My bother's house has some. My brother hates mowing. He bought the house with it already installed...

Negatives - it actually gets very hot in the summer heat. It absorbs heat, then radiates heat. Not as bad as a concrete slab would if it was baking in the sun though....

I would try and keep it to the shadier areas. Otherwise, it looks OK, except in summer when everything starts to brown off, and your lawn is still glowing bright green like lovely fresh Spring growth!

It would be pretty easy to set-up your borders, kill off existing grass, and lay down sand to get the base (use a straight edge, or shorter length with several passes if you are doing undulations....). I think the real trick would be the joins. It comes on rolls, and you will have a certain amount of waste, say 10%+ (meaning you need to buy 10% more than you need, then throw it into the bin!).

If you're a busy man with some money, pay the pros!

have you thought about growing a more resilient species of lawn? there are plenty of tough grass strains out there. it'd be a shame for your dog to have to hang out on plastic all day...

Pugwash said...

Artificial lawn

I'd rather try kite boarding

Me too, hopefully less mowing, fertilising, edging, weeding and watering of over 200sqm of lawn will free me up a bit so I can get out more often!

There is nearly another 100 sqm of council verge out the front!

I've got "Couch Plateau" google it, it is the shiz.
It's been in since April 2010 and it's been mown once, fed some dynamic lifter a couple of times and granulated lawn food once. Water it 3 times a week for 10mins.
We don't have dogs but we do have three boys.
It's only a buck or so more a square than standard couch.

Go and plant a big f'ckn rubber tree in the middle of your fake lawn. You will be the envy of every wog in the neighborhood.

Liquid limestone

GypsyDrifter said...

BarryDawson said...

smicko said...

I've got "Couch Plateau" google it, it is the shiz.
It's been in since April 2010 and it's been mown once, fed some dynamic lifter a couple of times and granulated lawn food once. Water it 3 times a week for 10mins.
We don't have dogs but we do have three boys.
It's only a buck or so more a square than standard couch.

This sounded great so gave it a google, the only thing it wont tolerate is the dog urine.

Yer but you don't intend the dog to pee and poo on the synthetic stuff do you?

Well that is what I was hoping to find out here... Does anyone with a pet have artificial lawn?

I thought it would smell after a while and be difficult to keep disease free, not to mention hard to keep physically clean. Of course the salesman say everything is fine, but of course they will say that at $100.00 sqm!

The current problem I have is that the lawn is now dead in large patches and also now full of weeds due to it dying, then the weeds getting a hold before the lawn grows back.

I would happily replant lawn if I wasn't going to waste my time by having it die again on me in the near future. Lawn has a huge advantage in relation to initial cost to install but, if it's not going to last I need to find another solution.

With a big dog it will get very smelly after a while!
You have 2 choices mow or vacuum and brush!!! I know what I would rather do!
have you thought about Italian lawn? (green concrete)

oh FFS, you can't artificially turf 100m2, that is criminal.....

Smaller shady areas I can understand but come-on, the environmental benefit of 100m2 of grass V plastic is huge.

Read this thread and give the guy FuMan Chu a call. He'll sort you out. If done properly you can have a fantastic lawn and a big dog, especially if you have $10k to burn....

forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=21938&sid=027bfb0e774536383f63e1a01235d390

Great advice for anyone with a lawn by the way.