If you don’t have an outdoor area to sit back and relax in the summer heat, but you have a beautiful backyard space, you are probably wondering if you can put some patio furniture directly on your lawn.
No matter your reason I am here to answer some simple questions you may have. I also list various options that you can implement today! So let’s get started.
Can You Put Patio Furniture On Grass?
You can place your patio furniture directly on grass, but its extremely important that you understand the potential damages on your lawn and your outdoor furniture.
If you want to put your patio furniture on grass you should decide if it’s temporary or long-term.
It is so important to choose one or the other because temporary means your grass can make it through, but long-term placement of patio furniture on grass results in dead grass and potentially damaged furniture.
Let me explain the possible damages and reasons why you shouldn’t place patio furniture directly on grass.
Reasons Not to Put Patio Furniture Directly on Grass
1. It Damages Your Patio Furniture
Personally, this would be my biggest concern. I own, review, and research outdoor furniture regularly and I know that it is EXPENSIVE!
The last thing you want to do is damage your thousand dollar patio furniture set by placing it directly on grass.
What happens to the furniture you ask? Depending on the material, your furniture can begin to rot rather quickly. Wood patio furniture is most likely to start rotting and can even get overrun with insects.
Even if it isn’t wood, painted, plastic, and metal patio furniture can get damaged when sitting on the grass. Furniture is heavy and will slowly sink into the soil, this can cause metal furniture to begin eroding, painted furniture will begin to lose its protectant and paint will chip off, and plastic furniture can become brittle and become stained from the dirt.
In my opinion, this is the main reason NOT to place your patio furniture on grass directly. If you want to I highly recommend placing a barrier between them, which I mention a few in my list below.
2. Ground Can Become Uneven
Like I already mentioned above, patio furniture can be extremely heavy. Depending on your soil and your lawn heavy furniture can cause serious damages to the surface. Your patio furniture can slowly sink into the soil, this creates a hole.
Water will fill these holes, these holes will begin filling up and growing in size. This also makes the surrounding soil more likely to become waterlogged.
Over long durations your lawn can get uneven and look unpleasant. Plus, it can be dangerous, you or your kids can roll your ankle. A lawn is meant to be flat, not uneven capturing water in puddles and potentially causing more lawn damages.
3. It Turns the Grass Brown
This is an obvious one, if you hide sunlight and prevent water from falling on the grass it is going to turn brown and eventually die. After all the work we do as homeowners to get your grass lush and green, you are going to let it die?
Once grass completely dies you cannot revive it, it must be replaced. You will have to cut out the area and sod it or till it and re-seed. Both which are lots of work.
The regular traffic in the general area of the furniture can become damaged, slowly growing your dead patches further across your lawn.
I truthfully recommend going with a full-time outdoor flooring option that can replace grass if you want patio furniture in a location long-term.
7 Ways to Put Patio Furniture on Grass
1. Interlocking Deck Tiles
Interlocking deck tiles are a pretty cool creation, I love them because they can be used for so many backyard projects. They are designed to be placed directly over a hard surface such as a cocnrete patio or a wood deck.
However, you can certainly get creative and have these used as a temporary outdoor flooring option to place patio furniture on. You can place these directly on the grass and then place your furniture on top.
It will work best if your lawn surface is flat and level as these are interlocking and any uneven surface may cause them to buckle or not sit flat. But even so, they can still be used just be careful of the unlevel pieces.
Another option is to place them on a large piece of plywood to create the level underlying surface, just be away this will kill the grass within a couple days. This is a good temporary option though!
You can check out the Yaheetch Interlocking Deck tiles here on Amazon, they come in different designs and colors providing you with options to match your patio furniture design.
2. Pavers or Bricks
Pavers or bricks are a great option, and can be a budget-friendly option. You have 2 options here, you can spend a lot of money and time creating an actual paver stone patio, or you can just use enough to lift the furniture off the ground.
You can read my complete guide on creating a paver patio here, I created a full patio myself in my backyard.
I do think a full patio is an amazing idea, it is not exactly the answer you are looking for, I know.
Here’s what I mean: To save your grass and patio furniture you need to lift the furniture up. Place 1 brick on each corner or leg to lift the furniture off the grass from direct contact. This means the only grass contact is the brick, creating much less damage to your furniture.
Also, using a square paver can reduce the weight damage which causes an uneven ground, but where the paver or brick is sitting will likely damage the grass in that location, but it saves the grass directly under the furniture as it can breath and still manage to get some sun and water.
It may turn brown eventually though, so move it every so often to avoid dead grass underneath. You can move the paver too so it doesn’t completely kill the area.
3. Replace with Artificial Grass
Artificial grass can make a great option for you either temporarily or long-term. If you are willing to go for a long-term option artificial grass designs can get pretty cool. You can get creative yourself or hire a pro, but properly adding in an artificial grass area for outdoor furniture is the best option to have an everlasting grass patio.
You can also just buy sheets of artificial grass just lay it out like a rug and place your furniture on it. This will damage your grass in a matter of days, so it should only be used as a temporary option like an event or a backyard party.
4. Wooden Blocks or Posts
You can get creative with wooden blocks, posts, and even pallets.
The idea here is to lift the patio furniture up and off the grass. You can certainly do this with wood, the duration of your patio furniture being in this location does impact the type of wood you should choose.
Of course, pressure treated wood will last longer than untreated wood when place on grass. But to save money you can use untreated wood for temporary situations, whether its purchased of scraps. You can even treat untreated wood to last a bit longer.
Here is what you can do: Using a thick block of wood for each corner or leg you can jack up the furniture. For better stability of the furniture, you can use longer pieces of wood that can reach 2 corners at a time, so you only need two pieces of wood. Place the longer piece of wood under the far corners so you do not need 2 super long pieces, especially if its a sofa.
If you want, you can make this more of a permanent option, you can simply make posts into the ground (with or without concrete), that will hold wood in place, almost like a deck. These posts will stand sturdy allowing you to have a base to hold furniture. Whether you create a large deck-like platform is up to you.
5. Outdoor Rug
Placing an outdoor rug is of course a temporary option. Placing a rug or anything similar directly over grass for more than a couple days may seriously damage your grass.
Avoid an indoor rug as it will likely get dirty and impossible to clean, plus they are not as durable to hold your furniture.
Outdoor rugs are water-resistant and prevent a wet ground from getting your patio furniture legs soaked, which can potentially damage them.
Add an outdoor rug over the grass, place the furniture on top and you have a fun temporary place to hangout for parties, event, and weddings in the yard.
Some outdoor rugs are more breathable than others and can last on grass a bit longer, so I created a list of 9 Breathable Outdoor Rugs to Lay Over Grass you can check out.
6. Rubber Tiles
Similarly to interlocking deck tiles we have rubber tiles. These tiles are also a great option to place over grass and under patio furniture to avoid direct contact. Rubber tiles will not rot away making them a long lasting option.
There are various options, choosing rubber tiles with air flowing capabilities is best for longer durations as it avoid grass damages.
You can choose flexible rubber tiles that will mold nicely over uneven surfaces or you can choose a harder plastic like rubber tile. Harder options are more likely to break if your furniture has skinny legs.
These interlocking drainage tiles on Amazon are a great option for placing over grass
7. Cinder Blocks
Last on the list, but not least, is to use a cinderblock to lift up your patio furniture. This would work best for low profile patio furniture as cinderblocks are typically 8 inches high.
Although they are tall, they are extremely durable and sturdy, so holding up your furniture will not be an issue.
Another great thing about cinderblocks is that they are hollow and when placed with the open side down they do less damage to grass. It allows a bit more airflow so it doesn’t smoother it so quickly.
What to Do If You Don’t Want Your Grass Dying?
Laying anything over grass is going to cause some sort of damage. If you don’t want your grass to turn brown and eventually die and you don’t want to make a permanent patio design, you need to do some regular work.
If you don’t want your patio furniture to cause grass damage you must move your patio furniture enough so it doesn’t cause damage. It’s possible for covered grass to die in less than a week depending on temperatures and the humidity.
If you have your patio furniture lifted following one of my above recommendations, you should slightly move the blocks its on every week and just re-arrange the area so the grass can get some sun and water.
If the patio furniture is super light, you may want to pick it up off the grass and store it in an outdoor shed or your basement until you begin using it again. This can truly save you lawn.
It seriously comes down to how much you want to save your lawn, whether or not you want to convert the space to a full-time patio zone is a big decision as well. Grass can’t remain covered, it’s likely to get damaged, so what option will you choose.
Final Thoughts
Jamie is the founder of The Backyard Pros. When he was 15 years old he started working at a garden centre helping people buy plants, gardening products, and lawn care products. He has real estate experience and he is a home owner. Jamie loves backyard projects, refinishing furniture, and enjoys sharing his knowledge online.