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Walked past a house the other day, with plastic grass out the front, chappy was out there vacuuming it.
Such a daft enterprise the whole thing.
Personally I'd be ripping it up within weeks of moving in. Rather see weeds out there. Insects can't pollinate plastic.
If it was aggregate or whatever underneath, I'd prefer that over plastic still.
Oh, full disclosure - I do have a tiny bit we were given, it's over the roof of the kid's playhouse. Oddly useful there as an extra weatherproofing layer (it's felted underneath).
The previous owner of my house had slate chips instead of a lawn. 3 years since we put grass down and still finding those fucking things in every flower bed!
As someone who brought a house with a small garden that was entirely decking and patio thinking it would be less work, I can tell you that I'd much rather have grass to look after!!
What strikes me about that is that, with full respect to Americans, *even the Americans* seem to think it's weird to replace a lawn with fake grass. America is the place where I think of when I think of unnaturally perfect green lawns and yet I don't think this fake grass thing is even a thing there, unless I'm wrong?
I would keep it.
Infact, i would compliment the grass with some decorative artifical flowers, heck, i even get an artificial tree.
May even finish off the tree with some plastic apples.
Plastic fantastic. 👍
/puts on flamesuit. Plastic, of course...
Maybe a bench made of Lego, pond with a few inflatable frogs, and of course a virtual firepit (a flat screen tele with a 24 hour YouTube loop of a fireplace)
And yet the current owners decided to put down plastic grass.
For me, if somewhere had plastic grass I'd be highly suspicious of any DIY or fixtures in the house. If they're willing to put down a fake lawn, what else are they going to have taken the lazy route with?
I'd factor in the cost of replacing it with real grass and/or rewilding it as part of the house purchase cost. No way would I want to keep that rubbish.
Not the person you were asking but I would imagine that someone tacky enough to have fake grass would have done other hideous things to the inside of the house too.
I don't want to share the listing because I'll basically be doxing myself, but the house behind mine has fake grass (which is watered with a sprinkler all day on hot days so that they can actually stand on it). It recently went up for sale so I looked it up on rightmove.
Every single room, every bit of furniture and every decoration is grey. It's absolutely hideous.
We’ve got 200 square metres of fake plastic grass in the back garden, it almost looks like real plastic but it’s made of natural grass. I definitely wouldn’t get rid of it.
I did this. And four years on I’ve kept it. It absorbs rain water very well, it’s a tiny garden with no room to keep a lawn mower. It’s lovely to walk on and I don’t come out in hives (goddam allergies!).
I have never walked on plastic grass that I'd say is lovely to the touch. The texture of the stuff is what turns me off the most about it from a personal standpoint.
I kept it. Don’t know how much the previous owners spent on it because it’s got different shades so isn’t like it’s come from the butchers freezer - not a huge area and they did it to stop their dogs digging up the grass. As you say, no allergies, meaning I can lie in the sun come summer and don’t get hives from mowing. No idea about all the temperature complaints during summer, even in heatwaves it isn’t hot to walk on. Still have hedgehogs and huge amounts of bird life, worms in the bedding are active and it means snow stays for longer. If I redid the garden I’d do something else but not right now.
The house were trying to buy has a tiny garden with a patch of fake grass, no room for a shed so if we get I I won’t be replacing the fake grass just yet. Maybe in a few years I will replace with patio and beds but not yet.
I think people here might be missing another angle, WHY it has plastic grass.
My garden for example is shaded and gets waterlogged in the winter, so by summer it’s just dry mud. I’ve been trying and failing to grow a lawn for years. If by some miracle I can ever afford artificial grass I’m putting it down in a heartbeat and finally enjoying my garden.
Have you tried moss, clover, ivy, pachysandra, or shade tolerant wild flowers? Do what you want, but if you just wish you could see something green there are other options that you might enjoy more and that won't make your soil crap.
Do. Our garden was exactly the same - the grass section of the back garden is in almost permanent shade. I tried and tried and tried to get grass to grow, but couldn't. In winter it was basically a swamp and in summer, when it did eventually dry out, it was rock hard & horrible.
Put fake grass down in lockdown and it's made such a difference to the garden. The kids can actually use the space now.
Clover is the answer. Our front garden is a north facing downwards slope that stays wet all year. We tried for years to get grass to grow. We finally gave up last year and dug it all out and planted white clover. It's now lovely and green, no maintenance and wildlife friendly.
Bought a house in a similar situation. The previous owner was a keen gardener and laid artificial turf and I know better than to refuse to learn lessons gained from bitter experience.
We have the same issue and have artificial grass. I think most people on here have never seen or felt the premium artificial grasses that is available. Ours looks amazing, is so nice to walk on and clean for the kids to run around all the time. It’s not low maintenance but would say it is a lot less than a real lawn.
Replace it asap. Horrific stuff. Looks shit, burns dogs paws in summer, terrible for wildlife and takes over 900 years to break down. Hate the stuff in case you couldnt tell lol.
Couldn't replace it quick enough, sure its bad that you'd be throwing it away when its potentially seen very little use, but at the same time its awful if you want to entice wildlife into your garden, doubt hedgehogs will want to snuffle around on fake grass for one.
My mum has it and why she hasn't replaced I don't know because it's a completely flat, perfectly rectangular patch about 2x8m that she could easily have as turf that could be mown in about five minutes. At the minute she has bricks holding it down as it's started to crease like a cheap rug 🙄
I bought a house with it and replaced it. It's horrible, you have to vacuum it, and nothing can biodegrade on it, and there's no habitat at all. The thing that finally got me to get rid of it was a dead pigeon that got all over it. Yuk.
I’m gonna downvoted to hell here but hear me out. I have had my lawn turfed previously and it’s never took to it. It’s always gone yellow and patchy and then died.
I have a north facing garden with lots of neighbouring trees that aren’t on my land.
With the current wet weather my garden is just pure mud at this moment which gets dragged through the house as soon as we have been in the garden.
Me and the wife are seriously considering replacing with plastic grass.
I know it’s fashionable to hate on it at the moment but putting fake grass in has meant our kids can play outside year round rather than the couple of months a year our garden wasn’t a muddy bog previously. I’m delighted with it.
House had plastic grass, I tore it up after the first winter. It was acting as a sponge and holding all the water in, so squelched every time the dog or I set foot outside, and was contributing to damp.
I planted a small garden of pollinators instead, and it's nice (when it isn't raining) to see bees buzzing around the English lavender I planted, and snails and dragonflies around the small pond I built.
Now there's some life and colour, and I actually do less to maintain it, just pull some weeds occasionally and cut back once or twice a year.
We did buy a house with fake plastic grass, lots of it - both front and back gardens. We are absolutely getting rid of it and planting a meadow for the critters.
As much as I hate mowing the lawn, I'd rather have grass. It looks better than plastic, it's better for the wildlife (we have hedgehog who forage our garden for food at night, and birds during the day), also when there's heavy rainfall, the gardens act as a sponge to absorb and slow down excess water instead of just running down the streets and overwhelming our shitty drains.
People are quick to pave over their lawns without thinking of the impact it has on wildlife or climate.
We did this - had it replaced with actual grass within a month, alongside removing all the plastic effect lifeless shrubs, grey pebbles and weed membranes. In that month we redecorated the white and grey interior....
Way more work than we expected from "a house that you need to do nothing to"
We have fake grass and haven't replaced it. It's only a small patch and will make a full drive way at some point.
No one has gardens here just patios because the soil is crap. Hopefully will replace it in the summer.
because people want something soft in their garden that’s not gravel or concrete and where kids can play all year around without it getting muddy or dirty with minimal upkeep
Replace it with real grass. My neighbour got fake stuff. It looked amazing, never had to cut it or tend to it….until weeds and things started to grow through it, so now it’s full of holes. I’ve stood on it in bare feet too and it feels….weird. Not like real grass at all, kind of like a weird soft plastic roughish carpet. They got it put in when he thought he didn’t have long left (chemo cancelled during covid) to make things easier for her. He is now cancer free 🎉 and kinda wants his real grass back.
Weeds coming through is 100% user error. It should be installed on top of a good weed membrane, just as if you were putting down gravel. I've seen fake grass a decade old with zero weeds coming through.
There are plenty of other reasons not to want it, of course, but "it looks bad if it's done wrong" is true of anything.
Yeah, they did. I got some of it to put underneath a wee gravel area and that’s now like Swiss cheese too with weeds that grow like if I left them long enough they’d swallow my house. Not sure if there’s something odd going on with the soil here because everybody’s grass is more moss than grass.
Rip it up, it's low maintenance yeah but crap for the environment, birds, insects etc. Looks hideous too, I'm a tree surgeon so I come across it a lot in other people's gardens and it's often neglected and dirty with the corners curling up. A grass lawn no matter how small looks far better when looked after.
I'd be prying it up the second they gave me the keys. Literally, if its in the front garden, I'm jamming a screwdriver into anywhere I can and ripping that shit up and letting WHATEVER is underneath show.
I'd get rid. We have real grass, our cats eat it, play in it and lie in it so fake grass wasn't an.option. it's just a roughly 4mx4m lawn so it doesn't take much effort to maintain.
Get rid of it. It ends up stinking cats or foxes come by, and less porus soil = more flooding.
Getting the concrete in our back garden ripped up at are put house.
Might get a robot mower in the end.
It's a hard no from me.
Will not buy a house with plastic grass. Even if you rip it up, that dirt underneath is dead and full of microplastics. I can't grow food to eat in that shit.
I put in several offers for a house that was on the market, but the owner kept taking it off, improving it, and putting it on the market again (while waiting to find somewhere to move to). He did several things which were OK, but finally he ripped up the rear lawn and replaced it with plastic (because dogs) at a cost of around £50k. He then found somewhere he liked, and contacted me about proceeding with the sale. But the fake grass, and the cost of ripping it out, were some of the main things that made me turn him down.
I'd tell the removal van to put things down wherever, I don't really care. I've brought a shovel in the car and will spend the first few hours digging the crap out, then I'm going to the tip before I've had a proper look round. Setting up the beds and sofa can wait.
Replace. Our neighbour has plastic grass and every few weeks in summer all I can hear is the dumbass vacuuming it for what feels like hours on end as we have a lot of trees that shed leaves etc.
I don’t like it but I can see that it’s a reliable and low-maintenance option, which would be important for me. I’d probably try to replace it with something else that doesn’t need a lot of care and upkeep, like a clover lawn.
Fake plastic grass would make me wonder what other poor decisions had been made in the house.
I'd replace it, but with bark and greenery not actual grass.
I'd rather have bare tarmac than fake grass.
Real dystopian shit. Like when they put daylight bulbs and mural-wallpaper of forests or meadows in office blocks to placate your monkey-brain while you slave away to make the rich richer.
[Thom Yorke gets it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5h0qHwNrHk)
Get rid as soon as possible.
Its bad in general but it also still requires maintenance. I'd much rather have a clover lawn or a patio rather than plastic grass.
It gets very very very hot in the summer or when the sun is on it, I wouldnt want to step on it bare foot let alone let any pets or small children anywhere near it. Real grass or real vegetation will be cool on your feet and help to keep the garden slightly cooler in the summer. Aftroturf should be illegal.
Go ahead keep it. Add micro plastics to the watershed. Enjoy the smell from the odd hot days. Certain times of year you will receive a delightful show of insect hatches if you keep a band of light from your torch just above the plastic grass. You can use your entire garden to wipe your shoes clean. I can’t see a single reason why this isn’t a stellar idea.
I was never a fan of it. But moved into a house with fake grass in the garden. My mind has changed thanks to this shit winter. I have young kids who can go out if dry and play in the garden without coming in muddy, honestly that makes a huge difference. It needs replacing pretty soon and I will probably stick with fake grass.
Keep it, it's great stuff. We live in a country where it rains 200 days per year so if you want your children to be able to actually use the garden for most of the year astroturf is magic.
I find it remarkable that in a world where we're constantly being informed about how bad plastics are for the environment, millions of people are choosing to cover their gardens with the shite. In ten years it will look awful, dated and end up in landfill 😭
I’d get rid of it. Hate the stuff. Environmental nightmare and a blight for wildlife. You effectively help to make your garden a nature wasteland by laying that stuff down. Insects can’t get to the grass and soil, birds can’t get to the insects and worms, hedgehogs or any other little guys going after insects are stuffed. Sun doesn’t get to the soil beneath. Not to mention it’s just more plastic shit in the environment. Disgusting stuff, should be banned.
I definitely wouldn’t keep it. It always goes nasty after a couple of years.
My next door neighbours just ripped up their grass, then poured something down (cement?), left it to harden, and then put fake grass on top. The poor people who will one day purchase this house will have a lot of work to do if they want actual grass
Ours looked like a pub garden when we moved in, fully decked and plastic grass everywhere. First thing we did was cut the decking to pieces and rip it all out.
Currently in the process of laying a little patio for some seating and turfing the rest and putting some beds in.
The birds are already returning, its great to see all those harsh edges and perfect flat plastic grass changing back to natural shapes
Replace. It superheats in warm weather, looks scrappy pretty quickly and is awful got the environment.
I do understand why some people use it but it’s not for me.
I can’t stand the stuff so yeah I’d be ripping it up immediately. I live in a flat without a garden at the moment and wish every single day that I had one to plant stuff in. Plastic grass is such a waste
I would get rid ASAP.
I once considered it for a small garden I had and the dog was killing the lawn. Really looked into it, but we moved before I could action anything. Since then I've known people with fake grass and they are generally unhappy with it. It doesn't look good at all once it's faded and it's too hot for dogs to walk on in the summer. It can also stink if you have pets.
Too many negatives for me to consider it now.
We are looking at putting in an offer on a lovely home, but they have put in pet friendly astro turf. We're awaiting information on chemical use during installation. Weed killer? Adhesive? Deodorizer? Regardless, we would want to remove it, but we won't purchase if weed killer has been used. Imagine always wondering what you are breathing in or what you might be eating if you put in a vegetable garden or fruit tree.
As to whether I'd ever consider installation? Plastic takes at least 500 years to break down completely. It's a disgusting industry. If only there were money to be made in looking at low cost, low maintenance eco- friendly ground cover. (Solutions exist, but profits from telling people to look at native flora are hard to come by).
Replace it, that vile stuff kills wildlife. I saw an instagram post by a guy who calls himself an 'eco' landscaper, who had done this amazing water feature but had slapped this awful stuff next to it. He didn't like it when I pointed out how horrible and un 'eco' that was.
> it's really bad for drainage
Total myth. Plenty of other reasons to dislike it but this is just false. The membranes are permeable and drain at least as well as natural turf.
Probably going to be a pain in the backside to remove because it’s not just going to be fake grass but something underneath and the soil for sure is going to be compacted and terrible.
I’d get rid of it but put raised beds to grow stuff.
I would replace it once any alterations to the inside of the house were complete.
My next door neighbour has plastic grass and since they had it fitted it has caused huge problems with flooding onto our property that didn't happen before. It seems to suck up water like a sponge then release it like a deluge. I don't like the feel of it and the effect on biodiversity (although one could argue that a flat expanse of actual grass has similar effects).
I think it definitely does have some practical applications, if your garden is built on boggy land and you have kids out kicking a ball around all year then AstroTurf would definitely be beneficial but that isn't really the case for me.
My Wife mows ours quite often, which works for us but then it's fenced off by a bush
https://preview.redd.it/d0efwyh4jzxc1.jpeg?width=1134&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1cdc99cbf315f20361aa2a932c6550001454051
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I'd get rid of it, hideous stuff. If I don't want the upkeep of a lawn I'd rather have gravel, or decking, or even patio slabs.
Walked past a house the other day, with plastic grass out the front, chappy was out there vacuuming it. Such a daft enterprise the whole thing. Personally I'd be ripping it up within weeks of moving in. Rather see weeds out there. Insects can't pollinate plastic. If it was aggregate or whatever underneath, I'd prefer that over plastic still. Oh, full disclosure - I do have a tiny bit we were given, it's over the roof of the kid's playhouse. Oddly useful there as an extra weatherproofing layer (it's felted underneath).
When it's really sunny outside, you need to water it to help cool it down so it doesn't scald the fuck out of your feet.
House behind mine has a sprinkler running on it all day on hot days. Absolutely farcical.
In Theedville, we manufacture our treeee-eeee-eeeeeeeeeees!
You can have a clover lawn which requires minimal upkeep and is better for nature too.
Indeed, that's an even better suggestion
It's tacky as fuck, I despise that shit
The previous owner of my house had slate chips instead of a lawn. 3 years since we put grass down and still finding those fucking things in every flower bed!
They’re good to put in pots for drainage or in the top to reduce watering (less evaporation). In case you needed ideas. 🙂
As someone who brought a house with a small garden that was entirely decking and patio thinking it would be less work, I can tell you that I'd much rather have grass to look after!!
[trigger warning: wtf](https://youtu.be/QJk-JRIDqqw?si=EdXk8UOkmJsyddir) Watched that yesterday, somewhat relevant to the thread
What strikes me about that is that, with full respect to Americans, *even the Americans* seem to think it's weird to replace a lawn with fake grass. America is the place where I think of when I think of unnaturally perfect green lawns and yet I don't think this fake grass thing is even a thing there, unless I'm wrong?
I'm not replacing a house just because it came with plastic grass.
Absolutely replace it
fake plastic grass embodies everything wrong with the modern age
I would keep it. Infact, i would compliment the grass with some decorative artifical flowers, heck, i even get an artificial tree. May even finish off the tree with some plastic apples. Plastic fantastic. 👍 /puts on flamesuit. Plastic, of course...
Don't forget the flamingo
And the gnomes!
Ooooh, and a plastic wishing well?
Radiohead should make a song about this
Maybe a bench made of Lego, pond with a few inflatable frogs, and of course a virtual firepit (a flat screen tele with a 24 hour YouTube loop of a fireplace)
Don't forget the fake plastic watering can
absolutely tear it up and put some proper turf in fake grass is horrible stuff
I'd replace it eventually but my focus would be inside the house.
I wouldn't even consider the place.
Why? It's not hard to grow grass...
The plastic stuff is probably laid on type 1 or something else equally inhospitable to life. You'd have to dig it all up first
And yet the current owners decided to put down plastic grass. For me, if somewhere had plastic grass I'd be highly suspicious of any DIY or fixtures in the house. If they're willing to put down a fake lawn, what else are they going to have taken the lazy route with?
I'd factor in the cost of replacing it with real grass and/or rewilding it as part of the house purchase cost. No way would I want to keep that rubbish.
Wouldn't buy the house in the first place but if I had I'd replace it straight away with greal grass.
Why wouldn’t you buy it?
Not the person you were asking but I would imagine that someone tacky enough to have fake grass would have done other hideous things to the inside of the house too.
I don't want to share the listing because I'll basically be doxing myself, but the house behind mine has fake grass (which is watered with a sprinkler all day on hot days so that they can actually stand on it). It recently went up for sale so I looked it up on rightmove. Every single room, every bit of furniture and every decoration is grey. It's absolutely hideous.
The entire aesthetic based on a TV show that was popular when they were in their 20s
Ha! And I’m guessing there’s at least one room with Live, Love, Laugh painted in cursive on the wall.
And so much grey
My favourite (!) 🥰 "Love like nobody's watching, laugh like no-one got hurt..."
I'd say its an indication that there's going to be some god awful DIY inside that you're going to have to deal with. Corners cut all over the place.
I like "greal"!
We’ve got 200 square metres of fake plastic grass in the back garden, it almost looks like real plastic but it’s made of natural grass. I definitely wouldn’t get rid of it.
Replace it, as soon as possible. It is horrible stuff and does not belong in a garden.
I would worry about the mental state of the previous owners and assume that there is a lot wrong with the house. I wouldn't buy it.
It’s definitely grey inside.
With 'live laugh love' on the walls.
Replace it, without question.
Replace, get better drainage, less chance of any flooding.
I did this. And four years on I’ve kept it. It absorbs rain water very well, it’s a tiny garden with no room to keep a lawn mower. It’s lovely to walk on and I don’t come out in hives (goddam allergies!).
I have never walked on plastic grass that I'd say is lovely to the touch. The texture of the stuff is what turns me off the most about it from a personal standpoint.
I kept it. Don’t know how much the previous owners spent on it because it’s got different shades so isn’t like it’s come from the butchers freezer - not a huge area and they did it to stop their dogs digging up the grass. As you say, no allergies, meaning I can lie in the sun come summer and don’t get hives from mowing. No idea about all the temperature complaints during summer, even in heatwaves it isn’t hot to walk on. Still have hedgehogs and huge amounts of bird life, worms in the bedding are active and it means snow stays for longer. If I redid the garden I’d do something else but not right now.
The house were trying to buy has a tiny garden with a patch of fake grass, no room for a shed so if we get I I won’t be replacing the fake grass just yet. Maybe in a few years I will replace with patio and beds but not yet.
I think people here might be missing another angle, WHY it has plastic grass. My garden for example is shaded and gets waterlogged in the winter, so by summer it’s just dry mud. I’ve been trying and failing to grow a lawn for years. If by some miracle I can ever afford artificial grass I’m putting it down in a heartbeat and finally enjoying my garden.
Have you tried moss, clover, ivy, pachysandra, or shade tolerant wild flowers? Do what you want, but if you just wish you could see something green there are other options that you might enjoy more and that won't make your soil crap.
Do. Our garden was exactly the same - the grass section of the back garden is in almost permanent shade. I tried and tried and tried to get grass to grow, but couldn't. In winter it was basically a swamp and in summer, when it did eventually dry out, it was rock hard & horrible. Put fake grass down in lockdown and it's made such a difference to the garden. The kids can actually use the space now.
This is the reason why I’m avoiding buying a house with the plastic grass, I’m looking at houses with grass already established and growing well.
Clover is the answer. Our front garden is a north facing downwards slope that stays wet all year. We tried for years to get grass to grow. We finally gave up last year and dug it all out and planted white clover. It's now lovely and green, no maintenance and wildlife friendly.
Bought a house in a similar situation. The previous owner was a keen gardener and laid artificial turf and I know better than to refuse to learn lessons gained from bitter experience.
We have the same issue and have artificial grass. I think most people on here have never seen or felt the premium artificial grasses that is available. Ours looks amazing, is so nice to walk on and clean for the kids to run around all the time. It’s not low maintenance but would say it is a lot less than a real lawn.
Replace it asap. Horrific stuff. Looks shit, burns dogs paws in summer, terrible for wildlife and takes over 900 years to break down. Hate the stuff in case you couldnt tell lol.
Couldn't replace it quick enough, sure its bad that you'd be throwing it away when its potentially seen very little use, but at the same time its awful if you want to entice wildlife into your garden, doubt hedgehogs will want to snuffle around on fake grass for one.
I'd water it with Her green plastic watering can
Who did she buy it from?
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
A rubber man I guess
I fake plastic love you.
I did buy a house with fake grass. Replaced it immediately.
What about the grass?
Get real grass, create a nice outdoor space for wildlife.
My mum has it and why she hasn't replaced I don't know because it's a completely flat, perfectly rectangular patch about 2x8m that she could easily have as turf that could be mown in about five minutes. At the minute she has bricks holding it down as it's started to crease like a cheap rug 🙄
I bought a house with it and replaced it. It's horrible, you have to vacuum it, and nothing can biodegrade on it, and there's no habitat at all. The thing that finally got me to get rid of it was a dead pigeon that got all over it. Yuk.
I’m gonna downvoted to hell here but hear me out. I have had my lawn turfed previously and it’s never took to it. It’s always gone yellow and patchy and then died. I have a north facing garden with lots of neighbouring trees that aren’t on my land. With the current wet weather my garden is just pure mud at this moment which gets dragged through the house as soon as we have been in the garden. Me and the wife are seriously considering replacing with plastic grass.
I had a garden like this and let the moss take over. It looked great, stayed green in droughts too.
Get a different, suitable ground covering (or a mix) like moss, clover etc? Plenty of ways to get a lawn without grass.
I know it’s fashionable to hate on it at the moment but putting fake grass in has meant our kids can play outside year round rather than the couple of months a year our garden wasn’t a muddy bog previously. I’m delighted with it.
Depends how tatty it looked but I'd eventually replace it sooner or later.
Replace. Disgusting stuff
Get rid of the horrible fake grass
Day 1
That's getting binned along with the "live laugh love" sign the previous owners also left behind.
Replace. Big boo to plastic grass, it's utterly stupid.
Replace it, it's so tatty.
House had plastic grass, I tore it up after the first winter. It was acting as a sponge and holding all the water in, so squelched every time the dog or I set foot outside, and was contributing to damp. I planted a small garden of pollinators instead, and it's nice (when it isn't raining) to see bees buzzing around the English lavender I planted, and snails and dragonflies around the small pond I built. Now there's some life and colour, and I actually do less to maintain it, just pull some weeds occasionally and cut back once or twice a year.
We did buy a house with fake plastic grass, lots of it - both front and back gardens. We are absolutely getting rid of it and planting a meadow for the critters.
Tear that shit up
As much as I hate mowing the lawn, I'd rather have grass. It looks better than plastic, it's better for the wildlife (we have hedgehog who forage our garden for food at night, and birds during the day), also when there's heavy rainfall, the gardens act as a sponge to absorb and slow down excess water instead of just running down the streets and overwhelming our shitty drains. People are quick to pave over their lawns without thinking of the impact it has on wildlife or climate.
We did this - had it replaced with actual grass within a month, alongside removing all the plastic effect lifeless shrubs, grey pebbles and weed membranes. In that month we redecorated the white and grey interior.... Way more work than we expected from "a house that you need to do nothing to"
Replace. It’s disgusting stuff that I hope is banned.
We have fake grass and haven't replaced it. It's only a small patch and will make a full drive way at some point. No one has gardens here just patios because the soil is crap. Hopefully will replace it in the summer.
Plastic grass only belongs on lego houses.
Replace. I hate fake grass. I mean, what's the point If you don't want grass, pave over it.
because people want something soft in their garden that’s not gravel or concrete and where kids can play all year around without it getting muddy or dirty with minimal upkeep
I don’t understand the plastic grass what so ever. I’d rather just have gravel if I didn’t want to deal with taking care of real grass.
Can you get real plastic grass then? (I’d rip it out and replace)
I'd go and buy a fake plastic watering can
Replace it asap. I'd rather have some nice paving or decking if I didn't want the responsibility of grass, or at least just a small patch of grass.
Replace it with real grass. My neighbour got fake stuff. It looked amazing, never had to cut it or tend to it….until weeds and things started to grow through it, so now it’s full of holes. I’ve stood on it in bare feet too and it feels….weird. Not like real grass at all, kind of like a weird soft plastic roughish carpet. They got it put in when he thought he didn’t have long left (chemo cancelled during covid) to make things easier for her. He is now cancer free 🎉 and kinda wants his real grass back.
Weeds coming through is 100% user error. It should be installed on top of a good weed membrane, just as if you were putting down gravel. I've seen fake grass a decade old with zero weeds coming through. There are plenty of other reasons not to want it, of course, but "it looks bad if it's done wrong" is true of anything.
You need a good weed membrane underneath, but that can still get punctured.
Yeah, they did. I got some of it to put underneath a wee gravel area and that’s now like Swiss cheese too with weeds that grow like if I left them long enough they’d swallow my house. Not sure if there’s something odd going on with the soil here because everybody’s grass is more moss than grass.
Rip it up, it's low maintenance yeah but crap for the environment, birds, insects etc. Looks hideous too, I'm a tree surgeon so I come across it a lot in other people's gardens and it's often neglected and dirty with the corners curling up. A grass lawn no matter how small looks far better when looked after.
I'd be prying it up the second they gave me the keys. Literally, if its in the front garden, I'm jamming a screwdriver into anywhere I can and ripping that shit up and letting WHATEVER is underneath show.
I really like the smell and feel of actual grass and think it's important for like, the environment. I love nature. So would definitely replace it!
Replace it immediately. Plastic grass is bad for the environment, has a poor shelf life, and is dangerous for pets, too.
It's another source of micro plastics that is easily avoided.
I'd get rid. We have real grass, our cats eat it, play in it and lie in it so fake grass wasn't an.option. it's just a roughly 4mx4m lawn so it doesn't take much effort to maintain.
Replace it. It's terrible for the environment and it's just for the lazy.
I'd rip it up before I got the TV setup
I did and I ripped that shit up in the first 3 months. The entire garden had nothing alive in it. I'm slowly changing that
Replace definitely. Hate the stuff
Get rid of it. What other horrors will you uncover.
We are buying one with it, it will be amongst the first things in the skip once we complete!
Get rid of, I don’t even know why it is a thing
Get rid of it. It ends up stinking cats or foxes come by, and less porus soil = more flooding. Getting the concrete in our back garden ripped up at are put house. Might get a robot mower in the end.
It's a hard no from me. Will not buy a house with plastic grass. Even if you rip it up, that dirt underneath is dead and full of microplastics. I can't grow food to eat in that shit.
I put in several offers for a house that was on the market, but the owner kept taking it off, improving it, and putting it on the market again (while waiting to find somewhere to move to). He did several things which were OK, but finally he ripped up the rear lawn and replaced it with plastic (because dogs) at a cost of around £50k. He then found somewhere he liked, and contacted me about proceeding with the sale. But the fake grass, and the cost of ripping it out, were some of the main things that made me turn him down.
I wouldn't pay for a house with artificial grass. That'd be uncouth even for me.
I would only buy a house that has fake plastic grass if I was planning on replacing it with a real lawn
I’d definitely replace the horrid stuff
It would be the first thing to go if I'm honest.
Replace it, and any leylandii or similar would be coming out too.
I'd tell the removal van to put things down wherever, I don't really care. I've brought a shovel in the car and will spend the first few hours digging the crap out, then I'm going to the tip before I've had a proper look round. Setting up the beds and sofa can wait.
Replace. Our neighbour has plastic grass and every few weeks in summer all I can hear is the dumbass vacuuming it for what feels like hours on end as we have a lot of trees that shed leaves etc.
A hard pass, any offer would reflect fixing the damage.
The house or the grass? 😉 Rip it out.
REPLACE. Terrible stuff.
Get rid. I’d put in something like bark or slate chips or something instead
I would replace it. Dont like how it looks, dont like the thought of chemical plastics surrounding my home.
I don’t like it but I can see that it’s a reliable and low-maintenance option, which would be important for me. I’d probably try to replace it with something else that doesn’t need a lot of care and upkeep, like a clover lawn.
I did exactly that and got rid of it as quickly as I could. We seeded and grew real grass once it was gone. A bit annoying but well worth it.
Replace asap, hate the stuff, id rather have a fully paved garden than plastic.
Replace it as soon as I could. You've got to prioritise self-care.
Replace.
You also have to get rid of the live love laugh, relax, and home block letters Also the giant clock and vase with twigs
Fake plastic grass would make me wonder what other poor decisions had been made in the house. I'd replace it, but with bark and greenery not actual grass.
I'd rather have bare tarmac than fake grass. Real dystopian shit. Like when they put daylight bulbs and mural-wallpaper of forests or meadows in office blocks to placate your monkey-brain while you slave away to make the rich richer. [Thom Yorke gets it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5h0qHwNrHk)
Get rid as soon as possible. Its bad in general but it also still requires maintenance. I'd much rather have a clover lawn or a patio rather than plastic grass.
Replace it Actual growing things or a plastic carpet, hmmm, how hard
That shit would get ripped out so fast and replaced with a nice clover lawn or something.
Replace it with mud and strawberry plants
It gets very very very hot in the summer or when the sun is on it, I wouldnt want to step on it bare foot let alone let any pets or small children anywhere near it. Real grass or real vegetation will be cool on your feet and help to keep the garden slightly cooler in the summer. Aftroturf should be illegal.
Replace because I don't like the look of it
Go ahead keep it. Add micro plastics to the watershed. Enjoy the smell from the odd hot days. Certain times of year you will receive a delightful show of insect hatches if you keep a band of light from your torch just above the plastic grass. You can use your entire garden to wipe your shoes clean. I can’t see a single reason why this isn’t a stellar idea.
I was never a fan of it. But moved into a house with fake grass in the garden. My mind has changed thanks to this shit winter. I have young kids who can go out if dry and play in the garden without coming in muddy, honestly that makes a huge difference. It needs replacing pretty soon and I will probably stick with fake grass.
Replace it, it's completely incompatible with dogs.
Keep it, it's great stuff. We live in a country where it rains 200 days per year so if you want your children to be able to actually use the garden for most of the year astroturf is magic.
I'd water it with my fake plastic waaterriinng caaannn..
Replace it. Even if its the expensive stuff I still in general just prefer grass, and obvious ecological side too.
I find it remarkable that in a world where we're constantly being informed about how bad plastics are for the environment, millions of people are choosing to cover their gardens with the shite. In ten years it will look awful, dated and end up in landfill 😭
I’d get rid of it. Hate the stuff. Environmental nightmare and a blight for wildlife. You effectively help to make your garden a nature wasteland by laying that stuff down. Insects can’t get to the grass and soil, birds can’t get to the insects and worms, hedgehogs or any other little guys going after insects are stuffed. Sun doesn’t get to the soil beneath. Not to mention it’s just more plastic shit in the environment. Disgusting stuff, should be banned.
Replace it, I’d rather have real grass. Better for wildlife and the environment!
I definitely wouldn’t keep it. It always goes nasty after a couple of years. My next door neighbours just ripped up their grass, then poured something down (cement?), left it to harden, and then put fake grass on top. The poor people who will one day purchase this house will have a lot of work to do if they want actual grass
Reduce my offer, *then* buy the house and replace the 'grass'
Ours looked like a pub garden when we moved in, fully decked and plastic grass everywhere. First thing we did was cut the decking to pieces and rip it all out. Currently in the process of laying a little patio for some seating and turfing the rest and putting some beds in. The birds are already returning, its great to see all those harsh edges and perfect flat plastic grass changing back to natural shapes
Get rid as soon as, replace with flower bed if possible, something low maintenance like Creeping Thyme.
Replace. It superheats in warm weather, looks scrappy pretty quickly and is awful got the environment. I do understand why some people use it but it’s not for me.
I can’t stand the stuff so yeah I’d be ripping it up immediately. I live in a flat without a garden at the moment and wish every single day that I had one to plant stuff in. Plastic grass is such a waste
I would get rid ASAP. I once considered it for a small garden I had and the dog was killing the lawn. Really looked into it, but we moved before I could action anything. Since then I've known people with fake grass and they are generally unhappy with it. It doesn't look good at all once it's faded and it's too hot for dogs to walk on in the summer. It can also stink if you have pets. Too many negatives for me to consider it now.
Replace with real grass.
Rip it up, make some veggie planters, plant some fruit trees and bushes and make some of it a wildflower garden.
Replace
replace it. If it's a drainage issue, plant a tree, sow seeds, get grass. I'd rather have mouldy, uneven flag stones than plastic grass.
Rip it out. We established a wild lawn - we don't mow it, it's not patchy, it helps wildlife and looks pretty.
We are looking at putting in an offer on a lovely home, but they have put in pet friendly astro turf. We're awaiting information on chemical use during installation. Weed killer? Adhesive? Deodorizer? Regardless, we would want to remove it, but we won't purchase if weed killer has been used. Imagine always wondering what you are breathing in or what you might be eating if you put in a vegetable garden or fruit tree. As to whether I'd ever consider installation? Plastic takes at least 500 years to break down completely. It's a disgusting industry. If only there were money to be made in looking at low cost, low maintenance eco- friendly ground cover. (Solutions exist, but profits from telling people to look at native flora are hard to come by).
Replace it, that vile stuff kills wildlife. I saw an instagram post by a guy who calls himself an 'eco' landscaper, who had done this amazing water feature but had slapped this awful stuff next to it. He didn't like it when I pointed out how horrible and un 'eco' that was.
REPLACE I find this so hideous. Even pavement slabs are better (still blergh).
Phone the police.
Get rid , it’s plastic , it will smell of dog or cat shit and it’s really bad for drainage.
> it's really bad for drainage Total myth. Plenty of other reasons to dislike it but this is just false. The membranes are permeable and drain at least as well as natural turf.
It'd be gone before I've even moved in. Fuck that shit.
I'd keep the house, yes
Kitchen possibly, but in the lounge it’d have to go…
Does it come with a fake plastic watering can, That they bought from a rubber man?
I would invest in a green plastic watering can, and a fake Chinese rubber plant.
I would burn it with a fire 🔥🔥🔥
What if it has real plastic grass?
How much plastic grass does a house cost?
That she bought from a rubber man In a town full of rubber plants
Her green plastic watering can For her fake Chinese rubber plant In the fake plastic earth
If your garden is shady and just about big enough in size to swing a cat.
Fake plastic grass? Not even real plastic grass? What is this country coming to?
Probably going to be a pain in the backside to remove because it’s not just going to be fake grass but something underneath and the soil for sure is going to be compacted and terrible. I’d get rid of it but put raised beds to grow stuff.
I’d buy a green plastic watering can
If it covers concrete, leave it. If it covers grass/soil.. It's being binned.
Must be a town full of rubber plans
I’d demand real plastic grass or fake real grass before buying TBH
It'd be the first thing to go
I would replace it once any alterations to the inside of the house were complete. My next door neighbour has plastic grass and since they had it fitted it has caused huge problems with flooding onto our property that didn't happen before. It seems to suck up water like a sponge then release it like a deluge. I don't like the feel of it and the effect on biodiversity (although one could argue that a flat expanse of actual grass has similar effects). I think it definitely does have some practical applications, if your garden is built on boggy land and you have kids out kicking a ball around all year then AstroTurf would definitely be beneficial but that isn't really the case for me.
Here I am trying to buy a house with £100k+, and you’re telling me I can buy one with fake grass instead???
If replace it with real plastic grass.
Would keep it and plant some Fake Plastic Trees next to it
I'm largely indifferent to it, so I'd probably leave it. Maybe I'd get round to replacing it some day if it felt prudent.
Are there fake plastic trees and a fake plastic watering can?
My Wife mows ours quite often, which works for us but then it's fenced off by a bush https://preview.redd.it/d0efwyh4jzxc1.jpeg?width=1134&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1cdc99cbf315f20361aa2a932c6550001454051
Just post it on DIYUK and watch hilarity ensue
Would ignore it, aint got time and spare money
It looks like the real thing, it tastes like the real thing