Artificial grass today serves as a worthy decor for landscape design. With its help, they draw up areas near the house, spacious lawns, sports fields, sometimes separate small territories, combining with other garden decorations. A wide range of this type of coating provides ample opportunities for landscaping, but it is important to know how to choose the right material and how to care for it.

Advantages and disadvantages of artificial turf

Artificial turf coverings have been around for more than half a century. During this time, their characteristics have been significantly improved. A variety of types of synthetic grass have appeared and, accordingly, styling methods.

Did you know? The first artificial grass cover was installed in 1965 on the field of the American state of Texas.

• Artificial lawns have many advantages over natural ones, in particular, such as:
• presentable appearance. By purchasing artificial turf, you immediately know how beautiful the site designed by it will look. In the case of planting grass, the final result may not be so attractive, you will need re-sowing, correction, etc.
• simplicity and speed of design. You will not need to study the technology of growing natural grass, acquire the necessary soil, fertilizers and wait until the lawn grows;
• long service life. Having tinkered once with the correct installation, you can admire the coating for at least 5 years, and manufacturers of especially high-quality expensive coatings sometimes give them a guarantee of up to 15 years;
• saving on design and maintenance, since all work can be carried out independently, without the involvement of specialists;
• the opportunity to create a beautiful lawn in areas where the sun's rays practically do not fall;
• artificial turf does not get dirtytherefore it is possible to sit or lie on it without bedding;
• there is an opportunity to choose a creative option design, for example, a coating that imitates pink or red grass;
• artificial grass retains its decorative effect all year round, therefore, in winter your site will look luxurious;
• cover can be temporarily laid, for example, to decorate the garden after harvesting;
• artificial grass can floor on the outdoor terrace or balcony.

In general, the list of advantages of artificial turf looks pretty impressive. However, there are also disadvantages of the coating, and you definitely need to know about them in order to determine the feasibility of such an acquisition.

• By cons include:
• if you choose high-quality coating, its cost will be quite high;
• the artificial lawn is very hot in the sun. On hot days, the temperature near it rises significantly, which can cause discomfort;
• not all artificial lawns are recyclable, which undoubtedly negatively affects the ecology of the planet.

Characteristics of artificial grass for landscaping

The artificial turf is a pile with a pile of fiber imitating natural green grass. The villi can differ in shades, length and stiffness of the grass cover - it all depends on the material from which it is made.

The standard coating consists of three layers:

• lower - the substrate necessary for the integrity and strength of the coating, as well as ensuring the removal of water;
• middle - promotes depreciation and durability of the lawn. Depending on the type of coating, the layer may consist only of sand, a mixture of sand and rubber crumb, or not at all. The latter is used in landscape design much more often;
• upper - synthetic pile with high resistance to wear and the negative influence of natural factors. It can be made of polypropylene or polyethylene. Coatings in which villi are placed as single strands are most similar to natural ones. There is also cellular placement of the pile - such lawns glide much less.

Varieties

When choosing an artificial lawn, you need to understand exactly where and for what purpose it will be used. It depends on what kind should be considered when buying. Conventionally, coatings are classified into filling, non-filling and semi-filling.

Important! Moving on a loose artificial lawn will lead to its rapid damage.

Non-filling

A dry lawn is recommended to be used solely for the purpose of decorating a landscape plot. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the pile in the most plausible way imitates natural grass, but at the same time is highly susceptible to mechanical stress. It is called non-filling because the space between the villi, as a rule, is not filled with anything. In rare cases, a small amount of silica sand may be present here.

Semi-filled

The semi-filled coating has a full filling with one component - quartz sand. Such a surface has more practical properties, including high strength. The coating has a wide range of applications, it is often used to design sports or children's playgrounds, as it can mitigate falls.

Backfill

The backfill lawn is extremely suitable for sites with a heavy load. The inter-pile layer of it consists of quartz sand and crumb rubber, which provides good resistance to mechanical stress and minimizes slipping. These are the lawns that cover football fields.

How to choose the right

To choose the right type of lawn coating, you need to carefully familiarize yourself with the characteristics, decide which color is more suitable for the site. You can purchase coverage in stores, online stores or directly from the manufacturer. Of course, it is best if you can, as they say, “live” to get acquainted with the material, try it by touch. Good coverage will be expensive, but it will also last a long time. Pay attention to products of recognized manufacturers.

Did you know? In 2012, a special artificial lawn grass was created for agility competitions. — a sport involving obstacle races involving dogs and their owners.

You should also pay attention to such points:

• longer service life has a matte pile;
• in landscape design, a coating that is similar in color to natural grass looks harmoniously. By the way, the shade also indicates the high quality of the product;
• the villi should be soft, but at the same time have a certain elasticity, providing resistance to mechanical stress;
• choose a coating where the largest number of beams falls on 1 m² - such a lawn will help to hide problem areas of the landscape;
• the pile length must be in accordance with the operating conditions. If you intend to place rolled grass in a non-passage place, you can choose a material with a long pile.

For example, you can give preference to artificial grass produced by CCGrass or Avalon. They have been on the market for a long time and managed to gain a good world reputation.

Artificial grass laying technology

Laying artificial turf is not as difficult as companies that provide installation services like to say. Although, if you decide to do this for the first time, you need to know several important technological nuances that will help to carry out styling efficiently and for many years.

Foundation preparation

It all starts with the preparation of the site: it needs to be cleaned of all biological debris, including weeds, and then remove the topsoil. The site is leveled, but at the same time it is desirable to create a small slope that will not allow stagnation of water. Using any tamping mechanism (log, roller), you need to seal the area as much as possible.

Excessive moisture

DEven if you managed to make a site with a slight slope, take care of laying a drainage pillow, which will also serve to remove excess moisture. Most often, the material is small gravel, which is laid in two layers.

After laying it, the site is abundantly watered with water and left for some time. This is necessary in order to determine the places where the stones sag, and to correct them. Also, it will not hurt to make small grooves around the perimeter of the site to remove moisture.

Substrate

After the drainage layer, a substrate should be formed on which the lawn will already be laid. It can be issued in various ways. Most often in landscape design, gravel of different fractions is used as a material. First, a layer of even coarse gravel is laid, then a layer of medium gravel and already on top fine fractions.

If it is assumed that the site with the lawn will experience mechanical stress, you can make a more reliable substrate. In this case, reinforced concrete is laid on the drainage, on top of it is geosynthetic material, and then sand. The final touch in preparing the substrate is the geofilm litter, which is overlapped (10–15 cm) and secured with anchors.

Laying artificial grass

The easiest way to create an artificial lawn in the area of ​​the correct shape (rectangular, square). If the site has more complex contours, you need to cut out the necessary size and shape pieces in advance. It is advisable to lay them on the site and leave for some time to align. At the same time, you can make sure that all the fragments are prepared correctly and fit tightly to each other.

Important! Powder lawn sand and crumb rubber should be carried out only in dry weather.

When the artificial surface is leveled, you can begin to fix it. The best way is to lay on the adhesive mixture. As such, you can use, for example, the composition of "Enetak" or "Adesiver Green Turf". Each piece of lawn must be removed, grease the surface of the substrate with glue and put back, tightly pressing. At the end of the work, you can additionally fasten the joints with brackets.

If you used a semi-filled lawn, you should apply quartz sand and carefully distribute it evenly with a rake. The filling lawn, in addition to sand, is covered with a layer of rubber (rubber) granulate on top. It must be distributed on the surface and slightly hammered deeper between the blades of grass.

Artificial Lawn Care

Artificial grass requires care. Of course, it is much simpler than caring for the natural - it does not need to be cut, watered, etc., but some rules must be observed, namely:

• periodically remove fallen leaves with a rake;
• wash the coating every two weeks to eliminate deep contamination;
• if the lawn is backfilled or half-filled, it is necessary to replenish the backfill 1-2 times a year;
• during severe frosts, it is not recommended to clear the snow from the lawn, as this can lead to damage to the coating. Snow cover is removed only when positive temperature is restored.

Artificial grass in landscaping will be a great alternative to natural. It does not require compliance with many care measures, can decorate both sunny and shady areas, significantly revitalize the territory in the autumn-winter period. The main thing is not to skimp and acquire high-quality material, which will please with its decorativeness and durability.