We have a 2 year old Bullmastiff who has all but destroyed our lawn. OH suggested artificial grass. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? I'm not mad keen myself, but the thought of no more mud getting dragged through the house is quite appealing. My only concern is, would it be robust enough for a big dog that loves his nutty half in the garden and also likes to dig holes?
We have a small area of it for just the reasons you’ve mentioned and it’s proved to be excellent. But we also have a larger area of proper grass.
The firm who installed it put something down, granules or something, under the ‘turf’ to stop any smells from dog wee. Our dog likes lying on it and wriggles on his back in ecstasy as it’s quite soft but rarely wees on it, and has never pooped on it.
Our dog only digs holes in the soil in the flower beds so that’s never been an issue.
Artificial grass can look amazing, it can also look terrible. It will be down to three things. How well the ground preparation is done. How much you are willing to spend on the 'grass' and how experienced are the people who are laying it.
If your dog digs.. just forget it now. It is meant to be walked on not dug up!
Don't go for the long pile grass, a shorter pile looks better.
My garden is half artificial, half real. The best thing is even after a heavy shower you can go back out and enjoy the outdoors without the usual downside that you get with real grass
your dog will dig through it. Also (and it may be different now) when we loooked into it, it was held down to the prepared base by long wire U shaped pins, so when the dog does dig, it will dig up bits of wire :( I did look into it when mone were younger and were making mud racetracks round th garden but decided a) it wasn't safe for mad dogs and b) it wouldn't stand up to their nonsense. ITs a pity because I know a coupel of people who have got it and it looks fab. The other thing to consider is from a wildlife and ecology POV its a real environment loss.
We did it for my son.. It took three days to skim the topsoil off, cover the whole area with a layer of sharp sand, hammer it down with a Whacker plate and lay and pin the grass down. It looks amazing. They do have a dog, but she saves her digging for the nearby beach.
Ours isn’t pinned down, there’s a narrow concrete edging all the way round which it’s glued on top of so you can’t see the concrete, no pins anywhere.
We didn’t want any more paving so I disagree paving would be better, this may be artificial but it’s still a nice green space.
royfromaus
"You mean the dog 'may' try and dig through it.
That was a worry for my daughter when I put down artificial grass for her...they didn't dig through it. "
Its a bullmastiff....if it wants to get through it, it will!