards at 16 ft each, $139.75.
• Where the turf meets a concrete sidewalk or driveway, ask your contractor whether that side needs edging too; the count above frames every side.
• Sprinklers in the turf area are capped or moved before the base goes in (base preparation steps), so plan how the beds beside the lawn will be watered.
• Nails, staples and the rest of the supplies: installation supplies.

How much does artificial grass cost for a front yard?

For a 15 ft x 20 ft front lawn (300 sq ft), the turf alone, cut to length, is $447.00 to $1,244.10 before tax, depending on the turf. With 6 bags of infill and 5 bender boards it is $736.45 to $1,533.55. Pickup at the Rancho Cordova warehouse is free; local delivery is $279.00 for one cut piece.

• One piece, with no seam to see from the street: Tuscany 54 oz, Newport 108 Oz., Carmel 115 Oz. and Sierra 160 Oz.
• Tahoe 160 Oz.: cut 13 ft wide, so 2 pieces and 1 seam.
• Santa Barbara 160 Oz.: cut 13 ft wide, so 2 pieces and 1 seam.
• Camofill Infill (50lb Bag): 6 bags, one per 50 sq ft, $149.70.
• Local delivery is $279.00 for the first roll or cut piece and $99.00 for each additional one, with supplies riding along at no extra charge; curbside delivery to cities elsewhere in California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Washington is $449.00 per roll, cut piece or item. Weed barrier, nails and seaming tape are extra.
• Order 2 ft extra in length: cuts are within 1 ft, not exact (the table uses the lawn's own measurements). Turf, supplies, tax and contractor services together: the Installation Cost Calculator.

Can an HOA ban artificial grass in a front yard?

No. Under California Civil Code section 4735, a provision of an HOA's governing documents or architectural or landscaping guidelines or policies “shall be void and unenforceable” if it prohibits, or includes conditions that have the effect of prohibiting, “the use of artificial turf or any other synthetic surface that resembles grass”. Landscaping rules that fully conform with that can still be applied. This is general information, not legal advice.

• Civil Code 4735(b): the section does not prohibit an association from “applying landscaping rules established in the governing documents, to the extent the rules fully conform with subdivision (a)”. Read the governing documents and the architectural or landscaping guidelines, and follow any approval process they set before you change the front yard.
• Cities and counties: Government Code 53087.7 stops a city or county from enforcing a rule that “prohibits the installation of drought-tolerant landscaping using living plant material on residential property”, but for that section drought-tolerant landscaping “shall not include the installation of synthetic grass or artificial turf”. So it does not protect artificial turf from city or county rules: check your own city's or county's rules before you install.

Both sections, quoted with links to the official text: California artificial grass laws. For your own property, read the current law and your HOA's documents, or ask a lawyer.

How can I see how turf will look in my front yard?

Take samples home and look at them where the lawn will go. Samples of the turf hang on the fence outside the warehouse at 3667 Omec Park Drive, Rancho Cordova, to see or take any time, or order free samples online for $14.95 shipping. Look at them in daylight, from the sidewalk and the street.

• Lay a sample beside the sidewalk, the driveway and a planting bed to see the turf against each edge.
• Compare two or three turfs at once: color and pile height are easier to judge side by side.
• Order samples: free samples.

3667 Omec Park Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742 · (916) 370-5527 (call or text) · Mon–Fri: 7am – 5pm; Sat: 10am – 3pm (by appointment)

Do you install front yard artificial grass?

We provide contractors: independent, third-party contractors install turf within 40 miles of Rancho Cordova, and Artificial Grass & Landscaping sells the turf and supplies. Contractor services are $8.00 per sq ft for 250 to 499 sq ft and $4.00 per sq ft for 500 sq ft and up, paid after the turf is installed.

We provide contractors: installation is done by independent, third-party contractors, not by Artificial Grass & Landscaping staff. Contractor services are available within 40 miles of the Rancho Cordova warehouse; further out, contact us first.

Turf, supplies, setup, tax and contractor services together: the Installation Cost Calculator.

What this page can't tell you

• Whether your HOA will approve your plan, or what its process is: that is in its own documents. The statutes are quoted here, not interpreted, and none of this is legal advice.
• Your city's or county's rules on artificial turf: check with them before you install.
• Your exact order. The example is a plain rectangle; curves, walkways and beds change the pieces. Measure each area, or book an on-site measuring visit, $249.00 within 30 miles of Rancho Cordova.
• Which turf will look right with your house: the samples, seen from the street, settle that.

Questions and answers