anyone know anything about artificial lawns please ? I am seriously considering having one laid after the destruction caused by water and dogs this winter. Problem is the soil is clay and easily turns into a paddy field or bakes hard in the summer. It isn't entirely flat and we have leaves from the trees and moss if I don't work on the grass all year. I want to find a company that have experience of laying on clay and what drainage would be needed any thoughts?
Also how much cleaning would artificial need with two largish dogs on it. would I need to hose daily all through the year, does it smell , what happens to poos if they are a bit sloppy ?
thank you

Hi we had artificial grass laid after our turf turned into a mud bath, our carpet fitter did it,bought a good quality grass,he laid a proper base and we loved it best thing we did,looked lovely, very easy to remove doggie doo and hose if required,wish I'd've done it first before wasting money on turf, I have three active big dogs  if i can say pooh picking was a pleasure with the artificial grass it was ,oh and no muddy paws :)

thank you Julie collecting everyone's thoughts and so far haven't heard anything against it. No muddy paws is my current dream lol

We had a landscape gardener do it with some very authentic stuff...Lazylawn...LOVE IT!
Without it this winter, I fear I would have lost the will to live.

So what is the cost for the lawn and the labour to lay it ?

All this laying concrete, and probably also artificial lawns only means any water has less places to drain away from.  So I'm afraid I'd not do this.  Much as I truly appreciate the problem with MUD (Basset feet).   Thank goodness I didn't cut our lawn short at the back end of last year, or we'd have had a paddy field too.  

If the professionals appreciate the need for drainage, despite an artificial mat down out there, fine.   Otherwise I'm sorry, I'd not do this.   Gravel?   At least the water can soak through.

And as for loose stools and this - I'd imagine that could be difficult.  

no Idea yet ljs am only in the research stage . MamaBas environmentally you are right. However I now have for the first time, having not had to largish adult dogs playing on it in winter before, complete mud.
I love my garden although its not very big. We cant separate off for the dogs and humans not big enough and I have to find someway of dealing with this.
Gravel is a consideration but not sure how we deal with leaves and the like and its not exactly human friendly in the summer for sitting on etc
ps toolz I have lost the will to live !! am getting quotes from three including lazy lawn and the company that do crufts

Just dog area paved edges and pinned down all in £2400.
Medium sized lawn.

On the question about water draining away....it's better on the artificial, no compacted clay or bog-like problems.

Hi, we laid this several years ago -best thing we ever did. Its lovely for walking on in the summer & the garden is bright green all winter. Its so easy for picking up poop, just hose it if they are runny. I use YardFresh every few weeks in the summer just to get rid of the slight niff! I would recommend artificial grass to anyone who has dogs.

They take drainage into account when surveying your area to be done,actually took a fair time to do with the proper prep of laying base and everything,I did two areas side lawn and the rear in all cost me three grand which was good considering I bought a good product, didn't want it to look like artificial grass lol,didn't pool water, easy to clean and disenfect when required really excellent vfm,am planning on using it on our new house when I get round to the area I  want doing

What make did you use? Julie t

> And as for loose stools and this - I'd imagine that could be difficult.

not at all, I find the artificial grass very easy to clean, even loose poos tend to sit on top rather than go between the fronds so they can be picked up (or scraped up with a shovel) then a bowl of water thrown over the stain - job done :-)

For the OP I don't disinfect mine much at all through the winter but I do it every week in the summer or it does smell. I use mistral odourfresh, I've found it just as good as the more expensive options. If I run out of mistral I use cheap bleach, it hasn't discoloured the grass at all and even after about 6 years it still looks good as new.

I put mine down myself, well actually several friends did, it's really heavy to carry from the delivery lorry to where you want it. Mine covers an area that was mostly slabbed, but also a hard packed mud/clay area. I haven't had any drainage problems at all but then my garden has never had standing water.

Here's mine, it's from asgoodasgrass it's just in a small back garden, I'd love it in my huge front garden too - maybe one day :-)

I still think, convenience apart, covering a garden with artificial anything is a shame, most importantly environmentally, and for the dog..... what about the times your dogs need to be able to tug at grass?   It's not for me or mine.

Ok mamabas other suggestion please :)
the dogs cant exactly tug at grass when its all mud or gravel and they go out and about often enough for tugging chewing. I am looking at gravel too but  not dure how that would look and isn't exactly good for humans to sit and play on . I have gravel in one area that is for dogs to use  poos and wees. One is brilliantly trained one  dog however can be lazy and one just wont oblige where I want her to go. Its mostly them playing in the lawn particularly in the bad weather that ruins it
I would prefer to continue with the real thing however its only a small area with overhanging trees that cant be changed and with two big dogs tearing around at all times how do I prevent a quagmire that comes into the house, looks awful and gives the humans no use of the garden
artificial is looking to be the most practical and is no worse than gravel or paving from an environmental point.

thank you chamsung man coming on Tuesday and am getting two other quotes one from lazylawn

Ok mamabas other suggestion please :-)

I appreciate that with a small garden, such as we have now, doing this might be impossible, but when we had a 200 ft garden (after we came back to the UK from Canada and left our acreage) we fenced and gravelled off an area closer to the house and when the weather left the grassed area a mud patch, kept the hounds confined to the gravelled area.   It wasn't for long and as soon as it dried out a bit, we opened the gates to the bigger area.  This can be a huge problem, especially after a winter like we've had - and believe me, with just one Basset and his feet now (my Whippet isn't a problem) tracking the mud into the kitchen is a nightmare.   Thank goodnes we don't have the numbers we once had (in that respect).

Been trying tp work out home tp do that but as the grass is only 30x20 with floowet beds down each side a dog area at th back under confirs that doesnt work .no way to fence such a small area betwern humans and dogs unless it lpoks riduiclous. Have landscape gardening ftiend thinking about alternatives

We have decided that we we'll be getting rid of our lawn and replacing with artificial grass in the summer. fed up with mud, mess and ruined grass that looks appauling.
Have had several questions answered already by reading this thread.
To those who already have it....did any of you lay the lawn yourselves? My husband seems to think him and a mate will be able to do it themselves (which will help to cut costs) and looking online it doesn't look terribly difficult to do.

> I still think, convenience apart, covering a garden with artificial anything is a shame, most importantly environmentally, and for the dog..... what about the times your dogs need to be able to tug at grass? It's not for me or mine.

and yet you say you kept them confined to a gravel area when the weather was bad? It's much more pleasant than gravel for them to run, play and lie on :-)


and yet you say you kept them confined to a gravel area when the weather was bad? It's much more pleasant than gravel for them to run, play and lie on :-)

Each to their own I guess.   My main concern with all this concreting over, and covering with artificial whatever is what this does to drainage/the environment.  At last it drains through gravel and mine were quite happy being out in the gravel pen, for as long as this was needed - I'd put their beds out there, out there.   Another problem - heat.   Surely artificial grass gets hot?   Also with my breed, it's always better for them to be on gravel, for their feet.   But again, whatever works - just worried about the environment - it's only really muddy normally, for a short time after all.

My Min Pins hate to walk on gravel and will go to great lengths to avoid it. My collies are better but still want to be on the grass / mud to run around and play.
I have a huge garden and the parts that the dogs favour are muddy from October until the end of April on an average year. So probably muddy for longer than dry !! and since you don't concrete underneath the artificial grass I would imagine that the rain will drain away and it will have little detremantal effect on insect life

I hope the rain drains through otherwise there is little advantage I don't want to end up with stagnant pools of water sitting on plastic. The point of the exercise is that I love my garden and take great pride and enjoyment from making it look nice with three dogs it really has become impossible. yes it will soon by dry but then I will be looking at a dried muddy grass area ..Not pleasant t all. I guess if you either have a big garden or an not bothered as to how it looks it wouldn't matter.
I do however agree real grass is best and I do wondered if in time there will  be n environmental impact.
I may in the end just have to returf try and keep the dogs off for 3 weeks ( as advise ) and returf every few year  

My lawn is at the top end of my garden and is a mud bath in the winter - and this winter has been dreadful for mud. I do  have a paved and gravelled area nearest to the house that I have fenced off but my large dog just jumps the fence and goes up to the grass/mud patch anyway. I don't want a taller fence - the paved area has a picket type fence that is just over a metre high and anything taller would make the garden look silly and would prevent me from being able to see the top end of the garden at all.

The paved part is better than the gravel for the dogs - picking up on gravel isn't the easiest of things to do as I can't always see where they have been as it blends in. I also find the gravel discolours with all the standing water we have had this year - gets a horrible green tinge to it.

The only drawback I have found to artificial grass - we have one playing field covered in it at the school I work at - is I get static electric shocks from the grass as do a few other people but not everyone. I do seem to get them more than other people and not just from the artificial grass - car doors and the moving handrail on escalators zap me as well - just something else to consider :-)

> I hope the rain drains through otherwise there is little advantage

yes it does :) You can hose it down too, I've never seen any standing water on mine.

Was hoping to find Lazy Lawn mentioned just had some samples delivered, wanting some recommendation before we go ahead and ask for a quote.
Thanks Toolz

Over the years we've bought LOADS of things and add or remove things from our 'Best things we've ever bought' list.
Lazy Lawn is at the TOP of my husbands list..WAY on top. Pretty far up there on mine but just slightly below my blaster drier and my last car.....but a real good buy. :-) :-)

have just had a quote from lazy lawn and perfectly green. The main difference appears to be something  artificial lawn people disagree over should iit have sand on top of the grass or not. Perfectly green was about £500 cheaper products appear very similar. Lazy lawn use sand to help weigh down the turf and keep it up right. The other people say it isn't necessary. LL added money on for wooden edging around the flower beds and PG didn't
I am erring towards PG as I have been told that the sand can track off the lawn and into the house. also we are on a slight slope so I am concerned it will wash towards the bottom edge and hold urine smells. Something I had heard before but was told the same by PG , LL disagree.
I have the artificial lawn company coming in next week so that's my three.
Guarantees are similar on both PG will take two days to fit ll say they can do in one day. Personally I am not worried by timescale but don't want a quick job just so they can move on 

My Dad got some put in the house he rents out before getting it in our garden so that he could test it out. The stuff in the other house is the kind that needs sand brushing into it but it does get in other bits of the garden and I imagine would go in the dogs' coats. The lawn in our house (hi-tech turf) is the heavy-backed stuff that doesn't need sand in and it sits up just fine. I would make sure you don't get an anti-weed sheet under it as I think this holds the pee smell.

Thanks Josh :) can you get rid of the wee smell by hosing and disinfectant?

We had our rear garden done last summer. 

Four kids and bald grass / mud patches made the decision easy.   Best thing we have every done, the boys can now play football all day long!!    The chap that did ours told me the sand on top thing was now "old" artificial lawns and the new versions don't require it. 

I know we had a few tonne of hardcore, then a membrane, layer of sand and another membrane before the artificial lawn was laid to allow for good drainage and we have certainly had no puddles in all this rain.

I find that something like urine off is the best way to do it, or biological washing up liquid/powder.

Would anyone be willing to divulge how much they paid? I know garden sizes vary etc but I've not a clue how much it is going to cost and just wondered.

> I have been told that the sand can track off the lawn and into the house.

I went for stuff that didn't need infilling because I didn't want to swap mud bring dragged into the house for sand being dragged in :)

Hi
We have a relatively small, square lawn.  Purchase price for the grass was around £250 and we paid someone around £300 to prepare the ground and fit it.  This was around 5 years ago.

I think mine was about £16 a square metre, now it's £20 and we fitted it ourselves. Prices here.