A seam is where two pieces of turf meet. Done well it is invisible; done badly it is the first thing that fails. Almost every opened seam traces back to the same physics, and the same physics tells you how to prevent it and how to fix it.
What pulls a seam apart
Synthetic turf expands in the heat and contracts in the cold. Thermal contraction can pull seams apart, sometimes by as much as 4 inches. Without enough infill weight holding it down, the surface can also wrinkle and buckle, and a wrinkle that runs into a seam works it loose from the inside.
What an installation does to prevent it
Three of the six steps in our installation exist largely to keep seams closed. First, acclimation: the turf is unrolled and allowed to relax and expand before it is secured, preventing future wrinkles and buckling. Second, seaming itself: specialized tape and structural adhesives combined with precision cutting techniques for robust, virtually invisible joints, then spiral nails for heavy-duty hold and staples at the edges for wind resistance. Third, infill: ballast applied at a calculated weight per square foot and worked deep into the fibers with power brooms, so the whole system is weighed down and the fibers are protected.
How to catch it early
Inspect your seams annually. Check the perimeter of the lawn too: if the turf is shifting or lifting at the edge, it needs re-securing before it reaches a seam. Both checks are in our maintenance guide.
What a seam repair involves
Seam ruptures are the repair our maintenance and repair work names, and they are re-secured with the same tape-and-adhesive method the install used, then the infill is topped back up so the ballast is doing its job again. If a seam has opened because the infill settled, re-infilling is part of the fix, not an extra. For any other damage we assess it on site and quote.