Artificial Turf Over Concrete or Pavers in Florida

A homeowner outside Fort Lauderdale called Govorex this spring with a pool deck that had gone gray and pitted after fifteen South Florida summers - the concrete itself was sound, just ugly, and she assumed replacing it meant jackhammers and a week of dust before anything green could go down. It didn’t. Her deck is now artificial turf, installed directly over the existing slab in a single day, and the concrete underneath never left. That question comes up constantly as artificial grass moves from backyards into pool decks, courtyards, and tired paver walkways: does the old surface have to come out first, or can synthetic turf go right on top of it?

What’s actually happening under the turf

A turf-over-hardscape install isn’t just rolling grass across bare concrete and stapling the edges. Govorex builds a thin, perforated drainage layer and a synthetic underlayment between the turf and the slab, which does two jobs at once - it cushions the surface so it doesn’t feel like carpet over cement underfoot, and it gives rainwater a path to move across the old concrete and off the edge rather than sitting in low spots. The turf itself is the same product used in a full-lawn install; what changes is the few inches of engineering sitting beneath it, swapped out for whatever foundation is already there.

Where this works best around a property

Pool decks are the most common candidate, since most South Florida decks are already sloped to a drain and just need the surface refreshed rather than regraded from scratch. Covered patios, courtyards, and walkways behave the same way - anywhere a slab or paver field is structurally sound but visually dated. Driveways and parking pads are the exception: those need a reinforced sub-base built for vehicle weight, which is closer to the system Govorex uses for paver and turf strip driveways than a simple overlay.

When the old surface still has to come out

Turf doesn’t fix what’s broken underneath it - it reveals it faster. A slab with real structural cracking, a paver field with joints that have heaved from tree roots, or a low spot that holds water after every storm needs that problem corrected before anything gets installed over it, because synthetic turf will show every dip and ridge in the surface within a season. Govorex checks for exactly this during the site visit, and a homeowner in Delray Beach or Jupiter with a genuinely failing slab usually ends up better served by a standard removal-and-rebuild than a patch job dressed up in turf.

What it actually costs

Because turf-over-concrete skips the soil excavation and haul-off a dirt-based lawn needs, it prices close to a standard install despite the added drainage layer - starting at the same $6.99 per square foot as residential turf, with the final number shaped by the surface’s condition and square footage rather than by what’s underneath it. Pet areas still start at $8.99 and putting greens at $12 if either is part of the same project. Financing follows Govorex’s standard structure everywhere in the service area, from Boca Raton to Palm Beach Gardens: half due at the start of installation, the rest split evenly across twelve interest-free monthly payments, subject to approval.

Most homeowners assume an old slab or paver surface means demo first, turf second - often it just means a different kind of install, not a bigger one. Run your deck or patio’s dimensions through the instant quote tool for a starting number, or book a free site visit and let Govorex tell you straight whether your existing surface is a candidate.