The space picks the grass, not the other way round. A balcony wants 25mm laid loose. A terrace wants 25mm or 35mm and a proper think about where the water goes. A garden wants 40mm and real groundwork underneath.
Get the surface right and even cheap grass lasts. Get it wrong and the best grass we sell will lift at the edges by the second monsoon.
Balconies
Three things matter here, and none of them is the grass.
Drainage. Every balcony slopes towards an outlet. Find it before you cut anything. Grass has drainage holes punched through the backing so water goes straight through, but it'll pool underneath if you've blocked the route to the drain with a tucked under edge.
Wind. High floor, loose grass, and the corners lift. Not the whole piece, just the corners. Weight them with planters, or run outdoor tape along the underside of the edge. Don't drill.
Railings. Cut to the railing line, not past it. Grass curling up a railing collects dust and looks like a bodge within a month.
Lay it loose. Honestly. A 120 sq ft balcony's worth of 25mm is heavy enough to stay put, and if you're renting, being able to roll it up and take it with you beats a glued edge every time.
Terraces
Bigger, hotter, and the waterproofing underneath is somebody's very expensive problem.
Don't glue grass to a waterproofed terrace. The adhesive bonds to the membrane, and lifting the grass later takes the membrane with it. Lay it loose, or fix to a timber batten frame sitting on the surface.
Heat is the real terrace question. Grass in full Indian afternoon sun gets hot. Hotter than tile, cooler than dark stone. It cools off within minutes in shade, and a quick rinse drops it straight away. But if your terrace bakes from noon to four and people walk on it barefoot, either plan some shade or accept it's a morning and evening space.
Weight matters as well. Check what the terrace is rated for before you add grass, sand infill and a row of planters.
Gardens
The groundwork is the job. The grass is the easy bit.
Strip the old turf and about 50mm of soil. Level it, compact it, lay a weed membrane. Then a bed of coarse sand or stone dust, levelled again. Grass goes on last.
Skip the compacting and you'll get dips within a year, exactly where people walk. It's the most common failure we see and it's got nothing to do with the grass.
Edges need containing with timber, brick or a buried edging strip. An unsupported edge in a garden gets caught by a mower wheel or a dog, and that's the end of it.
Measuring something awkward
Hardly any real space is a neat rectangle. There's a pillar, a drain, a corner that isn't square.
Draw it out. Measure the longest length and the widest width, buy to that rectangle, then cut in. You'll waste a bit. Everyone does. Buying short to avoid waste just means a visible seam across the middle of a small space, which is worse.
For an L shape, treat it as two rectangles and run the seam along the inside corner where nobody's eye follows it.
Fixing it down without wrecking anything
Roughly in order of how much we'd push you towards them.
Loose laid, weighted at the corners. Nothing to undo, nothing to repair. Fine on any balcony and most terraces.
Double sided outdoor tape at the edges and seams only. Enough to stop it lifting, removable if you're patient.
Adhesive. Gardens on a prepared base, and nowhere else. Never on a waterproofed surface.
For seams, joining tape underneath the two edges beats glue on top of them every single time. A glued seam that fails stays visible forever.
What doing it properly costs
The grass runs ₹42 to ₹85 per square foot depending on pile. A 10 by 12 ft balcony in 25mm is about ₹5,040 and needs nothing else.
A garden the same size needs grass plus membrane, sand, and the labour to strip and level it. The groundwork often costs more than the grass does. Better to budget for that now than discover it halfway through.
Frequently asked questions
Can I lay artificial grass on a balcony without drilling? Yes, and you should. A balcony's worth of grass is heavy enough to stay put loose laid, with planters or outdoor tape at the corners to stop the wind getting under it. Drilling a balcony floor puts the waterproofing at risk for no real gain.
Does artificial grass damage terrace waterproofing? The grass doesn't. The adhesive does. Glue bonds to the waterproof membrane and pulls it up whenever the grass eventually comes off. Lay it loose on a terrace, or fix to a batten frame that sits on the surface.
How does artificial grass drain in heavy rain? Through holes in the backing, into whatever's underneath. On a balcony or terrace that means your existing drain, so keep the route to it clear and don't tuck the edge over it. In a garden you need a permeable sand or stone dust base.
Does it get too hot to walk on? In direct afternoon sun it gets warm, hotter than tile but cooler than dark stone, and it cools within minutes in shade or after a rinse. If a space is in full sun from noon to four, treat it as a morning and evening space unless you add shade.