I’m thinking of reducing maintenance in my garden by replacing the lawn with synthetic grass. Would appreciate your views on this i.e. cost, durability etc Thanks
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My wife does a fair few small gardening jobs in a retirement village using astroturf, and everyone seems happy so far, although the oldest installation is maybe only 3 years old now. We have a rectangle of it on our veranda, which the dog likes, and it is very durable so far. How it will be in 5 or 10 years I cant say though.
I can tell you that it gets very hot in the summer sun, unlike proper grass, which stays fairly cool.
Re cost, the big B store has various types listed on their website.
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My experience was only 3yrs, loved it, but yes, it get to hot to walk on in bare feet unfortunately…
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In Las Vegas they are replacing grass with synthetic as part of water use reduction. My Son in Law and daughter recently visited there and they said it looked great in the yards. The local government there funds part of the cost of replacement of the grass with the synthetic.
From a friend who uses the synthetic grass he advises to use sand on the synthetic to make the grass pile stand up and feel more natural under foot. And where possible plant shade trees or use other means of shading so that, as mentioned above, it doesn’t get too hot for comfort.
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We love the look and don’t mind having it around the pool. So far (7 years on) the original section of fake grass is still looking strong. It needs the occasional re-infill. However, if you have a dog, and we do, beware that after a certain time the uric acid crystals that form after the dog has been in that spot over and over start to release a very smelly gas and this will be ongoing. Water doesn’t wash them away and bio-products designed to break down the crystals have a limit to how much they can achieve. Think carefully about whether this spot will be under a window or near a door. The smell is a bit much on hot days after rain and will only get worse!
Hi Jean,
we had a section in an enclosed apartment balcony for 10 years. From memory, we went with a mid-grade product that looked fairly natural and was still inexpensive. We found it very durable, and can also confirm that it gets hot underfoot when exposed to direct sunlight.
That will probably be mostly ammonia, which forms from the decomposition of urea. It will certainly make your eyes water and irritate the mucous membranes if you get too much of it.
