Artificial Grass Maintenance

Artificial Grass Maintenance

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Why Choose Artificial Grass?

The most appealing aspect and the reason most people choose to move to an artificial lawn are that ownership of artificial grass comes with very few maintenance responsibilities and therefore very little maintenance costs.

There are just a few simple things you can do to ensure you keep your artificial lawn in tip-top shape and to be honest most of them are fairly common sense. Compared to a real lawn where you have tasks such as feeding, mowing, scarifying, seeding, patching, watering, and aerating and weeding all of which aren’t necessarily obvious – your artificial lawn maintenance will be a breeze.

Anyway here are some of our recommendations to ensure you maintain your artificial lawn to full effect. Even some of these actions may not be required, or not be required often based on your own specific circumstances of how your lawn is used and what other elements are around it.

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Artificial Grass Pet Maintenance

The first example of this relates to pet owners if you have a dog or two or more they will be using your lawn as a toilet. Clearly the sooner you clean up a number two you avoid the risk of this being trodden in but should this happen or the poo is a little runny, hosing the area down or using a watering can without the spray attachment on, followed by a quick spray of disinfectant will remove any traces of your pooch present! You may need to do this on occasion on very hot summer days where dog pee will dry on contact before it has to opportunity to drain away. But this is relatively quick to do and can be done whilst watering your plants.

If your lawn is located under deciduous trees you will no doubt have a pile-up of leaves on your lawn over the autumn months. Removal of these leaves quickly is not as critical as it would be on a real lawn as the leaves would prevent the sunlight from feeding the grass which would cause it to die away, however, to have a fabulous lush looking lawn in the autumn months simply brushing the leaves into a pile and removing them.

Don’t be too slack on this as otherwise, you will find that the leaves will degrade an ingress into your lawn pile from the top which will create a potential patch for seed or moss to grow from. You will find that brushing is much quicker and easier than when you used to use a rake on normal grass which leaves got stuck in the rake and into the grass but this is if you brush with the natural grain direction of your artificial grass.

Check this before starting; you’ll know which way simply by the resistance the brush will have against the grass. If you brush in the direction of least resistance you will find that your leaf sweep will be quick and easy.

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Safe Artificial Grass for Dogs

Maintenance of artificial grass is possibly a little misleading; simple keeping on top of cleaning your artificial lawn would be a more appropriate term. Simply brushing or spraying down any spills and  build-up of any sort of debris is all that is required.

Occasionally a weed may find its way through one of the drainage holes – if that does happen, don’t be tempted pluck it out as you may also end up pulling up the grass as the weed roots may be bigger than the hole. If you have been a little slack and allowed dirt to accumulate on top of your lawn - spray with pet-friendly, water-based weed killer.

Once you’ve left this for a few days you may be able to simply pick up the dead weed or if they have shrivelled up, brushing down your lawn followed by hosing should bring your lawn back to being weed-free.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • How to lay artificial grass?

    Usually, an aggregate sub-base is laid to provide efficient drainage followed by a weed membrane followed by a layer of sand. The sand is then levelled off to provide a flat base on which the artificial turf is laid out. If you have a seam, a joint tape will be laid down between the seams onto which adhesive is spread and then the grass edges are laid over the seam. Additional special fake grass pegs are also used to fix down the edges.  

  • Which artificial grass is best?

    This will all depend on how you will be using your artificial lawn. For a luxurious looking thick lawn then a 40mm+ lawn will give you a good bouncy feel - but may not be so good if you are planning on leaving lots of heavy items on your lawn. Also if you have pets - dogs, you would want to choose a 30mm height at this will make clearing up after your pooch a little easier whilst still retaining a fantastic looking lawn.

    If you looking to provide a play area or add some artificial grass to decking to provide a non-slip topping then a budget, sub 10mm pile would be best

  • How much is artificial grass?

    This all depends on your individual installation and the actual grass that is chosen. Grass prices range from the budget end, which looks like green carpet rather than grass, from around £5 per m2 to longer luxury pile grasses which can be £40+ per m2. For a supply and fit of a good mid-range grass can range from around £70 per m2, for small shape installations where they may be much wastage, to £45 per m2 where there is a large uniformed area being installed.

  • Can artificial grass be laid on decking?

    Yes, it can and we've done it several times with s special underlay. We've found that this will mostly be requested on timber decking. There a two main reasons for this firstly once the artificial grass has been fixed to the decking it means that you won't be able to get to your decking to clean it - saving you cleaning chore. Whilst this may seem like a big plus side it does mean that water will have more difficulty in draining away after a downpour. So whilst water will run through the artificial turf it will run onto the decking. If the decking is in a very slight slope to assist water run off this will help. The underlay we use will also help protect your decking If not done properly, you will run the risk of shortening the life of your decking as it will not be treated regularly. 

    The other and main reason is that fake grass is fitted onto decking is that it is visually more colourful and you don't have to work about slipping if the surface does get damp - especially if you have not been good at keeping on top of decking maintenance and moss and algae have built up. 

    Before applying artificial grass on top of decking we would recommend a final clean and good quality decking treatment is applied first.

  • What is artificial grass made from?

    The quality in terms of colour fastness, durability and realness has improved dramatically in the last 1o years.  This has progressed to such a level that at first glance it can be very hard to distinguish between real grass and fake grass. 

    Most modern grasses are made from polyethylene - this is for the actual grass blade. The base to which it is attached can be made from either  polypropylene, polyethylene or nylon. For all three the process of attaching is very similar to that used for modern carpets, which is why you can now even find artificial for sale in carpet shops. A needle, or rather large sets of needles push the blades through the base to which they are attached. Additional adhesives are also used to keep the blades in place.

  • Will artificial grass fade over time?

    With the advances in astroturf manufacturing UV inhibitors are added to the artificial grass and as a result, you should expect your artificial lawn to look good for 15-20 years depending on the intensity and duration of sun exposure.

  • Which is the best border for artificial grass?

    This again similar to the question about the best artificial grass will come down to a number of factors. Firstly it will depend on where the grass will be going and what it will be butting up to. For artificial lawns surrounding trees, timber sleepers are going to be too rigid and therefore laying of bricks or stone blocks allow circles and curved edges to be used. If this is the style and design of your landscaping you don't want to be compromising on the flow of borders and lawns so this is a popular finish. When you do have long straight edges sleepers are a good option as they allow you to have a slightly raised bed, which helps bring some different levels to a garden. It's not uncommon to use a combination of the two. Part of our service is to talk through the design aspect of your garden and what features you already have so as to complement your garden design as much as possible.

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