# Artificial or Real Landscaping



## zola (Feb 18, 2015)

My Aunt has asked me to renovate her front lawn. She's from California and there's been a drought. I was thinking of using artificial turf for the renovation but am still on the fence. Found this useful article 
Turf Wars: Real or Artificial? about the benefits of artificial landscaping but still am unsure. Please let me know what you think.


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## bud16415 (Feb 18, 2015)

Member Chris did one last year and a search will bring up his thread. One thing they don&#8217;t tell you is how hot it gets in the sun.


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## oldognewtrick (Feb 18, 2015)

One of our admins replaced his grass with artificial, maybe Chris would share his experience with it.


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## Chris (Feb 19, 2015)

OK, I fought for years having a real lawn, I love a real lawn but with the cost of water in CA, dogs that pee kills the lawn and the extreme summer heat I had to replace the lawn a few times plus seed, fertilizer and constantly be maintaining it. If I skipped a week it would takes months to get it back to normal. I figured it cost me about 500 bucks to replace each time and then about a hundred bucks a month in the summer to keep it alive with water and others. Then I had to mow it and edge and all that goodness.

I pulled it out along with the sprinkler system and put down recycled road base from the local concrete company. Then I put down some fake turf, I went with closer to the higher end stuff. I goes in pretty easy, about the same as laying carpet in a room only heavier. It has been in about a year now and it still looks as good as day one. The yard is beautiful at all times with no maintenance. I am extremely happy with it for that.

The absolutely only downfalls are that it gets hot. I believe I checked it on about a 100 degree day and the concrete was about 130 degrees and the grass was about 170. Too hot to step on. Now I tested it a bunch and it only gets this hot at noontime when the sun is directly above it and it is already a 100 degree day. After complaining about it to myself I found out it is really only too hot to touch when it is too hot to go outside. I used the media that they give you for filler and cushion but after I put it down and found out if you use straight sand for filler it keeps the heat down quite a bit.

Over all I am glad I put it in. My daughter loves it and there is no dirt to make mud or to clean up.


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## SamTheMan (Nov 2, 2015)

Chris said:


> OK, I fought for years having a real lawn, I love a real lawn but with the cost of water in CA, dogs that pee kills the lawn and the extreme summer heat I had to replace the lawn a few times plus seed, fertilizer and constantly be maintaining it. If I skipped a week it would takes months to get it back to normal. I figured it cost me about 500 bucks to replace each time and then about a hundred bucks a month in the summer to keep it alive with water and others. Then I had to mow it and edge and all that goodness.
> 
> I pulled it out along with the sprinkler system and put down recycled road base from the local concrete company. Then I put down some fake turf, I went with closer to the higher end stuff. I goes in pretty easy, about the same as laying carpet in a room only heavier. It has been in about a year now and it still looks as good as day one. The yard is beautiful at all times with no maintenance. I am extremely happy with it for that.
> 
> ...




This all sounds very appealing. What process did you go through to install the turf? I found this article and they state that if installed improperly, you can expect drainage issues, wrinkling among other anomalies. 

You said it is the same as laying carpet but did you take any extra precautions during installation?


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## Chris (Nov 2, 2015)

I pulled out 4" of dirt from where I was going to put in the grass. I did install drainage, my area was 15 x 32 and I installed two 4" floor drains and sloped the new road base to the drains as you would with concrete or any other surface. I compacted my road base with a vibe plate in two lifts. Once I had a good flat hard surface I rolled out the grass. I used the 8" long stakes (looked like nails) every couple feet to hold the turf down to the base. Then after it was installed I spread the media on top of the new grass (Mixture of sand and rubber pieces) This helps hold it down and give it some bounce with the rubber. If I were to do it again I would only use the sand as the black rubber only helps it heat up.

There was no glue used except if you have seams and then it is similar to liquid nails. I believe the article you linked is for if it is installed over concrete. Mine has been down a couple years now and loks like it did the day I installed it. My floor drains are under the grass so you can not see them and it drains perfectly. The grass I used has a 1/4" hole every 8" or so for drainage.

If you do a good prep job the grass installation will be a cake walk. That part took three of us a couple hours after a few days of prep work. You don't have to do the base but it helps for a couple things, one is no weeds grown through anywhere and in the rains it stays hard. I had a buddy that instead of pulling out dirt and putting in base he just bought a few bags of portland cement and spread it and worked it into his dirt a little then smoothed it and sprinkled it for a few days and it hardened up good and he has little problem with weeds. My old neighbor just threw his grass on top of his dirt yard with no stakes or anything and it also does not look bad at all. The stuff is very forgiving and is so thick it can hide imperfections well.


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## Chris (Nov 2, 2015)

Here is a link to the thread I did while doing my install.

http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=17927


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## havasu (Nov 2, 2015)

But he forgot to tell you that during the summer, it will burn you and your pet's feet if you dare stand on the plastic grass.


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## Chris (Nov 2, 2015)

It's in my link.


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## SamTheMan (Nov 2, 2015)

Appreciate the input. I probably will be using stakes unlike your neighbor and sand (thanks for the tip). Going to do a little more research and hopefully get this thing done before winter hits. Be prepared to hear from me if it does not go well. haha


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## Chris (Nov 2, 2015)

Let me know if you have any questions. I am an Engineering contractor by trade and deal with earthwork on a daily basis. I am happy to share my knowledge, at least the little bit I have.


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## kmueller (Nov 18, 2015)

In most cases, I would definitely say go with natural, but in the case of California + droughts, I have to go with Chris on this one. The cost of upkeep and the issues with high temperatures and little rain make it not worth it to go with the real stuff.


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## Chris (Nov 24, 2015)

This coming weekend I will be installing fake lawn at my cousins home in both the front and back yard. I'll take pictures.


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## havasu (Nov 24, 2015)

Do you have to mow it with a fake lawn mower?


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## Chris (Nov 24, 2015)

Yes with a cup holder for my beer.


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## slownsteady (Dec 1, 2015)

fake beer, no doubt.


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## nealtw (Dec 1, 2015)

lawn party


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