How To: Add Infill to High-Traffic Areas

If you have a synthetic turf field, you know that one of the most important maintenance practices for upkeep is to regularly add infill to the high-traffic areas (and if you didn’t – now you do)! A turf field is built to sustain significant hours of activity, which means the surface is seeing repetitive activities constantly throughout a given day. Consistent motions on areas like penalty kicks, corner kicks, lacrosse creases, or batter’s boxes will see some infill displacement. With your chosen infill moving from that spot, it is imperative that you frequently add infill back to that area to protect your artificial turf. Once it is empty of infill and the activities continue, it can wear down the turf fibers and encroach on the backing – that can lead to needing patches or other remediation.

With all that said, don’t be intimidated by adding infill to your field! It is a pretty simple process and you can easily add it into your scheduled grooming. Below is a step-by-step guide on adding infill to the high-traffic areas on your synthetic turf field.

1. Grab a 5-gallon bucket and fill it with infill that matches your field system. Don’t have any inventory on hand? Give us a call!
2. Walk around the field to the main high-traffic areas. 
3. You can check the infill levels at each spot using a depth gauge. (please note: the recommended amount of infill can vary from turf system to turf system and depends on your turf height. If you’re unsure, you can refer to your original synthetic turf scope or check with your turf provider)
4. If the spot is low, begin scooping the infill with your hand and adding it to the area (check out the video for a couple of approaches for dropping it on the spot). Two to three handfuls should typically be a good amount to add in, unless it has been a long time since you’ve completed this practice. 
5. Using your hand, mix the infill into the turf fibers. 
6. Repeat at any other spots that are low on infill.

If this process still feels daunting to you, check in with the maintenance crew the next time they conduct your annual cleaning visit OR you can schedule a maintenance training with our Motz365 team, where they can give you a hands-on tutorial for refiling the high-traffic areas.