Is artificial grass the right decision for you?
Artificial grass is great, that’s why we run a business based on it. However, we don't know it's not right for everyone, and that could be you. Obviously we want to sell as much artificial grass as we can, but we also care about our customers. We don't want you to waste money and get artificial turf, if it isn't right for your needs. Otherwise, you'll end up ripping it up have wasted hundreds if not thousands of pounds.
That’s why we are creating this post, to help you decide whether artificial grass is the right thing for you. In this post we will look at the pros and cons of artificial grass, along with reasons you either should or shouldn’t invest in it.
The good, and bad of artificial grass
We never want to sell something you don’t need, so make sure you are asking all the right questions before you make the investment into artificial grass for your garden.
Benefits of artificial grass
Low maintenance (commercial area/ landlords)
If you are a landlord or have some spaces in a commercial place such as an outdoor area at an office building. Getting artificial grass installed is a great way to create a nice useable space for your tenants or staff to enjoy year round. Additionally to that, artificial grass requires little maintenance making it perfect for areas like these.
Year round use
If you love to spend time outside, but in the winter with the mud and rain, it's impossible. However, by installing artificial grass, you will be able to spend time in your garden all year round without worrying about the mud and rain.
Year round beauty
With fake grass being well, fake. It means that it looks beautiful and green all the time. You don’t need to worry about the cold and wet weather that we get in the UK. With an artificial garden, you can say goodbye to a messy garden in the winter. Your lawn will always be beautiful when you invest into artificial turf.
Good for kids and pets
Children love to spend time playing in the garden, and pets need to use the garden. However, In the wet months (or just all year in the UK), this proves to be a challenge. Every time your pet or kids go outside, they will come in looking a state and trailing mud all around your beautiful home. With an investment into artificial grass, this issue will be no more.
Your pets and children will be able to use and play in the garden all year round, and you don't need to worry about mess and mud.
Great for the elderly
As we start to get older, things like mowing and caring for your lawn can prove to be a bigger challenge that most people would imagine. You just aren't up to it anymore, and need someone to help. Alternatively, you could create a stunning area that requires little maintenance. This would save you a lot of energy while trying to mow yourself, it'll also save hours of your life too.
Good for sports
Are your kids mad about football (or any sports for that matter)? Well, creating an artificial grass area for them to train on could be your best investment yet. Not only will they be able to practice 12 months out of 12, they won't be making a mess of either your lawn or house.
If you want to go all out, you can even buy white lines as well, and create a full pitch in your back garden. I can say with confidence your kid will be one of a kind in his school if he something like this in the back garden. Everyone will want to come over and play (which is up to you whether this is good or bad hosting lots of children).
Negatives of artificial grass
Expensive
There is no hiding, that the biggest downside of getting artificial grass is the cost. Even if you do install it yourself, it's not a cheap job. The average cost of an artificial grass installation is £2000-£4000, that’s a lot of money for some plastic grass. However installing it yourself will be significantly less. The main downside of this is you have to install it yourself and put in the graft. It's not a quick or easy feat to install.
Not ideal for tree heavy areas
If your garden is overlooked by a lot of trees, this could prove to be a big issue. Tress drop a lot of debris; seeds, leaves, twigs. With all this landing on your artificial grass, weeds, moss and algae. These are all things that you don't want landing and therefore growing on your artificial grass. This is because, if you don’t constantly clean the grass, the weeds or moss etc, can embed deep into the pile making it impossible to remove and will have to be replaced.
Steep slopes
Slopes are fine for fake grass. However, if it’s a very steep slope you grass may end up with ridges and ripples in it.
Moles and pests need to be removed
This one doesn't need too much explaining. However, if you have an issue with moles or other similar pests, you will need to sort this out before you think about artificial grass. The moles or other animals will completely ruin your new lawn by digging their way through it completely tearing it up. If this happens, there's no maintenance that will fix it, you will simply have to replace the grass and redo the base works.
A lot of money and time will end up being spent if you don’t sort out the issue before you install the grass.
If you’re a fan of fire
Are you a bit of a pyro, love a fire pit in the garden or a BBQ in summer. That’s great, we love them too. However, if you don’t have (or put in) a patio area for your fire, I hate to say this, but you will no longer be able to have them if your whole garden becomes artificial. This doesn’t need much explaining, but plastic and fire does not match up too well.
If you love your lawn
Do you love lawn care and working to have the perfect lawn and enjoy spending time making it perfect and have specific patterns? If so the getting synthetic grass is definitely not the one for you. Grated, you will have a perfect and lush lawn all year round, but that’s it. You won't be able to work on your grass anymore. Obviously, you can install plating beds and still do gardening.
Is it for you
Well, now it's time to decide. Now that you have gone through all of the above, what do you think, is artificial for you? This is easy to find out, if none of the negatives apply to you, and some of the positives do, well… I think you know what's next.
However, if for you all the negatives seem to be prominent in your mind, maybe artificial grass isn't right for you and the (less cool) natural counterpart is what you should look at. At the end of the day, you want something this is right for you, and within this post, we hope to have helped you with your decision process.