Artificial grass

I don't have it, but the issues you can come across include getting weeds constantly pushing through it (I go on a lot of walks and see a lot of artificial grass with weeds pushing through, must be very irritating) and if you plan to sell your house at some point it can devalue it as majority people want grass, and its expensive to take out due to chemicals used and all the sand laid etc, several tons of topsoil needed on top. I can see an argument for it if people have dogs and its a constant mess, but something about it has always just seemed odd. Grass is fairly easy to look after, looks good and is natural. For the cost of it, so many better things to spend the money on around the house than plastic grass. Plus need to brush it regularly so time saved mowing just goes on that. Leaves and other debris get caught on it that would be lifted by mowing. you still need to apply weed killer regularly, and even if weeds don't push through they will be at the edges. you're meant to use products on it for pet waste, obviously doing a BBQ on it is out of the question unless you want a burnt patch.

I've never seen one that looks as good as a cheaply laid lawn, and I've seen a lot of expensive ones that my mates have had done. 5KG of premiership pro grass seed is about £29 and very hard wearing. Each to their own though, they're obviously just my views!
 
I put some down in my daughters back garden & it is much better for her than grass. She can let her little boy play on it anytime without worrying about him getting filthy or chewing it up.
A friend of mine works for one of the big iinstallers in my area & he advised me on how to prepare the base materials & the "grass" to use.

My next door neighbour had some put down by cowboys, it looked crap & it kept lifting in the slightest breeze.
 
I can understand people installing this for maintenance reasons but personally, I think it looks awful and would rather spend the hour or so it takes me to the grass.

My next-door neighbour (pensioners) had it fitted in their front and back gardens and it's caused me problems with drainage in our gardens. I had to have drains installed in the back garden and this year are going to raise the front garden to same level as theirs to recreate the natural run off.
 
I like it. I think some of it looks smart these days. Don't you have to vacuum it sometimes though (which might be a pain).
 
We have a female dog who leaves big yellow patches after she has been for a wee. We are having the garden landscaped so thinking of having artificial grass as it won’t look that bad. We are in two minds though.
 
I have it - only have a small garden and we turned most into deck/patio, seemed silly to maintain a very small bit of grass did it all ourselves so kept cost down - that said its gone a bit flat - maybe wants replacing.

photo (click to see)
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
I don't have it, but the issues you can come across include getting weeds constantly pushing through it (I go on a lot of walks and see a lot of artificial grass with weeds pushing through, must be very irritating) and if you plan to sell your house at some point it can devalue it as majority people want grass, and its expensive to take out due to chemicals used and all the sand laid etc, several tons of topsoil needed on top. I can see an argument for it if people have dogs and its a constant mess, but something about it has always just seemed odd. Grass is fairly easy to look after, looks good and is natural. For the cost of it, so many better things to spend the money on around the house than plastic grass. Plus need to brush it regularly so time saved mowing just goes on that. Leaves and other debris get caught on it that would be lifted by mowing. you still need to apply weed killer regularly, and even if weeds don't push through they will be at the edges. you're meant to use products on it for pet waste, obviously doing a BBQ on it is out of the question unless you want a burnt patch.

I've never seen one that looks as good as a cheaply laid lawn, and I've seen a lot of expensive ones that my mates have had done. 5KG of premiership pro grass seed is about £29 and very hard wearing. Each to their own though, they're obviously just my views!
Click to expand...
I am not so sure it devalues your house there are lots of people who would see the low maintenence of artificial grass as a real plus for a property
 
Yes, I got some in the summer

The trees at the bottom of the garden always killed natural grass due to shade.

My take:

- it's not a cheap option, unless you want it to look really plastic and feel itchy to the touch
- get it professionally laid, needs proper drainage, compacted stones
- get a leaf blower/hoover to keep it tidy
 
We had it for the kids when we had a small garden. Offcut from Frank's which was 150. Normally 35 PSM

Great quality and five years on was great. Get the best you can. For us it was great, it dries out after rain very quick and it meant the kids could sit on the grass and play in November etc.

We love outdoors anyway. Moved to a 200 MSq garden this year and all grass. We've spent the last two days out clearing rubble and it's a bog. Slipping and sliding.

We are leaving it turf but will artificial grass a 30msw area just outside the conservatory for our newborn and toddler to play on.

If you put down the correct weed membrane etc it lasts. I followed a youtube video by a professional company and it was great
 
BigJohnsPens said:
We have a female dog who leaves big yellow patches after she has been for a wee. We are having the garden landscaped so thinking of having artificial grass as it won’t look that bad. We are in two minds though.
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Just buy some dog rocks off Amazon to put in her water bowl and the problem is solved.
 
Was at Billingham for the rugby recently (fantastic day out for the lads and lasses) they play on a plastic pitch, looks fantastic. Got grass myself at home though.
 
This thread brings back memories of the old NFL interview story ..................

Reporter: What do you prefer Astroturf or grass?
Player: I don't know I've never smoked Astroturf

:)
 
Glover_elbow said:
I am not so sure it devalues your house there are lots of people who would see the low maintenence of artificial grass as a real plus for a property
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The amount of people who want artificial grass is infinitesimally smaller than the people that want traditional grass, as evidenced by looking at gardens wherever you live. I'd hazard a guess that under 1% of people have them, so you're appealing to a far smaller pool of people, akin to doing your bathroom without a bath imo, or converting the only garage space into a mancave. It will appeal to those people that don't like baths, or don't want a garage for storage or parking, but its definitely a far smaller pool of people it will appeal to, and the cost of undoing the artificial grass is not insignificant. The people it doesn't appeal to will be looking at costs to undo any work, if I was looking at a house with it, I would certainly factor in the cost of taking it out and replacing it with traditional grass, or look elsewhere (the more likely option). Even if you DO want them, you can still use it as a reason to negotiate. The below link suggests £150 per square meter to take it out, which is probably about right given how much topsoil you'd need and then if you didn't want to grow from seed you would need turf supplying and laying. Artificial grass isn't really that low maintenance either, you still have to weed it, treat it with chemicals, brush it etc to keep it looking "good" (subjective). you just do different things to it. Besides, grass is low maintenance. It takes minutes to mow and very little looking after unless you buy supermarket grass seed.

www.housebeautiful.com

These 7 garden features that could devalue your home, according to a new study

From artificial grass to dated decor...
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Latest property news in Manchester & Cheshire

Latest property news in Manchester & Cheshire
www.thornleygroves.co.uk www.thornleygroves.co.uk

of course plenty of links suggesting it adds shedloads of value to your home, but seemingly all on artificial grass store websites ;)

Anyone that thinks it looks like real grass is deluded, you can tell right away its artificial no matter how much you spend. Weeds push their way through tarmac, they will handle weed membrane eventually. There is always a way for weeds to grow under it as it will have an edge. The ones I see on my walks have plenty appearing which they must pluck out, but the edge is also bordered by a load of weeds. Once they're under it, they will spread with rhizomes. They treat the soil with incredibly powerful chemicals which are really bad for the environment to try and prevent this, which is why its so expensive for people to take out as you need to dig out that soil and replace with new topsoil to make sure anything put down grows properly, but weeds find a way, as you can see any time you walk down along a tarmac path.

I can count on a fingerless hand how many gardens I've seen with artificial grass that make me say "They've done a cracking job there".

You can train dogs where to go in your garden. If you want a landscaped lawn, just create a small area for the dog to go & train them to use it. It may surprise some people to learn that dogs don't need grass to go to the toilet and many people have dogs and no grass or anything that looks like grass in their garden. Getting artificial grass because of dogs yellowing the grass has to be one of the least cost effective solutions available.
 
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