Types of Artificial Turf: A Long Island Homeowner's Guide

Not all artificial turf is built the same way, and picking the wrong one is a common mistake we see when we’re called out to fix a lawn someone else installed. The right product depends on what the space is used for, how much foot traffic it sees, and what kind of Long Island weather it has to hold up against. Below, we break down the main types of artificial turf we install across Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens, Brooklyn, and Westchester, so you can walk into your consultation already knowing what questions to ask.

Get a Free Project Quote

Call 516-701-6434

Artificial Turf Fiber Types: Polyethylene, Nylon, and Polypropylene

Every synthetic grass blade starts as one of three plastics, and each behaves differently underfoot.

Polyethylene is the most common fiber used in residential and pet turf. It’s soft, flexible, and forgiving on bare feet and paws, which is why it shows up in the vast majority of backyard installations we do. It also handles UV exposure well over time, an important detail on south-facing Long Island yards that sit in full sun most of the day.

Nylon is the stiffest and most resilient of the three. It holds its shape under heavy loads and high heat, which is why you’ll mostly see it in putting green fringe and specialty sports applications rather than a full backyard lawn. It costs more, so we only recommend it where that extra rigidity actually earns its keep.

Polypropylene is the softest and least expensive option, and it’s typically blended into thatch layers or lower-traffic decorative areas rather than used on its own for a full lawn. It doesn’t hold up as well to repeated heavy use, so we’re selective about where it goes.

Most residential and commercial lawns we install use a polyethylene face blend for exactly this reason: it balances softness, durability, and price better than a single-fiber product can.

Residential Artificial Turf Types

Homeowners come to us for full backyards, front yards, side yards, and small courtyard spaces that never quite grew grass to begin with. We also handle the trickier spots: shaded areas under mature trees, narrow side yards, high-traffic zones where kids and dogs cross paths daily, turf installed around garden beds, turf laid between pavers, and turf placed directly over existing concrete or an old patio slab. Each of those situations changes how we prep the base and which drainage approach we use underneath, which is why a site visit matters more than a phone estimate for anything beyond a simple rectangle of lawn.

If your yard gets partial shade for most of the day, we’ll walk you through which pile heights hold their color and stand upright best without full sun. If you’re dealing with a high-traffic yard where the grass never had a chance to recover between uses, that’s exactly the kind of job residential artificial turf was built to solve.

See more examples on our front yard and backyard turf page, or browse finished projects in our project gallery.

Pet Turf: Built for Dogs First

Pet turf isn’t the same product as a standard residential lawn, even though it can look identical from the sidewalk. Underneath, it’s a different system: a shorter, denser pile that resists matting, a drainage layer designed to flush liquid straight through rather than let it pool, and an infill chosen specifically to control odor rather than just cushion footsteps.

We install pet turf for single-dog backyards, multi-dog households, dedicated dog runs, dog potty areas, and larger-scale pet relief areas for daycares and kennels. The infill we use most often in these applications is a zeolite-based sand designed to neutralize ammonia odor at the source rather than mask it, paired with a permeable base that drains fast even after heavy rain or repeated cleaning. If odor control after the fact is more your concern than prevention, our turf maintenance team also handles routine cleaning and infill replenishment on existing pet turf systems.

For a closer look at dedicated setups, visit our pet turf and dog runs page, our dog potty area page, or our dog daycare and kennel turf page if you’re running a commercial pet facility.

Putting Green Turf

A backyard putting green uses two different turf products working together, not one. The putting surface itself is a short, dense nylon or nylon-blend pile designed to hold a consistent, true roll, while the surrounding fringe and rough use a longer, softer fiber that mimics real fairway grass. Custom contours, breaks, and cup placement are all built into the base shaping before either product ever gets installed, which is where the real design work happens.

We build backyard greens, indoor putting surfaces, chipping areas, and full golf practice setups with tee-line turf for anyone dialing in their short game at home. Commercial clients get the same attention to detail, whether it’s a green at a clubhouse or a driving range tee line that needs to survive thousands of swings a season.

Learn more on our backyard putting greens page, our commercial putting greens page, or our golf course and driving range turf page.

Playground, School, and Daycare Turf

Play surfaces carry a responsibility that a regular lawn doesn’t: fall protection. Underneath the turf itself, we install a shock pad engineered to meet fall-attenuation standards appropriate for the play equipment height on site, whether that’s a home swing set or a full commercial playground structure. The turf pile on top is typically shorter and denser than residential lawn turf, chosen for how it performs under constant foot traffic and repeated impact rather than for looks alone.

We install this system for residential backyard play areas, commercial playgrounds, schools, and daycares, including public bidding and procurement projects for municipal clients. If safety documentation is part of your approval process, ask us during your consultation. We can walk you through what’s available for the specific product and shock pad combination on your project.

See our playground turf installation page or our school and daycare turf page for more detail.

Sports and Training Turf

Sports turf has to survive lateral cutting, sliding, and repeated hard contact without tearing at the base or matting down permanently. That means a longer, more resilient pile combined with a heavier infill load than you’d use on a decorative lawn, plus a base built to drain fast enough that a field is playable again shortly after a storm.

We build backyard sports turf, soccer and multi-sport training areas, batting cages, gym turf lanes for training facilities, and bocce courts, each with a product spec matched to how the surface actually gets used. A batting cage floor and a soccer training pad are not interchangeable products, even though both fall under “sports turf” as a category.

Check out our sports and training turf page, our backyard sports turf page, our gym turf page, or our bocce court turf page.

Commercial Artificial Turf

Commercial properties bring their own set of variables: heavier foot traffic patterns, ADA and accessibility considerations, and often a property manager or board that needs documentation before signing off. We work directly with property managers, architects, developers, general contractors, landscape contractors, and municipalities across Long Island and the surrounding boroughs on everything from small courtyard upgrades to full-scale installations at apartment complexes, condominiums, hotels, restaurants, and event venues.

Visit our commercial artificial turf page, our multifamily and apartment turf page, our municipal and public space turf page, or our event venue turf page. Contractors and developers working on a bid can also see how we support the trade on our contractor installation partnerships page.

Rooftop, Terrace, and Balcony Turf

Elevated spaces need a lighter-weight system than a ground-level lawn, both for structural load reasons and because the turf sits directly on a roofing membrane, deck, or existing concrete rather than natural soil. We plan drainage so water moves off the surface without pooling against the membrane, and we coordinate with building management ahead of time on freight elevator access or material hoisting when a rooftop or terrace project requires it.

See our rooftop, balcony, and patio turf page for examples of completed terrace and rooftop projects.

Pool Area and Pool Deck Turf

Turf around a pool takes a different kind of abuse: constant moisture, sunscreen and chlorine exposure, and bare feet walking across it every day in summer. We use a shorter pile with a fast-draining backing so the surface doesn’t stay wet and slippery, and the infill is chosen to resist the buildup that comes with pool chemicals over time.

Take a look at our pool deck turf page for pool surround and pool deck examples.

What Actually Determines Turf Quality

When you’re comparing products, a handful of specifications tell you more than a sample swatch ever will:

Pile height — how tall the blades stand, typically 1½ to 2 inches for most residential lawns.
Face weight and density — how much fiber is packed into each square yard, which drives both softness and how well the turf resists matting under traffic.
Backing — the layer the fibers are stitched into, which needs to be strong enough to hold seams and stakes without tearing.
Drainage — how fast water and liquid move through the turf and base rather than sitting on top.
Color and thatch — the blend of green tones and the brown thatch layer that gives a lawn a natural, non-uniform look instead of looking like a flat carpet.

We’re happy to walk through spec sheets and documentation for the specific product line we’re proposing during your consultation.

Base, Infill, and Drainage Options

What’s underneath the turf matters as much as the turf itself. We typically build on a compacted base with a top layer of natural quartz sand or an antimicrobial infill product, and for pet areas specifically, we lean toward a zeolite sand infill because it’s engineered to control odor rather than just fill the pile. For projects that need extra drainage capacity, whether that’s a low-lying yard, a rooftop, or a high-use pet area, we install a purpose-built drainage pad beneath the turf that moves water through far faster than base preparation alone.

Every base is chosen based on the site conditions we find during your visit: soil type, slope, tree roots, existing drainage, and what the space will be used for.

How to Choose the Right Type of Artificial Turf

If you’re still narrowing it down, here’s the short version:

Full backyard lawn: a soft polyethylene blend, roughly 1½–2 inch pile.
Dog run or pet area: a shorter, denser pile with zeolite infill and reinforced drainage.
Putting green: nylon putting surface paired with a softer fringe turf.
Playground: a shorter play-rated pile installed over a certified shock pad.
Pool deck or rooftop: a lightweight, fast-draining, chemical-resistant product.

None of these are one-size-fits-all decisions. A site visit lets our project manager measure the space, check drainage and access, and recommend the exact product for how you’re actually going to use it, with samples provided alongside your estimate.

Serving Long Island and the Surrounding Boroughs

Artificial Turf NY has been designing, supplying, and installing synthetic grass systems since 2010, with more than 500 completed projects across Nassau County, Suffolk County, Queens, Brooklyn, Westchester County, Staten Island, the Bronx, and Manhattan. Our team is made up of trained, full-time installers, not rotating subcontractors, so the crew that measures your yard is the same team that finishes the job.

Every estimate and consultation is free, and we don’t have a minimum project size, so a small dog run gets the same attention as a full commercial installation. Quotes require accurate measurements first, so our project manager will schedule an in-person or remote site visit before finalizing pricing.