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Original poster

Does astroturf put you off?

392 replies

GingerBeverage · 12/10/2021 10:04

If you're looking at family houses, would astroturf (fake grass) put you off viewing/buying?

I'm seeing it a lot in city terraces and semis these days. There seems to be a resurgence from being out of fashion decades ago.

OP posts:
megletthesecond · 13/10/2021 19:17

No garden and you've messed up your part of the planet you're responsible for. Lose lose.

HelpMeWithMyHip · 13/10/2021 19:20

@megletthesecond

No garden and you've messed up your part of the planet you're responsible for. Lose lose.
No garden? You're mistaken there. We speand plenty of time in it to know it's still there. I haven't messed anything up. Just kept what was already there. If you read what I'd put properly you'd know that
Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel · 13/10/2021 19:38

Yes. Awful and so tacky. Not good for wildlife at all.

FuzzyPuffling · 13/10/2021 20:31

Yes. Dreadful stuff for the planet and for wildlife and for "carpet burns" if you're playing football on it. And you can never wash dog shit off it properly.

JacquelineCarlyle · 13/10/2021 20:38

@megletthesecond

Yes. I would expect them to remove it if I purchased it so I could turf it. It's bad for the environment. Should be banned in most domestic gardens. (Except for mobility reasons).
It really should be banned. I don't understand how they mess about with straws and yet let Astro turf be put down in domestic gardens. Shocking really and so harmful to the birds, bees and general garden wildlife.
Milkbottlelegs · 13/10/2021 20:39

@megletthesecond

Yes. I would expect them to remove it if I purchased it so I could turf it. It's bad for the environment. Should be banned in most domestic gardens. (Except for mobility reasons).
Would expect them to remove it? Lolz. You buy as seen.
Original poster
GingerBeverage · 13/10/2021 20:41

How much are the expensive ones? People keep mentioning expensive but I don't know what that means - £5000?

OP posts:
TheGrumpyGoat · 13/10/2021 20:41

It really should be banned. I don't understand how they mess about with straws and yet let Astro turf be put down in domestic gardens. Shocking really and so harmful to the birds, bees and general garden wildlife

This is a very good point. We all have to arse around with paper straws for the sake of the environment, but people are allowed to replace their gardens with plastic. Seems a bit skewed to me!

MrsDonnelly · 13/10/2021 20:42

Yes, hate the stuff

Echofallen · 13/10/2021 20:43

Yes, I saw a few houses with fake grass when we were house hunting and it put me off, there's too much plastic as it is.

Osrie · 13/10/2021 20:52

Yes. Definitely. If someone had to destroy a lawn I’d rather deal with living with flagstones than plastic until I could deal with replacing the lawn.

dongke · 13/10/2021 21:01

Loads of million pound houses near me with it, it's practical in a small space.

Why2why · 13/10/2021 21:15

I have never seen fake grass that looked good. No matter the price, still looks like plastic grass.

If you’re bothered about pee stains in the garden, wouldn’t you be even more concerned about dog pee and poo on plastic grass?

Rummikubfan · 13/10/2021 21:35

This is so different to what I see IRL. Most people i know who have boggy clay gardens and struggle to get a good lawn and have children who play football have replaced their grass with Astro. These are expansive houses. For me I have to be honest, if the Astro is well done it’s a real plus for me. We spent years trying to sort out our lawn and flooding and never managed it. We had good drainage and Astro and it was life changing, we could use our garden

Abraxan · 13/10/2021 21:48

@megletthesecond

Yes. I would expect them to remove it if I purchased it so I could turf it. It's bad for the environment. Should be banned in most domestic gardens. (Except for mobility reasons).
Not a chance a seller is going to remove it for you unless they were really desperate to se. Madness to think they would! Just like a seller won't rip out a kitchen or bathroom for you, or lift a drive or patio for you, if you buy. If it bothers you that much you factor in replacing it when buying. It's bought as seen after all.
Abraxan · 13/10/2021 21:51

I have never known anyone to vacuum their artificial lawn. Nor wash it.

It seems to be something people who don't have it think you have to do, but people who do have it ever actually do it.

Most I've known people to do is spray it with a bit of weed killer every so often, like they might have done their real grass beforehand.

OutOfSite · 14/10/2021 09:30

@GingerBeverage

How much are the expensive ones? People keep mentioning expensive but I don't know what that means - £5000?
32m2 - £2k
Bluntness100 · 14/10/2021 09:38

@Abraxan

I have never known anyone to vacuum their artificial lawn. Nor wash it.

It seems to be something people who don't have it think you have to do, but people who do have it ever actually do it.

Most I've known people to do is spray it with a bit of weed killer every so often, like they might have done their real grass beforehand.

How do you get all the leaves ans shit off it then and get rid of dog wee and shit smells?
HelpMeWithMyHip · 14/10/2021 09:42

@bluntness do you wash your lawn?

Ours doesn't get leaves on it as we don't have many trees around it. The see drains through as it's raised and I pick the shit up. My dog has very solid shits. If it isn't I tip water over it like I used to on my real lawn.

HelpMeWithMyHip · 14/10/2021 09:42

[quote HelpMeWithMyHip]@bluntness do you wash your lawn?

Ours doesn't get leaves on it as we don't have many trees around it. The see drains through as it's raised and I pick the shit up. My dog has very solid shits. If it isn't I tip water over it like I used to on my real lawn.[/quote]
*wee not see

RitaFires · 14/10/2021 09:46

@Abraxan

I have never known anyone to vacuum their artificial lawn. Nor wash it.

It seems to be something people who don't have it think you have to do, but people who do have it ever actually do it.

Most I've known people to do is spray it with a bit of weed killer every so often, like they might have done their real grass beforehand.

My next door neighbour hoovers theirs, I don't know if that's because it appears to be more like green carpet than fake grass and wouldn't be necessary with more expensive options but if they do it I assume other people do too.
minipie · 14/10/2021 09:57

You’re not supposed to hoover artificial grass. If it’s been laid properly it will have a layer of fine sand brushed into the roots (think this helps weight it and helps with drainage). If you hoover it you will hoover all this sand up.

All we do is brush any large collections of leaves and petals off the fake grass into the flowerbeds, so they don’t sit and rot on the lawn.

No idea about dog wee, we have a cat who uses the flowerbeds - however I know our neighbours got fake grass because they have a dog who likes to dig so their real lawn was a collection of holes…

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 14/10/2021 10:25

@Rummikubfan I totally agree with you. Replacing the waterlogged, muddy unusable space that was my back garden with AstroTurf has been fantastic. I put in proper drainage, kept the borders and added large pots and climbing plants. It's now a fantastic, pretty and, most importantly, usable space that is full of flowers, birds and bees. We've also had hedgehogs coming though. Not sure why there's so much negativity on here. IRL in areas with very heavy clay, which makes a lawn nigh-on impossible, it's a great way to make the garden space usable.

Rummikubfan · 14/10/2021 10:47

exactly @JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn I spent years trying to actually get a decent lawn and spent a fortune on lawn specialists but the clay and the tree roots in my garden meant it just wasn't going to happen. IN reality from November until June I had an unusable mud bath made even worse by the children and their footballs ruining anything which made any attempt to grow. The astro and drainage has actually given us an outside space.

EvilPea · 14/10/2021 10:52

Yes it would put me off, I rent and unless desperate I would keep looking.

I know some people are fans, but there’s other landscaping ways, different grasses, larger flower beds etc. it contributes hugely to flash flooding and the prospect of it festering on a landfill longer than you will live on this planet is enough to convince me it’s terrible.