Do you have a fake lawn?

[howaboutshopping]

I'd be interested to hear what you think about it? Was it hideously £££? What groundwork had to be done first? What holds it in place? Does it still get boggy in the winter? Is it colourfast in the sun? Do cats rip it up? If you had to have joins in it, do they show? How long are they meant to last?

Ive not but am watching with interest.

I often walk past a house with a fake lawn in the front garden. It looks pretty awful..., Otherwise, I think it might be pretty sturdy - playing fields with astroturf seem to get less boggy and they don't seem to fade.

I have had a fake lawn for four years laid on top of concrete slabs. It's brilliant. It can't get boggy in winter if its laid of top of solid base. There are plenty of websites which say what is used.

Can't remember what I paid though, sorry. Joins can't be seen unless you are looking for them, no more than striped after mowing a real lawn IYSWIM. Hasn't faded at all.

We have had fake grass for a few years, it's base is hardcore with sand on top that was wacker plated down. The grass was laid on top. I love it. It still looks great. The dog has done no damage at all. No fading. I occasionally disinfect it if the dogs been unwell. Not at all boggy in winter so no more muddy dog paws. It varies in coast depending on the standard. Our looks just like grass, but we got it off a friend in the business so it was very reasonable. We did the groundwork ourselves.

I will send you a picture of mine, we had it professionally laid on a slope which had a very bad lawn. It is good drains well and has made a big difference to us. I think it looks fine.

We've got easigrass on two parts of a terraced garden. One part was laid over slab (fitters put sand over the top) and another laid over a recently filled in pond which was both boggy and shaded and not ideal turfing condition. Installers put down hard core and compacted, sand, and a weedproof membrane. It's great and looks fab, and is especially pleasing through the winter when neighbours gardens are patchy and muddy. It does get very hot in the sun though, and in certain shoes you get static shocks!

Had ours for about 5 years, DH put it in, used one of those thumper things to compact the soil then thumped sand then grass is nailed down.

Ours is a natural colour complete with some brown blades so it looks good especially as the borders have grown and softened the edges.

It doesn't get boggy as water just drains through, my three dogs haven't been able to pull it up so I seriously doubt a cat could.

I have a patch about 3mx3m so no joins I think. Didn't see them fitting it so can't really answer those questions. It doesn't get boggy at all. It hasn't faded in 18months. Cat has done no damage but never seen him try to scratch it etc. It's very practical, low maintenance.

Downsides- it is a bit hot to walk on in bare feet on a really hot sunny day in the summer if there's no shade. It doesn't look like a real lawn but that doesn't bother me.

No. Naff.

We viewed a house that had fake lawn for their boys to play on. It was horrible, covered in squishy mud and squishy. The edges had completely vanished under a bog.

Next house had just had new turf laid, it was much nicer.

Wouldn't buy a house with fake grass. It is bad for the environment, wildlife etc. And it feels horrible to walk or sit on.

Our neighbours have one, it looks ridiculously bright and very obviously fake; I'd be disappointed if I was them as it's a small front lawn and they spent over 2k on it but it just reminds me of the stuff they put on the fruit shelves in the local green grocer and it doesn't stop the local cats from coming and leaving little piles of crap - clearly they and I share the same view of it but they are more prepared to publicly declare their view than I am.

We had one laid last year and it's the best thing we have ever done. We had an extremely boggy clay garden and our gardeners put drainage in before they laid it and lots of the other layers of soil, stones etc. This winter everything has just drained through and the garden is totally mud and water free. It means that we have a garden which can be used by the children all year round, no mud and dirt comes into the house.

We went for a high quality grass and whilst it doesn't look completely real it's a close match. It's also perfect if your children love playing football outside and becomes an extension of the house.

We are not gardeners and like simple easy to maintain gardens and that's exactly what we got. It wasn't cheap but it was worth every penny.

Hugely bad for the environment and it looks fake. A real lawn is much nicer.

I've never seen one that looked nice and they all seem to develop a mouldy pong after a while. Some people swear by them but it's a huge turn off for me. Why don't you hard landscape instead.

Yes a real lawn is much nicer (when looked after properly) but even when we had a gardener to cut the grass for us Dh still couldn't even go outside. His eyes narrowed to mere slits as he is allergic to grass pollen.

We had an artificial lawn laid 3 years ago, brush it occasionally, weed kill the top every 3 months (walk round with a watering can) it dries incredibly fast so the children can play back outside after it has stopped raining.

I no longer have a mud track where the boys play football, they no longer have grass stained clothing, so for us all very positive.

To lay it - they dug down, laid hardcore, whacker plated it down, weed membraned it, then applied granno (fine granite dust stuff) then the lawn. It is weighed down with some sand.

People can be as snobby as they like but every time I hear a lawn mower going whilst we are all out in the garden I smile over at my husband who can sit outside with us. Bliss.

No mouldy pong here after two years. We didn't hard landscape because it's a play area for toddlers - the grass (and if you choose you can have shock mats underneath giving an even better critical fall height) are soft and spongy for playing and falling on. I wouldn't have ripped a lawn out to install it but we had a boggy/shady mud patch (previously a giant pond) and a horrible paved area - it's improved the look and usability of them both.
I do think though - because we looked at lots and lots and lots of samples - there is a huge range in quality in terms of how they look (and possibly how well they age?)

Attempting not to out myself but these are pics from our house details for comparison. Left is our local park (real grass) and right is our garden (easigrass). Our grass is pretty dark and multitoned so isn't anyway near as bright as the real grass in the park!

We had ours laid last summer. It was about the same price to have that laid as it was for decking - same square metre cost for buying/fitting.
Not had any issues so far - it looks fairly natural after being down for about 9/10 months - and definitely no smell, etc. Shouldn't be if laid properly.

We went artificial as it wasn't a big area but me and Dh dislike gardening at all. We also live near a lot of fields and real glass looked a mess, full of seeds that have been blown over. We got fed up of having to treat it. Yes, we still get this a little bit with the artificial grass but it is much more manageable and they don't take hold in the same way - a quick spray of weedkiller and a week later they are gone totally.

Yes, is bloody amazing! Soil is clay so real grass just doesn't take - previous owners had paved the whole lot. We got a space of around 4m X 8m, so quite small, for about 2k - was part of whole garden redesign. That included levelling the ground, stones to make water flow through, sand to level it out and the grass, then sand on top. It wasnt the cheapest grass, we went for next level quality which was a bit longer and thicker. Strands have a mix of brown and green so it doesn't "glow".

There's no weed membrane so we're considering getting it relaid, but only a handful of weeds grow through and it's easy to pull them out. Not boggy or smelly - on a dry winters day, DD can be out there playing which neighbours with real grass can't. I have hayfever so I love this cos I can lie on it and not end up with itchy eyes.

This is ours ... now has a trampoline on top which is another bonus as the grass hasn't died underneath!

Real grass does 'take' on clay soil. I have grass on very heavy clay. It just has to be done properly with the right type of seed or turf.

Think about how long you will be in the house before you put fake grass down, many people are more environmentally aware and do not want fake grass, so if you might be moving it may not be a good move.