repairing artificial grass

I posted here a few years back about the problems I had with the fitting of artificial grass. All sorted now after 2 years of threatening. So, I've been mainting the grass for 2 -3 years now.

Here's what i do.

1) Clean leaves, debris fungus/mushroom off as needed, blow off debris when needed

2)Spay with Algon towards the end of Spring and again before autumn, Maybe spray shaded areas more if moss becomes visible

3)Pluck out weeds/grass that may have settled in pile, Spot Spray roundup as needed

4)Power brush, Twice in the year, this will lift pile and clean debris.

Btw, the weeds grow on bird poo that lands on the grass and the sand that is applied to the top after installation, so not necessarily incorrectly installed.

There's a fair bit of maintenance on artifial grass, however it does look perfect all year round and can always be played on without getting wet. Good if you have kids and dogs. I have 600 metres of the stuff. Looks amazing.

Also you can't post fit a membrane. The grass will have tons of sand on top of it to keep the pile upright. No way you can take that out and put it back.

My regime takes me about 5 days in the spring and 5 days in the autumn for 600m. I'm not fit. Regular fit folk sould do that quicker.

Btw, we have no membrane.

No way is it worth digging up the compacted sand, then recompacting it - a big job that's easy to underestimate. Like others have said, it's not your issue. Even putting fabric directly under the grass would be a bigger job than expected because the turf is pinned down every 30-40 square centimeters with really long u-pins so not only is it time consuming, there's so much frustrating faffing to do. e.g. Where would you store the turf while laying down the fabric to keep it clean etc? Would you be able to perfectly line up the cuts? Put it the right way around to match pile direction? etc. Then there's the issue of standing and manuevering on the compacted sand and disturbing it to create mounds/craters. Too much trouble that's beyond normal garden maintenance.

These travesties ought to be banned, but that's just my opinion lol. I'd don't mind artificial grass as a small garden feature (e.g. some have them on a deck) but to be sold this concept as a complete lawn replacement and "maintenance free" (superior) product is a bit of an illusion.

Replies

Billybop November 4, 2019 at 9:26pm

hi in this situation sounds to me like the best option is to leave the artificial grass as it is, maybe just a light strim [above the 'grass' level of course] to remove some of the top growth of the weeds, blow or rake it off carefully with a soft plastic rake to avoid lifting the fake turf then spray what's left with weed killer, whether it has been installed properly or not is someone else's problem and you probably don't want to get too involved in that aspect; and sounds like client wants cost kept to a minimum anyhow
PRO Supplier

Progreen Weed Control November 5, 2019 at 9:32am

yes, I'd just treat with a weedkiller - standard glyphosates will not affect the colouration of the 'turf'. Even if you added a membrane then weeds would still grow after a year or two.
ken stewart November 5, 2019 at 6:13pm

walk away more bother than it's worth. Job was done incorrectly in first place.get them to call back contractor
Paul Baillie November 6, 2019 at 6:32pm

Spray it, simples
PRO

Adam Woods November 6, 2019 at 6:38pm

I agree 110% with Ken
Tim Wallach November 7, 2019 at 8:56am

explain to the customer that you could clear it and weedkill, but they should consider contacting the installer to come and have a look. If you explain that you cannot guarantee that your work will restore the look of the turf they will respect your honesty and probably ask you to go ahead. Any disappointment will be directed at the installer not you.
Paul Hampton November 9, 2019 at 11:25am

I posted here a few years back about the problems I had with the fitting of artificial grass. All sorted now after 2 years of threatening. So, I've been mainting the grass for 2 -3 years now.

Here's what i do.

1) Clean leaves, debris fungus/mushroom off as needed, blow off debris when needed

2)Spay with Algon towards the end of Spring and again before autumn, Maybe spray shaded areas more if moss becomes visible

3)Pluck out weeds/grass that may have settled in pile, Spot Spray roundup as needed

4)Power brush, Twice in the year, this will lift pile and clean debris.

Btw, the weeds grow on bird poo that lands on the grass and the sand that is applied to the top after installation, so not necessarily incorrectly installed.

There's a fair bit of maintenance on artifial grass, however it does look perfect all year round and can always be played on without getting wet. Good if you have kids and dogs. I have 600 metres of the stuff. Looks amazing.

Also you can't post fit a membrane. The grass will have tons of sand on top of it to keep the pile upright. No way you can take that out and put it back.

My regime takes me about 5 days in the spring and 5 days in the autumn for 600m. I'm not fit. Regular fit folk sould do that quicker.

Btw, we have no membrane.
- Paul Hampton > Paul Hampton November 9, 2019 at 11:44am
Paul November 9, 2019 at 11:29am

No way is it worth digging up the compacted sand, then recompacting it - a big job that's easy to underestimate. Like others have said, it's not your issue. Even putting fabric directly under the grass would be a bigger job than expected because the turf is pinned down every 30-40 square centimeters with really long u-pins so not only is it time consuming, there's so much frustrating faffing to do. e.g. Where would you store the turf while laying down the fabric to keep it clean etc? Would you be able to perfectly line up the cuts? Put it the right way around to match pile direction? etc. Then there's the issue of standing and manuevering on the compacted sand and disturbing it to create mounds/craters. Too much trouble that's beyond normal garden maintenance.

These travesties ought to be banned, but that's just my opinion lol. I'd don't mind artificial grass as a small garden feature (e.g. some have them on a deck) but to be sold this concept as a complete lawn replacement and "maintenance free" (superior) product is a bit of an illusion.
- Paul Hampton > Paul November 9, 2019 at 11:39am
  
  see my comment above