Artificial lawn

[dizzy77]

Sorry, this got a bit long. We're on our third lawn in 6 years which has been ruined by the neighbourhood cats and weeds coming over/under/through from next door. Part of it is in permanent shade from the fence so gets boggy, and we have no energy or inclination to improve it through more extensive feeding/weeding etc. With two small children now, we're keen to keep a soft play area and happy otherwise with the layout and hard landscaping (which we did, with lawn number 2 in our second year).

I'm conscious it might affect potential buyers too, but less worried about that since its hardly a "house beautiful" sort of area: Edwardian 3bed terraces in varying states of repair, most of the potential market based on our observation of activity on the street is first time buying young families, commuters (we're on a fast train line) or BTL. We're here for at least the next couple of years, though we don't see this as our forever house.

For context, the garden is about 4m x 10m with a third of that laid to "lawn" and neighbouring gardens (and most of those in simlarly priced properties nearby) are either overgrown, completely paved/decked or lovingly tended by elderly couples who otherwise haven't updated their house in many years so offering a different challenge to the potential market.

Has anyone had it laid (we'd get the pros in) or inherited it and can offer views/advice?

We live in a quite posh area of Edwardian terraces and our neighbour had it laid last year at the front. It looks good and I do have envy everytime I have to mow the lawn.
They went for an expensive one. It has a fine texture and is brown mixed with green so it looks more real.
It mostly looks like very neatly trimmed turf except on really sunny days it glistens slightly. It is quite warm to lie on and it doesn't have that fab grass smell.
You do need to be careful when putting things on it though (ladders/chairs etc) as it reacts like carpet rather than grass so you can get indents.

they have it on the fields at dcs school and its fab

I plan to do this in next couple of months. I have just received some samples from one of the companies and I'm really impressed at how realistic it is.

Thanks for responses - wonky i understand your envy, mowing is a miserable job here not undertaken often enough. The indents thing is interesting, we'll have kids play stuff so ensuring its soft enough to fall on without being impossible to repair is helpful.

Hysterical aha samples! Has the company quoted yet and if so, would you mind giving me an idea? I think as we have a relatively small area most of the cost will be in the prep labour/digging out etc rather than the lawn itself which gives us scope to get a better quality product.

Branleuse yes it's the stuff they've had installed at the children's centre that's inspired me!

We have it and it is amazing. I have never ever regretted it. We have two football mad boys and they were churning the lawn up and it was just mud. Now we have a neat looking lawn and perfect playing conditions for the boys - bonus. No mowing is also great.

We are moving and will get as big a patch of it as we can afford in our new garden. I do like real grass but at the moment we are time starved to keep it looking lovely.

I am a convert.

For me, the choice was easy. Real grass would never have grown given the size, aspect and surrounding trees. After 10 years of patio I craved something softer and greener.

I absolutely love it. It's so clean! The kids can play on it without getting mucky even when it has been a bit wet.

It has also surprised me by being really lovely to sit on when it's sunny. I did worry that it would be a bit hot and sticky but my fear proved unfounded.

Whilst it certainly doesn't look real, it's a massive improvement on an all-paved garden. I wouldn't consider anything else in a small garden now.

It doesn't last forever - my brother's faded and looked pretty worn within about three years. Any dust/dirt that gets caught iin the matting can sprout weeds too. It does look lovely at first - I particularly like the longer length with daisies sown into it.

spotty and guinevere, can you tell me what sort you got if you can remember?

lala I am reminded of a friend of my dad who used to be out on his fake lawn with a Hoover while everyone else was mowing!

The better quality grasses shouldn't fade. Our grass was guaranteed for many years, but can't remember exactly how many off the top of my head, though!

We went with easigrass as it was the company that our neighbours used and were happy with and our landscape gardener recommended them. I think they are now selling out of John Lewis too. We didn't shop around though, so I don't know how prices etc compare.

I think it's gross, sorry.

I would love a patch of fake lawn on my patio.

My cousin has it. He has 4 football crazy boys and chickens. His garden is at least 150ft long and he has it right the way through. It was a lot of money.

It really looks fantastic. They sweep it about twice a year & that's it!

Both of my parents have it. My mum hoovers and my dad brushes his. They both use zoflora disinfectant on it as they have dogs to keep it from smelling.
My dad has a huge trampoline on his and it doesn't dent.
Look up sowgreen online on my phone so can't do link

Oh my dad has cheaper one colour green but my mum has three shades of green and the odd brown bit through. It looks real but it was dearer.

Keeping an eye on this - I am definitely getting this when I have planned the garden. I wasn't well enough to mow the lawn for a long period in 2011 and by the time I could have done, it had gone past the point of no return. Like wasteland - the cat loved it. Since then I've had to pay someone to do it as the mower broke / I still dislike doing it etc and it honestly wouldn't take that long for fake grass to earn itself out.

Hy There, I am from Hertfordshire, UK and I am planning to do it and for this, I contact some top companies of artificial turf in Hertfordshire and they gave me a sample of it. I have highlighted 3 companies and after selecting one I will surely tell you about it.

We did this earlier this year and love it. I can understand why some people are snooty about it, and I would have been too, but it's actually great.

We were realistically never going to faff about with a 'lawn' and have a similar sounding house to you - small London garden, not great aspect, so would have been hard to grow.

You can also get a springy underlay for kids falling off play equipment.

I'm afraid I don't know exactly how much ours was because I got it done as part of a bigger garden job. But get some quotes and definitely shop around for the grass itself as I've seen the prices vary a lot.

I wouldn't get it. I would miss the smell and feel of the real thing, but I am also concerned about it as it destroys habitats for the local wildlife.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/04/growth-in-artificial-lawns-poses-threat-to-british-wildlife-conservationists-warn

If the alternative is patio or it is only temporary e.g. Clean play environment for kids as they grow up, then fair enough- but if the majority have artificial grass what a sad world it would be!

Mine has been laid for 2 years, it wasn't the maintenance/perfect lawn appearance, it was the hay fever reducing both mine and Dh's eyes to slits when the grass was cut.

Even when we had a gardener do it for us, Dh couldn't enjoy being outside with the children in the garden.

We already have 1/3 of the garden paved with seating etc and wanted a grass look. We have a front garden and a huge side garden with flowering plants and shrubs with berries for the wildlife and a section of our side garden is left wild.