Anybody have artificial grass?

Going to be getting a new house and I want to put in artificial grass. It is on acreage but I'm looking for a very small area, I think 800 sq ft up front is required and not sure what I will do in the back. I do have dogs, but they typically go out in the field to go to the bathroom, but from what I've read this stuff is pet friendly anyways

im just tired of watering, mowing, maintenance, dead spots, weeds, overgrown grass, trimming, edging, etc.

i figure initially it will be more expensive up front depending on what I go with, but when I factor in not having to put in sprinklers, buy sod, and of course all the listed above, it is a no brainer for me.

just looking for your experiences, cost, hiccups, good/bad etc.

I think it is a bit more for installation but I've heard they do have stuff that is dog friendly. As in the urine goes through and you just have to hose it off once in a while. If I were serious about it I would first get some locates to see what's underground. If a line is under the installed area it may be a hassle.

My sister has it at her place, and seems to like it. One thing to note is that unlike natural grass, it doesn't really absorb anything. So dirt, lint, dog feces, kid vomit, bird shit - it all sort of stays there until you or the wind, rain, and sun remove it. My sister uses a lawnmower-style small yard vac on it every few weeks to keep it 'clean'.

If it's on acreage, why bother at all? Can people still see the yard?

Use rocks. Unless the house is a glass one.

Pasture.

Must have 800 sq ft minimum of grass

Prairie Grass is grass.


P.S. That rule is stupid in a semi-arid climate like hours. Decorative and well done xeriscape should be encouraged.

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Originally Posted by brutal

Prairie Grass is grass.

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I'll ask but I'm guessing it needs to be sod or this stuff, even this stuff sounds like it's a battle To get approved but when I point out the dead and diseased grass at some of the other homes it makes my case easier

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Originally Posted by sniper7

I'll ask but I'm guessing it needs to be sod or this stuff, even this stuff sounds like it's a battle To get approved but when I point out the dead and diseased grass at some of the other homes it makes my case easier

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HOA??? Spray paint the rocks the same color as the HOA board president's home. OR spray some bleach on the entire boards "lawn".

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Originally Posted by sniper7

Must have 800 sq ft minimum of grass

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Be careful, about 5 years ago I had a friend that did his front yard in the stuff and the city of Thornton made him remove it. He fought it for months, even went to several city council meetings fighting it and in the end was forced to remove it.

Make de sure that before you make the investment you have approval for anyone and everyone that might be involved.

We put it in our backyard because of the ease of maintenance for me. It's not cheap depending if you want the stereotypical plastic stuff or turf that looks legit like what we have. It's pet friendly and I wash it down with a cleaner from Petco. We love it and so does my back.

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Originally Posted by KS63

We put it in our backyard because of the ease of maintenance for me. It's not cheap depending if you want the stereotypical plastic stuff or turf that looks legit like what we have. It's pet friendly and I wash it down with a cleaner from Petco. We love it and so does my back.

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Do you have a photo? I've only ever seen the cheap stuff that people used to put on back patios.

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Originally Posted by RCCrawler

Be careful, about 5 years ago I had a friend that did his front yard in the stuff and the city of Thornton made him remove it. He fought it for months, even went to several city council meetings fighting it and in the end was forced to remove it.

Make de sure that before you make the investment you have approval for anyone and everyone that might be involved.

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Don't forget to get everything in writing

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Originally Posted by Irving

Do you have a photo? I've only ever seen the cheap stuff that people used to put on back patios.

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I'll take one after work if I remember. We had to submit a sample to the HOA for approval and even they couldn't believe it was fake. Ours even has the tan colored dead clippings near the base.

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Originally Posted by KS63

I'll take one after work if I remember. We had to submit a sample to the HOA for approval and even they couldn't believe it was fake. Ours even has the tan colored dead clippings near the base.

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Yep this is the stuff I've been looking at. Not cheap, but when you factor in a new house and having to dig trenches, put in sprinkler lines, top soil, sod, watering, etc. then watering, mowing, trimming, time...etc. all of a sudden it is very justifiable. And it looks good all the time.

I probably have about 1000 sf of sod at my house that I just put in about 2 years ago. I did the sprinkler system myself, ~$1200 in parts. Paid a company to prep the soil, final grade and lay the sod ~$900.

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Originally Posted by sniper7

Yep this is the stuff I've been looking at. Not cheap, but when you factor in a new house and having to dig trenches, put in sprinkler lines, top soil, sod, watering, etc. then watering, mowing, trimming, time...etc. all of a sudden it is very justifiable. And it looks good all the time.

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Just moved into a new home and yeah, eff doing all that yard stuff. We don't have a big yard so I opted to pay someone. Glad I did too because the dirt was so hard that he had to dig all the trenches by hand with a pick ax. 1 day was spent digging. No thanks. But it was sub $5k for everything. Sprinklers, drip systems, bushes, trees, sod, rock, etc. I don't think it was a bad deal and best part was being able to not waste my weekends digging.

I'm starting to understand. I recently spent a few weeks removing the rest of every bush, shrub, small tree from our yard both front and back. Hours sweating and breaking shovels, and it's still not finished.

Bad part for me was I had nothing resembling a yard and I tilled, augmented the soil, graded, leveled, trenched and installed the sprinkler system and laid the sod by myself. That was 10yrs ago and there's no way I could do that now without a trip to the ER. Unfortunately, with our arid climate and watering restrictions, my yard succumbed to weeds and we then installed artificial turf. Here's some pics. Two are the Artificial and the others are real Kentucky Bluegrass.

That looks a lot nicer than I was expecting. Do you have issues with weeds trying to grow through? What about general wear and tear from foot traffic or raking, etc?

Go out to Colfax between Tower & Dunkirk on the south side, Aurora is putting a shit ton of that artificial grass down on the new sports fields they are building.
You might be able to pick up a small scrap piece as a sample to check out.

That stuff looks awesome, very real. How is the feel on your feet? Running my hand over it at the store is one thing, just curious what it's like after being used for a while.

I don't even think anyone would notice except in winter time, I know for certain that will go in the back yard, worst case is 800 sq ft of sod up front

has anyone noticed wear, or flat spots? Any lifting or wrinkles like carpet can get if not done properly?

Why do they make the fake stuff so glossy? That's about the only negative I can see in the appearance.

...other than having one of the only lawns that's green in the winter. [Coffee]

Probably helps maintain life over all, in addition to repelling mold and stuff during shipping and storage. Kind of like how tool handles are all now covered in lacquer.

I can't remember how much water it can drain, but it barely puddled on my lower level lawn with those heavy rains we had this year. Every now and again a weed will wiggle its way up through a drain hole, but it's easy to yank out. There's about 3" of peat gravel underneath the grass so the weed roots can't take a good hold. They also brushed in sand on the turf to give it weight.

Gman-This particular turf I have is minutely glossy. It think it was the late afternoon sun playing tricks. The less expensive turf can get glossy.

I have two dogs and they travel the same path and it does lay the blades down like real turf. Mine even has one side of the blades that are duller in color like real turf. I use a shop broom to groom the turf back up. Feels weird brushing my "lawn". Good news is my neighbors ask me what I did to keep my grass looking like a putting green in the winter!

I doubt it will matter there but out here the fake grass gets real hot in the summer, just like concrete hot, even the good stuff