Plywood, Plastic Mats or Turf Protection Boards? Four Ways to Save Your Grass

2026-09-21

The Four Options

1. Plywood sheets. Cheap and available. Plywood spreads load reasonably well across its face, but it delaminates once wet, splinters under vehicle traffic, and its joints rely on nothing but gravity. It is a single-use consumable that has to be disposed of after the event.

2. Plastic turf mats (porous / mesh mats). Lightweight, quick to lay and good for pedestrian traffic and light carts. Their open structure lets air and water through. What they do not do is spread a heavy concentrated load — a truck or a crane leg will crush the grass beneath them.

3. Rigid turf protection boards. Solid panels with an interlocking edge. They spread load across a large area, stay connected under traffic, and come up whole for reuse. This is the specification used where vehicles share the ground with crowds, and where the same surface is laid and lifted many times a year.

4. Aluminium trackway / road plates. The heavy end of the range, designed for plant, cranes and site access routes. Excellent load capacity, but costly, heavy, and generally more surface than an event on grass actually needs — and they can generate significant heat and light loss on the turf beneath.

Side by Side

	Plywood	Plastic mesh mats	Turf protection boards	Aluminium road plates
Pedestrian traffic	Good	Good	Good	Good
Light carts & trolleys	Fair	Good	Good	Good
Cars, vans, plant	Poor	Poor	Good (heavy-duty build)	Excellent
Wet-weather durability	Poor	Good	Good	Good
Reusable	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Installation speed	Medium	Fast	Fast	Slow (heavy)
Turf health beneath	Fair	Good (air/water flow)	Good	Light loss risk
Relative cost per event	Low, but repeat purchase	Low–medium	Medium, amortised over many events	High

How to Choose

Pedestrian-only event, short duration — plastic mesh mats are usually sufficient and cheapest to lay.
Same grass used for crowds and vehicles, repeatedly — turf protection boards. The load rating is what you are paying for, and the set is reused until it fails, not until the event ends.
Plant, cranes and construction access — aluminium trackway, accepting the higher cost and the light-loss trade-off.
Plywood — only where the ground is being sacrificed anyway and disposal is acceptable.

The real cost comparison is not price per square meter. It is cost per event across the asset's life, plus the cost of turf recovery. Plywood loses on both lines. Boards usually win on both.

A Note on Installation

Whichever system you choose, three details decide the outcome: a continuous interlocked surface with no creeping joints, ramped edges so nothing steps up onto the panels, and load paths planned to the ground rather than to the turf between panels. Get those three right and the surface performs about as well as its rating suggests it will.

FAQ

Are turf protection boards better than plywood? For any repeat use, or any vehicle traffic, yes. Plywood has to be purchased again for every event and cannot spread vehicle loads reliably once wet.

Can one board type handle both crowds and vehicles? Yes. A heavy-duty turf protection board is rated for vehicle loads and is laid as event flooring when required. Confirm the specific load rating for your heaviest vehicle.

Do boards need to be removed after each event? Removal lets light and air reach the turf, so yes for anything longer than a short event. Ask your supplier for the maximum duration they recommend for your turf type.

How many events can one set cover? It varies with the load it carries and how it is handled, so ask for the supplier's reuse-cycle data before comparing prices. A set that lasts three times as long is often the cheaper option at the same unit price.