Turf Drainage & Base Preparation
Part of our Artificial Grass Lawns services, Portland, OR & the Portland metro
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Artificial Grass Lawns
Turf Drainage & Base Preparation in Portland, OR
Every turf failure we get called out to inspect in the Portland area traces back to the same place: the base. Rippling, low spots that hold water, seams that have opened, edges lifting, a surface that squelches underfoot in January. None of these are turf defects. They're symptoms of excavation that wasn't deep enough, aggregate with too many fines, compaction that was skipped, or drainage that was never designed at all.
Portland makes this unforgiving. We get thirty-six to forty-plus inches of rain a year, most of it concentrated in a long wet season, falling on soils that are heavy in clay across much of the metro. Clay doesn't percolate. If water passes through the turf backing and then hits a compacted clay subgrade with nowhere to go, it perches there, and a base holding standing water will pump, soften, and settle unevenly over a few wet seasons.
Our approach is to treat drainage as a design problem before it's an installation task. We excavate to a depth appropriate for the use and the soil, typically three to four inches for a lawn and deeper for pet and commercial work. We build with open-graded crushed rock, chosen specifically because the void space between the stones moves water rather than trapping it, and we compact in lifts to a consistent density rather than dumping and rolling once. Where the subgrade won't accept water, we install French drains, a drainage layer, or a piped outlet to somewhere that will. Then we screed a fine leveling course, laser-check the grade, and set the finished surface to fall gently toward the outlet.
This is also where the cheapest bids get cheap. Excavation and aggregate are the labor- and material-heavy parts of a turf job, and they're invisible once the turf is down, which makes them the easiest place to quietly cut. If you're comparing quotes, ask every bidder for excavation depth, aggregate type, and what happens to the water. The answers will tell you more than the turf specification will.
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Built Right, Down to the Base
Our Process
How We Work
Free Consultation
We meet you at your property to measure the area, check how it drains, and talk through turf products, infill, and budget, no pressure, no obligation.
Design & Estimate
You get a clear plan and a detailed written estimate covering square footage, turf specification, base depth, drainage, and timeline so you know exactly what you're buying.
Excavation & Base
Our crews handle every phase in-house, sod removal and haul-away, excavation, drainage, and a compacted crushed-rock base engineered for Oregon's rainfall.
Install & Finish
We roll, seam, and secure the turf, brush in infill, detail the edges, and walk the finished lawn with you, plus simple care guidance to keep it looking new.