What is Artificial Grass: Everything You Need to Know

Whether you’re looking for artificial grass for residential homes, private housing, rental properties, schools, community facilities, public spaces or, in fact, anywhere else at all, here at Artificial Grass we have a dedicated team of experts who can help.

You can call us to find out more, or you can read this edition of our blog, and then get in touch. There may be things you would like to know before you invest and, here, we’ll do our best to address some of these more common queries and tell you everything you need to know about artificial grass!

What is artificial grass?

It’s a form of synthetic grass which can be used to replace actual natural turf, or can be positioned in areas where natural turf may not have a chance of growing. You may find that it is sometimes referred to by several other names: Fake grass, faux grass, plastic grass, synthetic grass, artificial lawn, astroturf and so on.

When, who, why?

The first artificial grass was marketed in the 1960s by The Chemstrand Company, a subsidiary of Monsanto. It is likely that it gained the attractive name ‘astroturf’ due to the all-the-rage efforts of NASA during the high-profile space age. It was a futuristic product, offering a fresh angle on the idea of grass. It was originally developed in the very early 1960s by a team of researchers who were looking for a way to carpet sports fields to reduce wear-and-tear and achieve consistent playability, though it then became a commercial product after it was patented by Chemstrand in 1965.

Are astroturf and artificial grass the same thing?

Interestingly, the answer is no. Not quite. Astroturf is a very common term used to describe artificial grass, but it is not the same thing. It is much shorter and manufactured from different materials. You can think of it in much the same way that ‘hoover’ has become a common term used to describe all vacuum cleaners, even though it is actually a single brand. The term ‘artificial grass’, though, is a bit of a catch-all and can be used to describe every kind of fake grass.

How long does artificial grass last?

Depending on the quality of the type of artificial grass you install, and how much use it gets as well as what that use is, and how well you look after it, artificial grass should last for a minimum of a decade. If the area you install the artificial grass has absolutely minimal use and therefore doesn’t suffer from wear-and-tear, you could expect it to last for 20 years.

Why is artificial grass better than real grass?

For all sorts of reasons, it can be preferable to have artificial grass installed at your property. For a start the maintenance aspect is so much less time consuming – and therefore this means you cut down on manpower, too. You won’t need a gardener, or to expend much of your own energy ‘doing the lawn’. Artificial grass needs a basic brush or session with your leaf blower and it will look great – neat, tidy and clean. It’s also UV stabilised so it won’t dry out during the summer and it’ll always look fresh and crisp. Real grass is prone to ‘failure’ in certain weather conditions – but you would never have this worry with artificial grass. It will look as good in the height of summer as it does in the depths of winter, and at all points between on the calendar. Installing artificial grass is a really smart move if you want to i) have a great looking lawn all year round, and ii) not have to make too much effort to keep it that way!

What to look for when you decide to buy artificial grass

We have seven different types of grass available and each of them comes with a 10-year guarantee. Our ranges include Prestige and Supreme, which are both high pile length grasses ideal for the kids to play on, and offering a comfortable feeling underfoot. Shorter pile lengths are better suited for small gardens, as they offer a low maintenance surface that can be quickly and easily cleaned with water (so it’s easy to deal with pet issues, and the sort of spillages you’d get from al fresco dining and family BBQs. We also offer Life Style colour grasses, which are vivid and bright and great to create a vibrant outdoor area.

When you are wondering what type of artificial grass you should opt for and are thinking “Who are the best artificial grass suppliers near me?” then the first thing you should look for is our phone number or email address. Speak to us and we can ‘fix you up’ with absolutely the right grass for you – and we can also install it!