Hi,
Does anyone on here have any experience of artificial lawn,I am seriously thinking of putting it down in my garden I have 5 toy breed dogs.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks

I have artificial lawn in my garden(it came out of the main ring at Crufts) and its honestly fantastic stuff,I don't know how I managed without it,it means my dogs can always have access to the garden in all weathers and cuts down loads on cleaning(house and dogs).Its been down for about 5 years now and still looks like new.I say go for it-you won't regret it.

Thanks helenmd do you have the type that you have to sweep sand into when you lay it and was it easy to lay?

helen I would love to not have to cut the grass.  how does it cope with poo?

I also love your reference to getting the grass from Crufts - is that the doggy equivalent of the turf from wembley? lol

> I also love your reference to getting the grass from Crufts - is that the doggy equivalent of the turf from wembley?

:)  Oh yes - I'm going to go and stand in Helen's garden!!  I can hear the commentary now.  Ooh look!  There is my imaginary cup, thank you, thank you, thank you...

We did the garden at our last house with this and it was fantastic.  Looked great all the time, poo washes off, no cutting required, doesn't fade or wear, even came with 10 year guarentee and was a big plus when we came to sell the house.  Laying was relatively easy, took me and my partner 2 days to do fairly large garden.  Need to batten round the edge, lay hardcore and compact before laying lawn, we didn't have sand infill but I believe this type is even more hardwearing.  The only downside is that it's very expensive.  There's loads of Companies on the net who will send out free samples - you wouldn't believe how many different types are available!!!

>> :-)  Oh yes - I'm going to go and stand in Helen's garden!!  I can hear the commentary now.  Ooh look!  There is my imaginary cup, thank you, thank you, thank you...

Lol!
I had professionals in to lay my lawn(the whole garden needed to be levelled) so I couldn't say how easy it is.The stuff I have doesn't need sand brushed into it,its too short for that.It just needed to be laid on a base of sand with a membrane just underneath the turf.As for picking up poo,as long as said poos are nice and firm it doesn't leave a mark.The only thing I would say is that in hot dry weather it can smell a bit but I just spray an odour kill solution on(I use Simple Solution)once a week or so.
Some of the grasses look amazingly realistic but I went for the Crufts stuff-partly because it was on special offer-but also because I do agility and its the best surface for that.
Mine came from http://www.artificiallawn.co.uk

My dog minder! has her whole back garden astro turfed, the kids have a summer house and a large trampoline but the garden is astroturf so she can hose it off with a disenfectant and the dogs seem to love it. It always looks and smells clean and they swear by it.

I had a posh lawn that is now a bit holey and it does not look half as good as her's and mine is costing a fortune for the gardener to keep filling in holes and feeding and cutting the grass.

going to be checking this out for sure i was planing to get my garden done come september as my once Luscious lawn that we planted from scratch in BD times is now full of bald patches , holes and well honestly its looking really shabby, we did re-seed all the bald bits begining of the year it came up lovley then i started letting the dogs play out their and its now worse than it was before we done it ,

my neighbours just had a man in whos done her garden very nice all paving slabs tho, and he came and had a look at ours and is going to draw up some plans and give us a quote with a view to start work in september when kids are back at school,

think i may go for this lawn was going to pave the garden as you just cant keep the real grass nice not with my lot but this fake lawn may be the answer to my prayers :-)

Just looked at the website. Can anyone tell me which 'carpet' you went for?
The verdant green ones look a bit lurid and some need sand and some not. Can you remember which colour and thickness you have?
Dont suppose you know which one the Crufts one was?

Cheers

Just wanted to agree with other posters.  I had mine done a year ago. It is super, wish I had had it done years ago. We had lots of samples from different companies.  It is quite expensive, but worth every penny. We laid it ourselves as the the cost for the companies to lay it was over the top. Good luck (2 days hard graft, but worth it)

Thanks everyone for your replys its bin a great help now we just have to decide which type to go for.

I suspect this is a daft question but has anyone bought or sold a house with artificial grass laid?  What is the protocol; do you remove it and take it with you or sell in-situ?

Also are there rules regarding council properties - I was thinking about getting my MIL some for her 'warden' bungalow as the pigeons make such a mess of her patch.

Thanks

tigger2 also has an artificial lawn that she is very pleased with.

Toolz,the grass I have was called Premier-I think its the one now called Premier Curl.Some of the cheaper ones are rather lurid aren't they-mine is a very natural colour.I think I probably would have gone for one of the very realistic longer two-toned grasses if it hadn't been for the fact I do agility,that was the one I was advised to go for.
Dogs a babe,I would like to take the lawn with me if I move but again I'm not sure if thats acceptable.Its also very heavy so a couple of strong men would be needed!

lots of great feedback about the lawns.  The bane of my life is cutting the grass and picking poo up from the longer grass so it would be a miracle.

Do you find that bees are attracted to it or do they stay away from it?  also if you had a dog that had a notion to dig would it damage it irreversably?

Cheekychow,I don't think bees are attracted to it,I've never even seen one in my garden.As for the digging,its so tough and hardwearing I'd be very suprised if could be damaged by a dog.

Thanks for that helenmd. :-)

i've some .. its brilliant.  no brown stains lol. easy to keep clean.

that's great Helenmd, now I just need to source some cash and be able to justify spending it on fake grass lol.  bees might be attracted if I spray it with bubblegum odorkill lol

I would like to take the lawn with me if I move but again I'm not sure if thats acceptable

As long as you have it written in to your contract when you sell you can take what you like with you when you move - plants, garden ornaments etc can all be taken as long as the new buyer is aware you are taking them.

I have it layed out on my condo balcony. I really do love it. It brightens up the place and gives me and the dogs a "real" garden that we don't have to leash up and dress for. It's great to sunbathe in the privacy of my own home :p My favorite part about it is that it can be disinfected and doesn't get you all dirty like real grass dogs. I'll definetly be putting in the yard once I get a house. The up-front cost of it may be expensive, but the amount that you save on water and upkeep practicaly pays for itself.

I've had my fake grass down for 2 years now and I love it. The garden is so clean even in the middle of winter, the dogs love to play on it, poos (even soft ones) just sit on top of the grass and are easily picked up, pee soaks through as does rain and disinfectant and the grass feels good to walk on. I got mine from asgoodasgrass. The only problem I've had with mine, and you can see it on that video, is that I put mine down over slabs and didn't glue it enough. It lifted at one side last winter and has wrinkled, I need to stretch it out and glue it down again.

Tigger2,
have just watched your vid to check out the grass, then had to watch it again and again, you're puppy is gorgeous.

Barbara
x

Just sat her with a soppy grin on my face watching your lovely dogs playing!!! Beautiful!

Oh thank you both, I'm quite embarrassed now, it was to demonstrate the grass honestly, and the crease where it lifted up :-)

I'd love a fake lawn but my only worry is that my two would try to eat it, they just love to chew.  Has anyone had this problem?