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.

@LilFoxes

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

Oh can you remember cost? Was it a big area?

@Camandmitch

In general yes but I can understand why people may want it in a very small garden especially north facing ones.

This. And the sort of very narrow urban gardens that don’t get enough sun for grass to do well. Especially if there are young children who need a forgiving surface to play on, so not stone or gravel.

Yes it's terrible stuff. Absolutely nothing good about it whatsoever. I would immediately want to pull it up and grass the area.

And the sort of very narrow urban gardens that don’t get enough sun for grass to do well.

Nonsense. You get grass seed for shaded areas and there are many different types of lawn, not just grass. No one needs to cover their garden in a sheet of thick green plastic and kid on its grass.

@driftcompatible

Yes it's terrible stuff. Absolutely nothing good about it whatsoever. I would immediately want to pull it up and grass the area.

Well there is it's had benefits for me. So I can't agree there is nothing good about it

@driftcompatible

Yes it's terrible stuff. Absolutely nothing good about it whatsoever. I would immediately want to pull it up and grass the area.

Whilst I despise it!

I think quite clearly your view is plain wrong given this thread

We've got a couple of patches in our front garden. The previous owners made the front all weird sections with funny shaped areas and they filled in a couple of the shapes with astro "for fun".

It looks quite nice from a distance, it would be tricky to cut these odd shapes with a lawnmower, but up close it looks rubbish, really worn and shabby, and it's not even in a place where people walk on it. It looks sort of unevenly faded by the sun and just weird. I'm guessing it wasn't particularly expensive though and he fitted it himself.

It makes me sad when sometimes we see the birds pecking around on it looking for worms and not finding any.

It usually looks nice from a distance, up close, one hundred percent of the time, it looks like what it is. Plastic.

It would definitely put me off, but then, anyone who would install astroturf doesn't share my taste, so I would probably hate their bathroom, kitchen, etc as well.

It would put me off the same way as a brand new orange gloss kitchen would.

I.e. it would be painful to think of the waste (of money, resource, time) to remove it, but at the same time I couldn’t live with it.

It would put me off a bit, but so would all gravel or paving.

But, if that's all there was on offer in my area I would accept it and make a plan to rip it out!
.

Cheap and Nasty

Didn’t put us off. The house was perfect in every other way and it’s something that can be changed.

A big area of it and/or if they had a dig- would have to be the perfect house otherwise for me to consider it.

A little patch, with no dog factor- I'd maybe overlook it and enjoy ripping it up on day one.

It's bloody awful stuff and I really can't fathom it out yet I know several people who've had it put in for reasons unknown. Even DDs nursery has replaced their proper outdoor space with it, I can see why to a point as it's a shaded space so won't get as hot as it can but I preferred their more natural space and muddy area to be honest.

Horrible stuff. But I'd just assume I could rip it up and plant things.
Makes note to self .... might be expensive or awkward .... never assume things

Yes, it's awful, So environmentally unfriendly.

It’s not my cup of tea, and I’ve heard it gets much hotter than grass in the sun. I can see it being useful in a small yard or on a balcony but not in a ‘proper’ garden.

Our small garden is overshadowed by next doors giant tree. Grass doesn't grow, or what little patchy mossy grass does grow turns into a mud bath in the winter. I have kids so gravel or paving is unsuitable. So we have very expensive, professionally laid artificial grass and I love it. It means we can actually use our garden for the first time since we moved in.

[quote WaltzingToWalsingham]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/[/quote]
AstroTurf (that they play football on) is not the same as artificial grass (that you put in your garden). For a start, artificial grass doesn't have the black rubber crumb stuff which the article is all about.

@DockOTheBay Unfortunately, it's not just the rubber crumb that causes problems. Many artificial lawns are impregnated with antimicrobials (leading to antimicrobial resistance - one of the top ten threats to humanity, according to WHO) and fire retardants (endocrine disruptors, carcinogenic). Also, they generally need regular application of weedkiller (neurological damage, carcinogenic) to maintain the pristine appearance, especially if you don't have a weed proof membrane installed, as simply pulling up weeds would wreck the artificial grass.

@WaltzingToWalsingham I've just looked up some articles and they were all about the rubber crumb, nothing about fire retardants (which are also found on sofas and pretty much every other furniture) or weed killer (which we don't use as we have a weed membrane and half of it was laid over concrete, no weeds)

Yes without a doubt.

I hate it. It's not just the time, effort and waste involved in ripping it up, the only people I know who've used it have put it in areas where grass won't grow (north facing, damp, too many tree roots), so there's no guarantee you'd be able to replace it with a proper lawn.
If I was looking to buy a house, I'd be willing to take on kitchen/bathroom replacement much more willingly than fake lawn replacement.

A house is a massive purchase with loads of factors, so whilst I am not keen on plastic grass, not in a million years would I base a property purchase decision on it!
Me neither. This thread is crazy.

I agree - I don't like the fake grass but in no way would I not buy a house on that thing only - it's just a thing one factors in - it would come way down below other things so all Building regs OK - electrics - plumbing OK etc .