Turf replacement on the Grand Strand, with the flood-permit question asked first.

Rebuilding a flooded base? Ask about a flood permit before anyone digs.

Before the old base comes out of a yard in unincorporated Horry County, ask the county’s floodplain administrator whether the lot sits in a flood zone. Horry County’s flood chapter reaches past FEMA’s special flood hazard areas to a supplemental flood zone, an official map of roughly where water actually spread after Hurricane Florence. Digging out a base counts. The chapter lists excavation, grading and filling as development, and no development may start without a development permit.

Don’t raise a low yard with extra base until you have that answer. When fill goes into either zone, the chapter requires compensatory storage: new floodable space dug out to make up for the storage the fill takes, with engineering analyses. Bring the county’s answer to the free visit so the base work matches it.

The county chapter covers the county’s own jurisdiction. Inside a city or town, ask that city or town instead; our Conway page points to the city’s flood maps. On the North Carolina side, the Carolina Shores and Shallotte pages name the town office to start with.

Look at what the flood left before deciding what stays.

Once the water drops and the surface dries, walk the turf and take photos of soft or sunken spots, seams that have opened, edges that have lifted, and silt or debris caught in the fibers. Note whether the water came from heavy rain, the river or the tide, and how many days it stood. Those photos tell us where to look first when we check the ground on the free visit.

River floodwater can carry more than mud. After Hurricane Florence, nearly 1,000 homes and businesses near the Waccamaw River in Conway flooded, and on 26 September 2018 raw sewage flowed from the Conway Wastewater Treatment Plant into a tributary that feeds the river, according to the National Hurricane Center’s Florence report. If your turf sat under river or storm water, plan for the old infill to leave with the turf instead of being brushed back into the new lawn.

Near North Carolina water, plan for new turf to stop 30 feet back.

If old turf in Shallotte, Carolina Shores or elsewhere in Brunswick County sits within 30 feet of the water, draw the new layout behind that line unless the state tells you otherwise. North Carolina’s coastal shoreline rule puts new development 30 feet back from the normal water level along estuarine and public trust shorelines, with listed exceptions such as landscaping. Replacement isn’t a way around it. Rule 07J .0210 says replacing structures damaged by natural elements or normal deterioration is development that needs CAMA permits, allowed only if the replacement is consistent with current Coastal Resources Commission rules.

Neither rule names turf, but the state has said how it reads them. In an August 2021 memo, Division of Coastal Management staff asked the Commission to confirm that turf isn’t covered by the landscaping exception. On 15 September 2021 the Commission voted 10-1 to agree with staff’s interpretation that turf requires a CAMA permit, isn’t landscaping and isn’t allowed within the buffer, its meeting minutes record. Staff’s November 2025 rules review lists the buffer rule for a possible amendment that would say so in the rule itself.

Before you plan the layout, ask DCM’s Wilmington District office, which serves Brunswick County, what permit the new turf needs. Our state-line guide covers how North Carolina counts turf toward built-upon area on the rest of the lot.

Settle where the old turf goes. County drop-off sites have limits.

Ask that the quote says where the old turf, backing and infill will go, and know the limits before you haul any yourself. In Horry County, only residents of unincorporated areas can use the SWA’s 25 recycling convenience centers, and each resident can drop off up to 4 cubic yards of material a day. The SWA landfill at 1886 Highway 90 in Conway takes mixed construction debris and asks for materials to be separated by type, and its C&D Processing Facility takes carpet and carpet padding for recycling.

In Brunswick County, the four convenience centers take residential waste from Brunswick County only, and trucks larger than a standard pickup have to use the county landfill in Bolivia, which also takes only Brunswick County waste. Turf and infill aren’t named on the SWA’s pages or on Brunswick County’s accepted-items list as of September 2026, so ask the SWA or Brunswick County Solid Waste how to class them before you load a truck.

Bring what shows the county, the flood and the shoreline.

Tell us whether the yard is in Horry or Brunswick County and whether it sits inside a city or town. Send your flood photos and any answer you already have from a flood or coastal office. On North Carolina waterfront, bring any CAMA permit or DCM letter you have for the old turf.

On the free visit, we measure and check the ground under the old turf. Work starts only after you approve a custom layout. The job covers site prep, a base built for your soil, premium American-made turf laid, seamed and edged, infill, finishing and cleanup, and a walkthrough of the care it needs. See our turf replacement service for the full scope, and the Grand Strand page for the other turf we install here.