Thinking of getting artificial grass for your home? A faux lawn is actually a pretty great way to boost curb appeal and lower your exterior maintenance costs, but you&#;ll want to keep a couple of key considerations in mind before you rip out your grass and swap in some synthetic turf.
There are a number of big reasons behind the increased interest in artificial grass, including growing consumer awareness over water conservation and the heavy toll that traditional lawn maintenance takes on our global water supply. In Southwestern states, where arid conditions and consistent warm temperatures require lots of annual yard maintenance, outdoor water use accounts for a striking 60% of all residential water use. And in states like California, many towns have taken steps to limit lawn watering, restricting residents to certain days and prohibiting watering within 48 hours after rainfall.
Of course, maybe it&#;s not water usage that&#;s having you reconsider a grass lawn. Many people choose to go the faux route because artificial grass doesn&#;t require nearly as much regular care as regular grass, nor does it come with some of grass&#;s more pesky traits&#;like weeds, bugs, and dirt. Still, there are some drawbacks to be aware of too, especially if you&#;re not looking to spend big on the highest quality synthetic turf available.
So, what should you keep in mind? Here are seven things to know about artificial grass as you decide whether or not it&#;s the right choice for your home.
Early residential artificial grass was made with toxic substances in the infill (the material between the blades), including lead. You almost certainly don&#;t need to worry about having toxins or lead in your synthetic turf anymore, but it&#;s still good practice to talk to the company you&#;re purchasing from and ask them about it directly, just to be sure.
On the bright side, in addition to ensuring that you purchase artificial grass that is toxin- and lead-free, you also save yourself from the possible dangers of the sorts of toxic chemicals that are often used on real lawns, such as fertilizer and herbicides.
Faux grass has come a long way, and high-quality artificial turf no longer has the plasticky qualities or super unnatural coloring that many people associate with it. It&#;s not going to be indistinguishable from a real lawn when someone is looking at it closely, but you could probably fool someone who&#;s just driving by.
Sure, you won&#;t have to worry about watering, mowing, or weeding, but that doesn&#;t mean that you&#;re totally off the hook when it comes to lawn maintenance. You&#;ll need to deal with stains if and when they occur (think grease from the barbecue grill or a spilled beverage), as well as rake the blades to keep them from getting matted down with wear. You&#;ll also want to tackle leaves right away, since otherwise they can get ground down into the turf which makes them harder to remove later on. With proper care, your artificial lawn can look great for about 15 to 20 years, so it&#;s worth putting in the work.
It costs about $12.50 per foot to install artificial grass versus $0.40 per foot for sod, according to HomeAdvisor. For a 500 square foot yard, that comes out to $6,250 for the fake lawn and just $200 for the real one. Pricey, right?
Where you recoup those costs is in maintenance over time. You&#;ll save money on water, fertilizer, and lawn services, and should even out around seven years or so. Think of it like putting in a composite deck instead of a cedar one&#;you&#;ll definitely pay more up front, but you won&#;t have to worry about regular and costly maintenance year after year.
While it&#;s tough to find concrete information on how artificial grass affects your resale value, there&#;s plenty of evidence that it can, particularly if you live somewhere dry and hot where lawn maintenance tends to be a pain. If you purchase cheap artificial turf however, or if it readily stands out as fake in a neighborhood where everyone else has lush natural lawns, it could work against you.
If you&#;re worried about it, it might be worth talking to a local real estate agent, who may be able to provide you with some information on how artificial lawns tend to play out in your neighborhood when it comes to resale value. In general though, the prettier your exterior, the more that buyers are willing to pay, so a great looking artificial lawn could be worth it when you go to sell.
Grass is natural and the fake stuff isn&#;t, so you might think that the former is de facto more environmentally friendly than the latter. But natural lawns aren&#;t as &#;green&#; as people tend to assume that they are, mostly due to their high water requirements and the toxic substances that people use in their care.
On the flip side, not only does artificial grass not have those concerns but there is also a growing interest and investment in sustainable infill materials like cork, coconut fiber, and sand. Look into these options for the most environmentally-friendly turf options and you&#;ll have a lawn that you can really feel good about.
Your lawn might be the place that you relax, host BBQs, and let your kids run rampant, but for your pup, it&#;s mostly just one big bathroom. While dealing with pet waste is always going to require some work on your part, artificial grass does make it easier. It&#;s highly drainable and super easy to keep clean, and there&#;s no need to worry about dog urine leaving dead patches of grass behind. In addition to picking up solid waste, hose off your turf regularly to clear away anything that hasn&#;t totally drained away.
For more information, please visit Lvyi.
There&#;s no easy answer to this one, since it really depends on your preferences and your budget. Some cases where artificial grass might be the better choice are if you live in an arid and hot state where grass has a difficult time thriving or in a state that regularly faces drought. It can also be a great choice if you don&#;t have a lot of time (or desire) to devote to lawn maintenance and would prefer something that looks nice without all of the work that it takes to keep it that way.
Still, real grass has its benefits too, including the ability to improve air quality and increase community appeal. It&#;s also a lot more affordable to have installed, and while it&#;s not impervious to the elements, it doesn&#;t necessarily have the limited lifespan that fake grass does.
Ultimately, it&#;s up to you to decide whether a faux lawn or a real lawn is the right choice for your home. We recommend that you consider all of the factors above, and if you do decide that artificial grass is right for you, do plenty of research before deciding on a company and the specifics of the turf that you choose&#;including material, color, and durability.
Price. I'm not going to bury the lede... there is a significant investment involved. A properly installed artificial lawn is more like your paver patio than your traditional lawn. Expect to pay $25-$35 a square foot. Yes, a square foot lawn will be over $25K. Note that this assumes your turf is installed properly. Most is not.
Low maintenance, not NO maintenance. Yes, your required mowings will go from 40 per year to 0. However, it will need to be cleared of leaves and debris if you have trees nearby. And even if you don't, fake grass wants to be raked occasionally to look its best. There is no app for that, but we do provide a special rake with every installation. Get one here.
Infill scares you. One of the final steps when installing a synthetic lawn is to apply "infill". This product filters down into the turf, weighing it down, making it look better and feel softer on your feet. But you don't live in a cave so you heard about the dangers of infill. The good news is that the "crumb rubber" infill that caused problems is no longer in use. We use a ceramic coated sand product that is totally safe.
You have south facing windows.... that get full sun in the summer. This is a tough one. The sun may reflect off the windows and melt some of the turf! This situation is common enough that it is not covered by turf manufacturer's warranties. It is also common enough that we can usually design a way around it.
The seams are the tough part. If more than one roll of turf is required for your lawn there will be a place where the rolls meet. (Just like carpet in a large room.) Matching these two and seaming them well is the hardest part of installing synthetic grass. This means you probably shouldn't DIY or be the first synthetic grass project your landscaper has ever done.
It doesn't look like your old lawn. It looks better. And while a traditional lawn never looks better than it does shortly after installation, your synthetic lawn will look just as perfect in 5 years.
Kids love it. This stuff begs to be played on, even in the winter. So if you don't want kids running around in your yard consider installing some really splintery bark dust instead. But if you want to let your future Timber play soccer year-round, synthetic lawn is what you need.
Drainage. You do not want water to be sitting under your lawn for days. It will eventually cause problems with the base it is installed on. So, depending on the grade of your yard and how well your soil drains we may need to install some drainage underneath. A simple French drain with corrugated pipe leading to a dry well should do the trick.
The color won't last forever (but what will?) The deep green of a syn-lawn is pretty hard to resist. But eventually that color will be begin to fade. The turf Ross NW Watergardens installs has a 10 year warranty on the color. So how long will the color last? Ask me in 20 years.
Envy is bad for the neighborhood. Your perfect lawn (that requires no mowing, watering, fertilizing, aerating, dethatching, etc) is sure to catch the eye of your neighbors. Can they handle how much better your yard is?
For more information, please visit Residential Turf Grass.