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Sta-Built Construction installed 617 square feet of SB-RealFeel synthetic turf in a shaded, heavily rooted backyard in Vancouver, WA, replacing a patchy lawn that ran out into overgrown brush at the base of a wooded slope. The turf is cut to a curved edge against a river rock border and finished with Premier Green infill. The job closed in July 2026.
Project Details
- Location: Vancouver, WA
- Service: Synthetic turf installation
- Turf area: 617 sq ft
- Turf product: SB-RealFeel, ordered as two rolls cut to the yard, one at 22 ft and one at 30 ft
- Base construction: excavate down 4 inches, 3.5 to 4 inches of crushed rock compacted, woven geotextile fabric over the base
- Seaming: Super Seam Method with seam tape and turf adhesive, one seam across the yard
- Fastening: rust-in-lock turf nails, minimum every 12 inches around all edges
- Infill: Premier Green, installed at 1.5 lbs per sq ft
- Finish: power broomed
- Site work: overgrown shrubs and brush cleared from the turf footprint
- Completed: July 2026
- Project investment range: $10,600 to $16,600
- Warranty: 17-Year Craftsmanship Warranty
Before and after
The problem
This yard is the hard case for a natural lawn. It backs onto a wooded slope, it sits in the shade of mature conifers, and overgrown junipers had crept out from the slope across the edges of the lawn. Photos from the April 30, 2026 site visit show the result: patchy grass in the middle, bare compacted ground around the deck and the shed, and brush closing in from the perimeter.
A lawn in that situation does not fail because of how it is maintained. It fails because grass needs sun that a canopy like this does not let through.
The solution
Synthetic turf makes sense here for exactly the reason the grass did not work: it does not need light. The design lays 617 square feet of turf across the open part of the yard, running from the deck out toward the slope, with the edge cut on a curve that follows the existing planting line rather than squaring off against it. Where the yard meets the slope the turf is cut in to the river rock bed already on the property, so the edge terminates against rock rather than running out into loose ground.
Some of the overgrown junipers and shrubs had to come out of the turf footprint. Those removals were reviewed and approved before the work started, at no added cost to the project.
The materials
The turf is SB-RealFeel, Sta-Built’s own synthetic turf, ordered as two rolls cut to the yard, one at 22 feet and one at 30 feet. That roll plan matters on a 617 square foot yard with a curved edge: fewer, longer rolls mean fewer seams, and seams are where a turf lawn shows its age first.
The rest of the system is seam tape and a 28-ounce tube of turf adhesive for the joint, rust-in-lock turf nails for the perimeter fastening, and Premier Green infill, which the work order specifies at 1.5 pounds per square foot.
How it was built
The crew cleared the brush and stripped the old lawn in the second week of June 2026, then excavated the turf footprint down 4 inches. The work order specifies 3.5 to 4 inches of crushed rock over the excavation, compacted and graded, with woven geotextile fabric laid over the finished base before the turf goes down.
The base is where a shaded yard like this gets fixed. Compacted crushed rock over fabric gives the turf a stable, free-draining surface that is unaffected by the shade above it, and it moves the water that a canopy like this holds and then drops all at once.
Turf went down on June 15 and 16. The two rolls were joined with the Super Seam Method, seam tape and adhesive rather than a surface stitch, then nailed at a minimum of every 12 inches around all edges with rust-in-lock nails. The curved perimeter was cut in place against the river rock border. Infill went in at 1.5 pounds per square foot and the crew finished with a power broom to stand the fibers up.
The finished result
The yard reads as one green surface from the deck to the slope, in a spot where the natural lawn had gone patchy. The curve holds the shape of the original planting line instead of cutting a rectangle into a wooded yard, and the existing river rock bed gives the turf a clean stop where the ground starts to climb. Follow-up photos taken in July, roughly a month after installation, show the edge and the seam still tight.
What a project like this costs
Project investment range: $10,600 to $16,600. This range reflects the scope of this completed project and is not a current quote.
Turf pricing is driven more by what is under it than by the turf itself. On this project the site work carried real cost: clearing overgrown shrubs and brush out of the footprint, stripping the failed lawn, and excavating and compacting a base across a yard that a machine cannot simply drive across. The curved edge also adds labor, because every foot of that perimeter is cut and fastened by hand rather than rolled straight to a border.
A flat, open, already-cleared yard of the same square footage installs faster and costs less. A yard with more slope, more clearing, or drainage work under the base costs more.
See more on our artificial turf page. We install turf throughout Clark County from our Vancouver service area. Related Vancouver project: a 2,099 square foot turf yard on a new-construction lot.
Related questions
What does 617 square feet of artificial turf cost in Vancouver, WA?
This project came in between $10,600 and $16,600, including clearing overgrown shrubs and brush out of the footprint, stripping the old lawn, and building the compacted base. Turf on ground that is already cleared and level installs for less; a yard that needs more clearing, grading or drainage costs more.
Does artificial turf work in a shaded yard?
Shade is the situation turf is best suited to, because synthetic turf does not depend on sunlight the way grass does. This yard sits in the shade of mature conifers, which is why the natural lawn had thinned to patches. What still matters in the shade is drainage, which is what the compacted crushed rock base and the fabric underneath the turf handle.
What is under the turf on this project?
The work order calls for excavating down 4 inches, installing 3.5 to 4 inches of crushed rock and compacting it, then laying woven geotextile fabric over the finished base. The turf sits on the fabric, is nailed at a minimum of every 12 inches around the edges, and is topped with Premier Green infill at 1.5 pounds per square foot.
How are the turf seams joined?
With the Super Seam Method: seam tape run under the joint and turf adhesive bonding the two pieces to it, rather than stitching the surface. This yard took two rolls, one at 22 feet and one at 30 feet, so the whole 617 square feet has a single seam to hold.
Does Sta-Built install artificial turf in Vancouver?
Yes. This project is in Vancouver, WA, and Sta-Built installs synthetic turf lawns, pet areas and putting greens across Clark County from the Vancouver showroom on East 4th Street. Washington license: STABUL*782LN.
Planning something similar?
If your lawn has thinned out under trees and reseeding it has stopped working, Sta-Built can walk the yard and tell you what the base and the clearing would take. Schedule a free design consultation.
This project documentation was prepared by Sta-Built Construction from the project records and photos from our crew, September 2026. Technical review by Ben Metsker, Manager.