Wrinkles and ripples in artificial turf: what’s normal in the first weeks and what isn’t

01Is some rippling normal right after turf goes in?

On install day, yes. Turf ships wound tight around a tube, and cool backing holds that shape. Namgrass, a turf maker, calls creases and lines in freshly unrolled turf “perfectly normal” (Namgrass). Installation guides agree on the cure: let the sun warm the backing, then stretch the turf before fastening it.

Ripples can still rise on a hot install afternoon. The installer column of Synthetic Grass Warehouse (SGW), a turf supplier, describes turf laid early one morning that was too wrinkled to take infill by noon; the advice is to wait until it cools and no wrinkles show. A ripple gone by the next cool morning, before the infill goes in, is part of the job.

These are not normal:

• A wrinkle still standing on a cool morning after the infill is in.
• A ripple that comes back in the same place every warm afternoon.
• A fold you can pinch up between two fingers.
• Wrinkles that get longer or taller week by week.

Namgrass says wrinkles after installation usually follow hot weather, when the backing softens, stretches and cools again, and that a proper installation prevents them. The SGW columnist is blunter: sod doesn’t wrinkle in the heat, so synthetic turf shouldn’t either. Flat stripes or dark lines in the blades are a different thing; see the questions below.

02Why does turf wrinkle more in a Northern Colorado yard?

Because turf backing grows and shrinks with temperature, and the plains swing a long way every day. As turf heats up, SGW says, it swells, lifts off the ground and pulls up into a wrinkle from the middle; when it cools, wrinkles show less (SGW).

The Colorado Climate Center describes “a large daily and seasonal range in temperature” on the plains (Colorado Climate Center). NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals put numbers on it. Average gap between the day’s high and low (air, °F):

Source: NOAA NCEI monthly normals. A July day at Greeley UNC averages a low of 59.3°F and a high of 91.7°F.

Those are shade readings of the air. Turf in full sun runs hotter: Penn State says synthetic turf is generally 35 to 55°F hotter than natural grass (Penn State), so the backing’s daily swing is likely wider than the table shows. Why turf gets that hot is in how hot artificial turf gets.

Two more local twists:

• Winter and early-spring installs. A January 2026 SGW column: “What you don’t stretch out in the wintertime, will come back and haunt you in the hot summer” (SGW). Cold turf is stiff; SGW’s cold-weather column suggests a heater so it lies flat without hard stretching (SGW). Turf laid in March meets its first 90°F afternoons within months: Greeley UNC averages 58.3 such days a year, Fort Collins 29.5. See when to install artificial turf.
• Chinooks. In winter these winds can raise the temperature 25 to 35°F in short order, the Colorado Climate Center says: one more swing for the backing to follow.

03How does infill keep turf flat?

By weight. The Synthetic Turf Council says infill “is needed to help keep the synthetic grass installation from moving”, spreading weight evenly so the turf expands and contracts less as the temperature changes (Synthetic Turf Council). SGW calls infill ballast, the most effective control on that movement, and says a sizable area without enough of it can wrinkle, rupture its seams or split its backing.

How much is enough depends on the product, and makers publish a figure:

• Watersavers Turf: 1.5 to 2 pounds per square foot, depending on the turf’s thickness.
• Shaw: an estimate of three to five pounds of sand per square foot on 50- to 80-ounce turf.

Short-filling happens. The SGW columnist says he has seen contractors deliver 10% of the infill a system needed. So ask for the product’s pounds-per-square-foot figure and how many bags went into your yard, and compare the two. Top-ups are in how often to add infill; the choice of fill is in artificial turf infill types and, for dog yards, dog turf infill.

04Is the bump in the turf or in the base?

Look twice on a sunny day, once early and once mid-afternoon, from the same spot. Then press down on the bump and beside it.

Some ground makes wrinkles likely no matter who does the work. SGW says to expect them on and around slopes, mounds, sunken drains and anything that sticks up through the turf, where relief cuts, trimming and a seam may be needed. More in artificial turf on a slope.

05How is a wrinkle fixed?

Not by stepping it flat or nailing through it. The slack has to go somewhere, and the only way out is off an edge. SGW’s columnist sets out the repair (SGW):

1. Pull the infill out along the wrinkle so the nails or staples can be reached.
2. Take the fasteners out carefully. Ones that have rusted into the soil can tear fibers out of the backing and leave divots.
3. Roll the turf back into place and, working from one end, stretch it with a carpet kicker while nailing behind the stretch.
4. Cut off the excess at the far edge and nail that edge down.
5. Put the infill back in the cool part of the day, once no wrinkle shows.

Timing matters. By the columnist’s account, once turf has been down more than 3 months, pulling a wrinkle may do more damage, and the options narrow to adding ballast or cutting the wrinkle out and seaming the cut. Wrinkled turf left in the sun long enough can set in that shape for good, and the Colorado Climate Center notes the intense sunlight that comes with Colorado’s elevation. Report a wrinkle within weeks, not after a season.

Burns, holes and tears are a different repair: how to repair artificial turf. If the whole lawn is old, flat and rippled, weigh repair against replacement.

06What should I photograph and ask the installer?

Photos that make the case:

• The same spot at dawn and mid-afternoon on a sunny day, from one place, with the date and time.
• A tape measure standing beside the ripple for its height, and laid along it for its length.
• A close-up of the blades parted near the wrinkle, showing how deep the infill sits.
• The nearest edge, showing the nail line.

Questions, with what a good answer sounds like:

• “How long did the turf sit in the sun before you stretched it, and what did you stretch it with?” A specific time and a tool, such as a carpet kicker.
• “How many pounds of infill per square foot does this product call for, and how many went in?” Two numbers that match, or a clear reason they don’t.
• “If wrinkles show up in the first hot weeks, will you come back to re-stretch them, and is that in writing?” Yes, with the steps above: pull the infill, lift the fasteners, stretch, re-nail, refill.

If an installer won’t return, see what to do when your turf installer won’t come back, and check the paperwork against what turf coverage includes. How a lawn is built from the base up is on our artificial turf installation page.