We've just had a plastic lawn put in. AMA

[Imdunfer]

As title.

If you're going to raise climate issues please make sure you have your facts right before you post. There is a lot of incorrect PR and social media comment about plastic turf going around at the moment.

You could have paved most of it, left a couple of gaps to plant something low maintenance and insect friendly. Added some pots for colour and zero maintenance and variety. Couple of bags of bark to keep weeds down. Job done.

Or. Add plastic.

I'm a gardener by trade and removing top of the range, really well fitted plastic grass as described by the OP is a big job.

Firstly it won't have been laid on soil. Instead an aggregate sub-base will have been put down, then a leveling layer (sand for example) and then a weed membrane. I know this because I took one up a year ago. It was a bit, expensive job in a small new build garden.

A big part of the cost is that every part of that is considered 'construction waste' for which disposal fees have to be paid at the recycling centre.

They were taking it up because next door's bamboo was sending out runners which were snaking under the plastic lawn causing trip hazards, unsightly ridges and then poking up sharp shoots around the edges of the lawn.

And through the autumn and winter months?

You might tell that to our next door neighbour, then.

The lawn was dug out two years ago at huge expense. Top quality topsoil was brought in. Premium turf was laid. It was watered and watered to bed it in. It looked fabulous.

And in spite of the fact that there is a paid gardener, it looks very nearly as rough now as it did before all the money was spent on it.

It was seeing what happened to hers that finally decided us to go for plastic.

I didn't say I would refuse to buy a house with artificial grass, but it would certainly be a negative point. If there were two houses that I liked quite a lot, one had artificial grass and the other had a slightly messy garden, I'd pick the messy garden. I'd have to really, really love the house in other ways if it had artificial grass, because it's something I would want to change as soon as possible.

In reality people are much more likely to put an offer in on a house if they can move in happily without doing work. It probably depends how competitive the market is too.

I don't see why you think there will be a problem. We watch our football team play right through the winter on artificial turf.

Exactly. It looks like Telly Tubby Land

Looks a darn sight better than my lawn last summer after 2 weeks of sun while we were away (a barren, scorched stretch of earth) or the bits we have now where a friend’s dog stayed last week and peed all over it so we now have dead patches and yellow rings all over it?

We only give our dogs rainwater to prevent this - DH is devastated as he had a perfect croquet lawn on the top section.

Has it enhanced the way you live? Do you love it? Does it make you laugh?

If our mythical potential buyers had kids or a dog they wanted to be able to play in the garden, it's a lot more usable now than it was when it was a soggy mess every time it rained.

OP I understand the need for convenience and we are all guilty of polluting the environment in some way or another. I'm a primary school teacher and we did a whole project on protecting our bees, no mow May, having a wild flower patch in our gardens etc. Gardens and flowers are so important for our pollinators who do such an important job. I understand what you're saying about paving stones etc and it's one small patch of grass. It is your choice and it's what works for you but what I don't agree with is encouraging other people to get it done which I presume is why you started a thread about it and telling everyone how happy you are with it. If the temperatures from last wk has taught us anything, it is definitely to be more environmentally conscious and encouraging others to be as well. We definitely have a collective responsibility to look after our world. Enjoy your garden but maybe privately.

Well, these things are subjective. I don't think it looks like real grass though.

We love it, it certainly makes us smile.

I would probably refuse to view it unless literally everything else was perfect and nothing else needed doing, because I don't believe it would cost £3500. I believe it would be a lot more than that. And it'd be a pain in the arse trying to find someone willing to do it.

We had a hard enough time trying to find someone to fit laminate on our stairs because of how much of a ballache it is. Digging out an entire garden and removing tonnes of soil has got to be more of a ballache than fitting laminate to a staircase.

If you were a multi millionaire living in an expensive mansion would you still choose plastic grass?

We have weeds on our artificial grass but they are not growing up through it that come from seeds falling on the top of that and we've neglected it 😱

We have a very big Garden and did a comparatively small area of artificial grass. The climbing frame on when the kids were little so that it was always usable. Never noticed any smell. It definitely drains fine and we did it ourselves. It was expensive though...

We have planted a lot and areas of our garden for all the wildlife. I don't have any shame about it. Probably wouldn't do it again because it has been let go and it'll be a right pain to pull up I know how deep the agriculture and sandare underneath - it's a lot!

OP most people use their garden to connect with nature. You use it to connect with your plastic astroturf

Please post something like that every time anyone talks on this forum about the lovely holiday they are flying away on our asks what the best 4x4 to buy these days is.

I don't think there will be a problem. I know there will be issues because I'm a gardener by trade who spends time working on and around fake lawns.

The turf you watch your football team play on will be a different type and quality than you have but more importantly there will be a team of groundspeople employed to keep that turf in order.

If your lawn is new you are seeing it at its summer best and will need to factor in a maintenance schedule for it over the period of a year.

I have some questions about what can get through it. You said it sits in a bed of aggregate? What is the grass 'sown' or 'stitched' into?

So what happens for example to leaves that break down - thinking of a dry leaf that someone steps on so it crumbles into bits too small to rake or pick up that fall down between the grass? Do you end up with a load of debris at the base of the grass? How small do bits need to be to fall through the membrane or base or whatever it is?

Same with animal poo - what happens to the bits smeared around or falling down?

What happens to the worms underneath? are they just blocked for a large area? What happens to moles? Do they get confused? Because it's not like a house or concrete road with a foundation?

I hope everyone moaning about microplastics from artificial lawn never drive a car or use a washing machine. Car tyres shedding and synthetic fibres from clothes are two of the biggest contributors to plastic in our natural environment.

I did say in an earlier post that for every potential buyer who hates it, there might be another who loves it - I don't know. Estate agents might be able to tell you whether it actually makes a house more difficult to sell or not. Maybe you don't care if you're not trying to sell your house anyway! But it is one of those things that divides people, a marmite issue.

But as OP says, if land was so important - they wouldn’t have build 200 odd houses on the farmland near her? They are building 240 houses on two fields near me - proper greenbelt land we are now losing - and yet we’re meant to feel guilty if we were to put over a few square meters of art-grass or a pave the front drive?

Yes, wildlife matters - but the government and planning offices need to do their job to enforce environmental objectives and protect the local area. You can easily plant tubs and hanging baskets with pollinators to offset it.

Oh they had me very late in life, so I'm just an amateur. I'd love to post a photo, but as OP has pointed out....too outing - even though plastic grass is plastic grass and all looks the same - not to mention the fact there's about 10 million unique users to Mumsnet every month, so hardly likely.....🙄

Most people use their garden to "connect with nature"? What sort of size gardens do houses have around you?

Most people round here use their garden to get their kids and their dogs out of the house, where they've got any space left after the wheely bins and recycling caddies, extensions and conservatories.