Artificial Grass

[Pants]

We are thinking about putting artifical grass down instead of the flower beds we have at the front of the house. Does it really look as good as (or better) than real grass? I understand the pros and cons of going down that route, but it is the actual look that concerns me. Wouldn't be a concern for the back of the house but, at the front,

Any (constructive) comments from peeps that have installed it would be more than welcome.

TIA

 

[Pin-seeker]

I have it in the back garden & think it’s great as I’m not a fan of gardening.
As for looks,it looks better than a badly kept real lawn,but not as good as a well maintained lawn.

 

[Hobbit]

If it’s put down correctly, I think it looks better than real grass. Certainly looks neater. However, it’s not great for young kids or pets. It gets very hot when the sun gets on it.

In terms of maintenance, you can get by with brushing it but if it’s a good size you can buy a vacuum cleaner specifically for grass but they’re not cheap. And you can buy a stain remover for when next door’s cat has visited.

Artificial Lawn Brush / Sweeper

Just seeing if anyone can offer any advice on this. We have moved into a house that had an artificial lawn but basically whoever put it down made a bodge of it. No drainage, plastic sheeting underneath. So we had it replaced with the work done properly and now I want to maintain it. One of...

forums.golfmonthly.com

 

[BiMGuy]

Personally, I think it looks horrible, and it’s not great for the environment.

It’s not maintenance free either.

 

[PJ87]

Rather than a picture at its best this is a random morning in September ie just now .. just looks like grass

And whilst I type walking up the stairs here is a random picture from above



Garden messy as hell , grass has some weeds round edge that I've sprayed and just need to remove yet it still looks better than real grass that isn't perfectly maintained

 

[Old Colner]

I would advise to get some samples from suppliers as the quality of grass varies massively, I have two separate areas done a few years apart, and the difference between the two grasses I purchased is vast.

 

[Pin-seeker]

If it’s put down correctly, I think it looks better than real grass. Certainly looks neater. However, it’s not great for young kids or pets. It gets very hot when the sun gets on it.

In terms of maintenance, you can get by with brushing it but if it’s a good size you can buy a vacuum cleaner specifically for grass but they’re not cheap. And you can buy a stain remover for when next door’s cat has visited.

Artificial Lawn Brush / Sweeper

Just seeing if anyone can offer any advice on this. We have moved into a house that had an artificial lawn but basically whoever put it down made a bodge of it. No drainage, plastic sheeting underneath. So we had it replaced with the work done properly and now I want to maintain it. One of...

forums.golfmonthly.com

I’ve never found mine get too hot tbh (heard others mention it tho).
I found it really good when my lad was little,especially when we had the paddling pool out.

 

[AmandaJR]

Looks good (although clearly not fully like real grass). Stays looking good all year round. As for the gets hot - seen that stated a lot but never found it. When it was super hot this year I tried it bare foot and way cooler than the paving slabs. We routinely disinfect ours as Daisy pees and poos on it - Barley won't!!

 

[PJ87]

Looks good (although clearly not fully like real grass). Stays looking good all year round. As for the gets hot - seen that stated a lot but never found it. When it was super hot this year I tried it bare foot and way cooler than the paving slabs. We routinely disinfect ours as Daisy pees and poos on it - Barley won't!!

we do find it gets hot certain times of year. However I think it depends on your gardens sun cover.. we get intense sun on it so doesnt help , no tree cover

 

[Piece]

Personally, I think it looks horrible, and it’s not great for the environment.

It’s not maintenance free either.

Yes it can be. Seven years and counting. Nothing to do.

 

[Piece]

We are thinking about putting artifical grass down instead of the flower beds we have at the front of the house. Does it really look as good as (or better) than real grass? I understand the pros and cons of going down that route, but it is the actual look that concerns me. Wouldn't be a concern for the back of the house but, at the front,

Any (constructive) comments from peeps that have installed it would be more than welcome.

TIA

How it looks depends on how much traffic you get. You can get long lush looking grass that looks excellent, but only remains excellent if no-one walks on it! If it is a useable area, then shorter blades will be better.

 

[Yorkhacker]

Looks great, terrible for the environment. Gets very hot in summer

 

[AmandaJR]

Looks great, terrible for the environment. Gets very hot in summer
View attachment 49609

Seen those numbers and they don't stack up to what happens in our garden - even in full hot summer sun. As we have dogs I was concerned about it damaging their paws - my bare feet were fine when it was 30+ degrees and grass in full sun all day.

 

[Robster59]

I have to say we're happy with ours. In our area all the lawns get flooded easily so quite a few have put in an artificial lawn.
Our house already had one when we moved in, but it was done really badly so had to be dug up and started again. We're very happy with the look. The dog doesn't rip it up by running around and it looks great all year round. From my experience, I'd make a few points:

• Get a reputable company to put it down. The people who put down the previous lawn had just dug up the top layer, put down a layer of PVC and put cheap grass on it. Result? Lawn flooded and grass flattened.
• The people who did ours, went down about a foot, put down several different layers underneath and a couple of layers of permeable sheet to allow plenty of drainage. They also put in two drainage channels that then fed to our mains drain so the water doesn't pool on the lawn.
• Ours gave us a choice of grasses. We went with one that had a few flecks of brown through it as that looks more natural.
• They aren't maintenance free, but they are low maintenance. You will still get weeds as seeds land on top of the grass but they can be either pulled out or treated with weedkiller and then removed. Always keep an eye on this and catch them early. The good thing is they can be treated with weedkiller witout damaging the lawn, something you can't say for natural lawns.
• We brush ours to remove any debris and also pick up the dog hairs. I was amazed how many dog hairs I picked up. I tried a manual brush at first so went with an electric one. I got a Hyundai artificial lawn sweeper on an Amazon sale day. A bit more expensive but it works well, you can even stripe the lawn. It is not a vacuum but I had one of those from our old house if I need one.

Overall, we're very happy with it. It looks a lot better than our front, but that is shared so we can't do anything with that. That is full of weeds, clover, etc. The difference is night and day. I can't say it looks like a natural lawn but the modern grasses do look good, if you get the right ones. Don't scrimp on it, and get it done properly.
In our old house, our lawn was about 400m² and took about 2 hours to cut, and that didn't include treating it, trying to kill of the weeds, strimming the edges, and picking up all the dead leaves from the trees around the lawn. Life is so much easier now.

 

[PJ87]

Mine is much less work since the dog passed away.

Used to monthly jet wash it and then spray with a scent thing to get rid the smell of wee and poo

Now it's just spray with weed killer once or twice a year and get the leafs off couple times

 

[rulefan]

The good thing is they can be treated with weedkiller witout damaging the lawn, something you can't say for natural lawns.

Not so. When needed I use Weedol Lawn Weedkiller. It kills the weeds but doesn't affect grasses. I only apply it by spot spraying and only when an odd weed appears.

A friend has a very good artificial lawn and I must admit it looks good but even so we can tell the difference.
However, if maintenance(weeds, worms, mowing) is a problem then the very best can look clean and tidy but never real.

 

[road2ruin]

Looks great, terrible for the environment. Gets very hot in summer
View attachment 49609

I'm sorry but this is nonsense, it's the exact photo that gets put up on all the FB groups as soon as someone mentioned artificial grass. In our previous house we had a small garden that was entirely paved and when we had our daughter we wanted something a little more child friendly so we started investigating artificial grass. A bit like picking carpet we visited the installer, he showed us the different types and the feel of each. We picked and it was all done within a couple of weeks. At no point in having that paid did it ever get to a point anywhere near the photos above, not even in the vicinity off and our garden was in full sun for most of the day with very little shade. There are some point that just don't like artificial grass, refuse to consider it and will put up meme's as above even though they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

In terms of maintenance I used to give it a hoover occasionally and because we had a dog I'd give it a wash down with the hose however it was no great inconvenience. Yes it's not as environmentally friendly as grass, happy to give people that however our garden was so small that putting grass down would just be a nightmare, it'd be trodden down as we'd always walk the same way and buying a lawn mower for that sized lawn just wouldn't have made sense. We loved the grass, our daughter could play on it in all weathers and we never came out in the height of summer to find her burnt to a crisp on 60+ degree temps.

 

[PJ87]

I'm sorry but this is nonsense, it's the exact photo that gets put up on all the FB groups as soon as someone mentioned artificial grass. In our previous house we had a small garden that was entirely paved and when we had our daughter we wanted something a little more child friendly so we started investigating artificial grass. A bit like picking carpet we visited the installer, he showed us the different types and the feel of each. We picked and it was all done within a couple of weeks. At no point in having that paid did it ever get to a point anywhere near the photos above, not even in the vicinity off and our garden was in full sun for most of the day with very little shade. There are some point that just don't like artificial grass, refuse to consider it and will put up meme's as above even though they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

In terms of maintenance I used to give it a hoover occasionally and because we had a dog I'd give it a wash down with the hose however it was no great inconvenience. Yes it's not as environmentally friendly as grass, happy to give people that however our garden was so small that putting grass down would just be a nightmare, it'd be trodden down as we'd always walk the same way and buying a lawn mower for that sized lawn just wouldn't have made sense. We loved the grass, our daughter could play on it in all weathers and we never came out in the height of summer to find her burnt to a crisp on 60+ degree temps.

I think the environment side is misunderstood, yes if your replacing grass with it then it's worse but we replaced patio with it

So whilst the manufacturing of it is slightly worse the impact is less

 

[Pants]

Thanks for the replies folk. Definitely food for thought. As it is at the front of the house, between the drive and front path, I'm a bit concerned about the aesthetics - does it look just too neat and tidy and obviously artificial. I've seen samples but I think that I need to see one "in the flesh" so to speak.

One advantage, as I understand it, is that if necessary, it will take manouvering cars on it as it is installed over a MOT Type 1 base. I've had one contractor round already and he says that he happily parks his car on it.

Thanks again.

 

[Crow]

They don't support many insects or worms, and you won't have the pleasure of seeing daisies smiling up at you.