Why does my artificial turf have wrinkles or ripples?
Artificial turf that ripples on hot days and flattens as it cools is simply expanding and contracting with temperature, a normal property of the backing material and usually not a problem on its own. A wrinkle or ripple that stays put regardless of temperature points to either the turf not being stretched taut enough when it was installed, leaving slack that never had anywhere to go, or movement in the base underneath, settling or erosion, that has changed the shape of the surface it sits on. Temporary heat ripples need nothing done. Permanent wrinkles are fixed by re-stretching the turf, or by addressing the base if that is the actual cause. TIMELESS Turf Restoration diagnoses which one on inspection.
Heat expansion versus a real wrinkle
Most artificial turf backing expands slightly in heat and contracts as it cools, the same way any plastic sheet material does, and on a hot, sunny day that can show as a gentle ripple that was not there in the morning and is gone again by evening. That is expected and not a defect. A wrinkle or ripple that is there in the cool of the morning as much as the heat of the afternoon, that has been in the same spot for weeks or months, is a different thing: either the turf did not have enough tension pulled into it during installation, leaving loose material with nowhere to go but up, or the ground underneath has shifted and the turf is now draped over an uneven surface.
How to check
Look at the same spot in the cool morning and again in full afternoon heat. If it disappears in the morning and returns with the heat, it is expansion and needs no action. If it looks the same at both times, press on it and feel whether the ground underneath is even or whether there is a dip or a soft spot; an uneven base under a permanent wrinkle usually gives that away. A wrinkle with no base irregularity underneath, sitting on a firm, even surface, usually points to tensioning from the original install rather than the ground.
Brian prices it by square foot before any work starts, and every job ends blown clean.
What fixes it
A tensioning issue is fixed by pulling the turf taut again and re-securing the edges and any seams involved, which removes the slack causing the wrinkle. That is turf repair work, priced by the size and location of the affected area. Where the base has genuinely moved, settled or eroded underneath, re-stretching the turf over an uneven base will not hold; that section needs to be lifted so the base can be corrected first, a job for our sister company, and we will tell you plainly if that is what your yard needs rather than re-stretching over a problem that will come back.
Keeping it flat
Nothing needs to be done about ordinary heat expansion; it is cosmetic and temporary. For a permanent wrinkle, addressing it once, tensioning or base correction depending on the cause, is more effective than repeatedly trying to stretch or weight it down, which does not solve a slack or uneven-base problem and tends to create a new lump somewhere else instead.
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