The Benefits Of Artificial Grass

Artificial grass, known by its more common name as Astroturf, is an increasingly popular choice of surface for many homes, schools, sport centers, and businesses. It's taken a while for Astroturf to transcend its reputation as a badly colored, coarse, and kitschy replacement for natural grass, but the product has improved significantly over the years. Astroturf isn't going to be replacing everyone's lawns in the near future, nor should it, but it does have many practical applications.

When natural grass simply becomes too expensive in terms of money or time, it might be wise to consider a synthetic substitute. Astroturf is especially viable if the area is subject to heavy use and maintaining a consistent surface with a natural lawn has become difficult. If that's the case, consider how artificial turf might improve the area in question.

Synthetic turf removes the normal upkeep requirements of a natural turf surface, including mowing, reseeding, spraying pesticide and herbicides, etc. Over time, products and services needed to maintain normal turf can become quite expensive, especially taking into consideration the machines and fuel necessary for large areas of grass.

Despite the initial feelings of athletes and their fans that Astroturf was an unacceptable replacement for natural grass, synthetic turf has become used most frequently in athletic centers where growing natural grass is unfeasible. This stigma arose from very early Astroturf, which was coarse, abrasive, and much harder than a natural surface. The athletes and others felt that such artificial surfaces made them more prone to injury, considering the amount of contact that they have with the ground.

However, newer artificial turf doesn't have these problems. In fact, many brands of artificial grass are specifically designed to work for sport, and especially designed to minimize skin abrasion from sliding during normal athletic activities. These systems are usually called 'filled' turf, which means that sand or some other soft material is installed in the fibers to provide a less harsh impact.

There are a number of popular applications for both home and business use. These smaller scale implementations of Astroturf include achieving an ideal, always well-maintained looking garden area, putting greens, play areas for children, and kenneling areas for dogs or other animals. The possibilities are really only limited by imagination.

Newer artificial turf is both permeable and weed-proof, giving the best of both worlds for non-natural product. In terms of pet care, the artificial grass can be cleaned like normal grass, but then rinsed off for easy cleaning. The water will just flow through the surface and into the ground. The Astroturf is installed over several layers of protective material, however, so you shouldn't find weeds growing up through the top.

There are a variety of colors and lengths to take into consideration for a purchase of artificial grass. None will look as real as natural grass, but the synthetic substitutes still look presentable, and with the amount of choices it's almost inexcusable if someone can't find a color they're fond of. Despite it's durability, however, Astroturf won't last forever. Find a dealer and a brand that will give a solid warrantee to maximize the product's lifetime.