Does astroturf put you off?

[GingerBeverage]

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.

I would be put off immediately. I wouldn't bother viewing the property if it was visible on the estate agents photos. Horrible stuff, and a pain to remove.

@MatildaJayne

I think it would put me off more if the neighbours had fake grass. I could change my own, but not theirs.

This! I hate it, but it wouldn't put me off buying somewhere, mainly because I love gardening and nature and so would be looking at how I could make the garden wildlife friendly.

I would be more put off by those new estates where everyone's tiny gardens are separated by six-foot fence panels - looks like the fucking gulag, why not put some barbed wire and a searchlight up too?? - and shit for wildlife connectivity, particularly hedgehogs. I'd hate to live somewhere so sterile, I find it depressing.

@MapleMay11

Yes, truly awful. Speaks volumes about the kind of person who owns the property too.

This has made me chuckle.. and I have it!

Yes .. yuck

Yes, not offered on s property because of it- couldn't see what was underneath to work out costs to reinstate. Didn't view houses with it.

Yes, it would put me off. Hideous.

I hate it so much. I'd add it to the costs of "non-negotiable things we'd need to get done ASAP"

Oh I love ours, the kids play in it through your the year which they couldn't with the mud bath we previously had. No mud through the house, dries so quickly and as a result of having ours 7 of our relatives and friends have installed it.
I'm presuming those judging based on the environment, don't have kids, fly or eat meat etc... I doubt it so please for your sake try and live a happier life where you manage to stop judging people by your own hypocritical standards, it bothers me not one bit but clearly the same can't be said for you.

People are just answering the op though?

If it puts people off buying a house then it does. I don’t know why it’d make people angry

People decide not to buy for whatever reason they like

I am potentially scarred by AstroTurf injuries of youth playing hockey, but it honestly is my pet hate. It summarises everything that is wrong with the world. Replacing natural turf (even overgrown, weedy rubble), that natural space for bugs, bees, animals and plants with plastic for aesthetics! It doesn't even look better, it looks fake because it is fake. You lose the texture of grass, the smell of grass and mud. All that damage to the environment for aesthetics.

@purpleboy

Oh I love ours, the kids play in it through your the year which they couldn't with the mud bath we previously had. No mud through the house, dries so quickly and as a result of having ours 7 of our relatives and friends have installed it. I'm presuming those judging based on the environment, don't have kids, fly or eat meat etc... I doubt it so please for your sake try and live a happier life where you manage to stop judging people by your own hypocritical standards, it bothers me not one bit but clearly the same can't be said for you.

😂😂😂

Somewhat overly defensive given the question that was asked.

I live in a very difficult area to grow lawns. I have long given up trying to grow a grass carpet and embrace the weeds. You can encourage the ones you want by what time of the year you mow.

I like that it can look awful, you go round with the mower, and it is all nice again. If grass won't grow in an area, I grow something else there.

Dr Stefan Buczacki once gave a tip on Gardener's QT to just make sure to tidy the edges when you mow, and no one notices the weeds in the middle.

To be fair soup my comment if you read it was aimed more at those who are moaning about the environment whilst no doubt being hypocritical themselves and also the poster who said it shows what kind of person you are if you have fake grass🤣
But extreme no?

@CarrotSticks23

I am potentially scarred by AstroTurf injuries of youth playing hockey, but it honestly is my pet hate. It summarises everything that is wrong with the world. Replacing natural turf (even overgrown, weedy rubble), that natural space for bugs, bees, animals and plants with plastic for aesthetics! It doesn't even look better, it looks fake because it is fake. You lose the texture of grass, the smell of grass and mud. All that damage to the environment for aesthetics.

I broke my arm in 3 places playing hockey on frozen AstroTurf when I was 14!

I don’t like it. It looks awful most of the time.

@CarrotSticks23

I am potentially scarred by AstroTurf injuries of youth playing hockey, but it honestly is my pet hate. It summarises everything that is wrong with the world. Replacing natural turf (even overgrown, weedy rubble), that natural space for bugs, bees, animals and plants with plastic for aesthetics! It doesn't even look better, it looks fake because it is fake. You lose the texture of grass, the smell of grass and mud. All that damage to the environment for aesthetics.

Nothing to do with how it looks for me. It was purely because I couldn't look after a lawn

Hate the stuff, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker as it's much easier to rip up than solid concrete. But I wouldn't look and think "yay! plastic lawn!" - replacing it would be a factor in whatever I decided to offer.

It really would not put me off. You can easily replace this for grass and be a slave of the lawnmower for ever. Or pay for a gardener.

Depends on the size of the garden and quality of the fake grass i think. We're gardeners/veg growers so it would be dug up sharpish if it covered the whole land.

The inlaws have it and honestly its always looked awful. 2 squares of completely different shades of green 'grass' which is now just covered in moss because its not as low maintenance as they expected.

This article gives quite a good overview of where artifical grass can be useful, largely for small space where grass would not be suitable.
www.houzz.co.uk/magazine/10-ways-to-use-artificial-turf-where-it-actually-looks-good-stsetivw-vs~71086993

No - much prefer it to real grass.

Yes, we had ours removed and it was an expensive pain in the a**, would never buy a place with Astro ever again!

The persistent rumblings of a link to cancer would be enough to put me off. I wouldn't want to buy a house with astroturf because even if I were to remove it, I'd be concerned that high levels of carcinogenic chemicals might remain in my garden.

blog.oup.com/2017/01/artificial-turf-cancer-risk/

I would previously have said it wouldn't stop me viewing or buying but it would be a negative so if torn between 2 houses it could then stop me buying the one with fake grass. Having read all the comments about how expensive it is to remove and not knowing what's underneath it I guess maybe I'm now a bit more reluctant so would have to love the house on paper after this thread before being willing to view.

a slave of the lawnmower

It would be a major con for me, I’d probably not get past the Rightmove browse to book a viewing – you have to be a bit in love to make the effort to view and it’s just so grim it’s an instant turn-off