When someone says artificial lawn to you, you’re probably thinking of those dreadful, flat looking, and fake green carpets used in sport centers. Well, you’re not the only one. I used to think that way as well. They were so ugly in appearance, I could never seriously consider them to use for my home. But the times have changes. Technology behind artificial lawns has significantly improved since those “carpet” days.

The typical artificial grass lawn is no longer limited to the indoor sport arenas or even in an athletic setting. It has gained some popularity in both residential and commercial sectors. In this hub, I’ll explore into why people would choose this over natural grass, what product choices you have and the available installation options.

If you live in a house where there is a reasonable sized yard with natural grass and you tend to it yourself, you’ll appreciate the amount of physical work that goes into keeping it in a healthy condition. Just thinking about all the tasks that needs to be carried out on a regular basis can be daunting. You have to water the grass, pull out any weeds, mow the lawn, trim the lawn, etc. On top of this, the effort required is multiplied if you live in an area where the conditions are harsher and/or if there is insufficient natural light.

As you can see, maintaining a lush green looking grass can and does become a very labor intensive exercise. If you enjoy the workout, then there’s no problem. There are situations where having natural grass is not practical. For example, if you own a holiday house located in a remote area that you only visit a couple times in a year, then regularly tending to it would be very inconvenient at best. Another situation is if you are physically unable to perform such intensive manual labor due to old age or chronic pains.

However, if you opt for artificial grass lawns, you won’t face these issues. Without any mowing, trimming or weeding, your lawn can look beautiful throughout the year. Artificial lawn won’t be at the mercy of the weather conditions.

There are financial and other costs associated with having natural grass as supposed to artificial grass. Firstly, the cost from all the fertilizer and water you need to use on a continuous basis to maintain the quality of the grass can add up quickly. Another cost is the amount of time you need to spend on your lawn. And if you decide to hire someone to do all (or even some of) the work, this would end up costing you anyway.

This is another area in which artificial grass lawns have an advantage over natural grass lawns. In the commercial sector, businesses particularly find it appealing that artificial lawn cost less over the long run to maintain.

If you’re interested in installing an artificial lawn, then you’ll be wondering what selections are available and how would you go about choosing the right one. The two biggest things to keep in mind when approaching an artificial lawn company are your budget and the purpose or expected usage. I’ll go through briefly some options you can have.

Artificial law turf comes in different materials with the most popular being nylon and polyethylene. Nylon is more porous and tends to absorb moisture more easily. So if you expect animals to run around the lawn, then it’s probably not a good idea to pick nylon as urine or excrement may become difficult to remove and clean off.

When you start looking at the lawns, they may or may not come with infill. Its main purpose is to keep the grass fibers standing up and hence preventing matting. In some cases, infill also prevents the lawn from shifting and wrinkling. If you intend to have infill, you need to choose the infill material, which can either be silica sand or crumb rubber primarily.

One other option you can have is whether your artificial lawn should have UV protection. Requiring this depends on where the lawn will eventually be installed. If it is exposed to UV light, then this option is necessary as the grass may end up fading and wear down quicker without the protection.

Of course, the idea is to not aim for the cheapest supplier you can find as you might likely compromise on quality of the product or warranty. Additionally, if the supplier is also the installer, you might be compromising on service. So the moral is to shop around, ask a few different suppliers and make comparisons between different artificial lawn prices and the company services provided.

Once you have chosen the particular artificial lawn you want, the installation is the next step. You could either do the installation yourself or call in a professional. Which ever option you take, you should take the time to do the research and educate yourself.

In the case of carrying the installation out yourself, you need to consider all the steps required to achieve a successful installation. Proper and organized planning before purchasing any material or equipment is a must. This is followed by preparation of the site on which you want to install the lawn – e.g. consider the surface, contours, whether drainage is required. Another component to consider is the level of traffic in the area. If you expect people to walk up and down a lot then you might to plan to build a concrete walkway in strategic locations throughout the area.

If you opt for a professional landscaper, then you need to keep in mind appropriate questions to ask in order to select the right company. For example, would they be able to supply the type of lawn you want? Would they be able to install around any obstacles in the area (e.g. trees, swimming pool)? You should be clear on what you want as well as the area for installation so that the artificial lawn installers can minimize any incorrect installation.