5 Things You Should Know About Artificial Grass Before You Have It Installed
So, you have a lawn and you want it to look beautiful but you do not have the time or money to maintain a natural lawn. Whether your lawn is big or small, there’s no denying that it takes quite a lot of effort to maintain a natural grass lawn.
If you’ve done your research, then you know that one of the alternatives is to install artificial grass instead. If you are determined to go that route, here are five things that you should know before you buy artificial grass.
- You need to make sure to remove any trace of the old grass first
Before anything else, you need to make sure that the area where you will put the artificial grass is clean and no longer has the old sod on it. You can’t just trim the grass as it will just be a waste of time. You will have to remove not just the grass but even the roots so that they will not grow back.
2. You will still have to excavate too after you’ve made sure that there are traces of the old grass left behind on the area, it is still not advisable to just put the artificial grass right away. Experts say that you will still need to dig deeper until you find flat, packed earth. Most professionals would say you need to excavate at least five inches.
3. Proper drainage is essential – one of the things that you need to make sure you have before installing artificial grass is proper drainage. You cannot just put the grass on the bare ground. The proper drainage is necessary so that in the event that there is rain or flood, the water will not get stuck in the artificial grass but go down naturally to the earth. If there are no proper pipe drains, you might be facing bacteria issues in the future. Some would arrange the area by placing a framework around the area by using thin planks of treated wood. Then the area will be filled with aggregate before you can roll out the artificial grass.
4. A turf that has ultraviolet coating is better – one of the great benefits of artificial grass is that it does not dry up and look brown and drab depending on the season. That does not happen to artificial grass, but it may look faded and withered when it is exposed to the sun all the time. In order to keep the vibrant color for a long time, you may opt to buy a turf that has an ultraviolet protective coating.
5. Artificial grass is not completely maintenance-free – you need to know that just because it does not need to be watered and mowed, artificial grass will need to be left alone. There will be times when you still need to take it to make it free from debris.
It may seem like a lot of work at the beginning, so you can opt to have artificial grass installers do the work for you first and then you can just maintain your beautiful lawn.