[quote=no_such_reality]You get very little water savings from artificial turf, you use almost as much cleaning and cooling it.
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uh… would really really really really have to disagree with this.
The $100 per month difference between my neighbor with traditional lawn and myself with the artificial turf is not “very little water savings.” And I have a pool and he doesn’t.
The $100 per month saving from the gardener is also not very little either.
4 years since install, we are already $1600 on the upside from the initial investment. The turf still looks like it was laid down just yesterday. We do have to deal with weeds on the border of the turf and the concrete on an occasional basis. Plus raking 4-5 times a year. So it isn’t truly maintenance free.
As for pets, we got the pet resistant turf, but we actually have a wood chipped area set aside for the dogs as the main area for their business. You are right, if the turf is the primary area for potty time, rinsing afterward can get really old quickly. But from past experience, spots of yellow all around the lawn from dog urine made for more difficult lawn care did it not?
Appearance wise, I do agree there are a lot of turfs out there that look really fake. But that’s likely because the owners went with the cheapest option. Since we were hoping for 10+ years out of the turf, we did go for the grade just below the top of the line. We also made sure to have the turf bordered with flower and shrubs to cut down on the artificial feel. Most visitors have no idea we have artificial turf until I point it out to them.
I’ve seen the really badly flattened artificial turf around La Jolla and SeaWorld, therefore we also made sure to avoid placing the turf on heavy traffic area.
yes during the summer the turf does get hot, but concrete level hot? I would disagree. Our habit is shoes off indoors and shoes/flip-flops on outdoors, so walking or playing on the turf with flip-flops on is not a big sacrifice for us.
I figure for $2400 of after-tax saving per year, I can live with having to wear flip-flops when walking on my turf.
