The owners of their own houses first of all equip the territory to create a personal paradise for the rest of the whole family. But the more complex the design and the richer the plants, the harder it is to take care of. Moreover, busy people do not have time for this at all. The problem is solved by laying a lawn, which is less demanding to care than flowers and shrubs. But even he needs some attention, and not every land can grow a good thick grass. In this case, it makes sense to lay in some areas an artificial lawn that looks no less aesthetically pleasing than lively (and sometimes more beautiful!), But the owners will require a minimum of effort when laying and leaving. True, rushing to extremes and lining the whole earth with artificial grass is still not worth it, because the design will become too primitive. But in small portions, such an alternative is very convenient, especially in places where the grass for many reasons does not want to grow.
Where can I use this type of lawn?
Due to the high strength characteristics of the green coating, areas with high traffic are covered with decorative artificial grass. It can be play areas for sports, playgrounds for a large number of children, places for walking dogs.
An artificial lawn in the pool area will create an original green zone that will fit into the landscape of the site no worse than expensive tile or stone
Living grass is constantly trampling weakly and forms bald spots. And the artificial grass doesn’t have such a load. They can arrange outdoor parking areas for personal vehicles, combining with road tiles, pool areas and patios.
In appearance, the artificial grass looks no worse than the real one, but it withstands temperature contrast, increased humidity, and active movement
In addition, in places near buildings, where the earth is almost all day in the shade, the natural lawn looks pale and thin, because there will be less light. If these areas are decorated with decorative shrubs, then it is better to cover artificial grass under them. It will not need to be mowed, and root nutrition can be poured in liquid form directly onto the lawn. Its pores will let the solution pass into the ground. Plus, you don't have to fight weeds.
Some owners use landscaping fragments in greenhouses, verandas, terraces, where there is no way to plant live grass for landscaping.
A piece of decorative artificial lawn lined on the veranda will serve as an original rug that does not require any maintenance, except for periodic cleaning of garbage
Artificial grass production: not all grass is the same
How to create an artificial lawn?
To choose the type of lawn that is most suitable for the site, you need to look at its technical parameters. Manufacturers produce coatings of different densities, grass pile heights, grass blade thickness, etc.
Only outwardly all rolls with artificial turf look the same, but they differ in pile thickness, grass length, base density, etc.
The material is plastics or polymers. Of these, on special extruder machines, grass stems are created, which are then sewn into a flexible elastic base coated with latex. For registration of sites usually choose a green lawn. But, for example, for football or golf courses there is white, blue and other shades of coverage. There is also a combined lawn of two colors. The width of the rolls varies from 2 to 4 meters.
Choose the type of coating for flooring
When choosing an artificial lawn, pay attention to its structure. Depending on the purpose of application, they produce filling, semi-filling and non-filling coating options.
Grass-free lawn
The main feature of an oversized lawn is its almost natural appearance. You need to carefully look to notice the artificial origin of the grass. But such a lawn is intended only for decorative design. If you walk on it, then soft, delicate fibers will begin to crumple and lose their aesthetics.
Decorative artificial grass is not designed to move on it. Its high aesthetic properties are achieved due to the softness and tenderness of the fibers.
Semi-filled type of construction
It is usually made from polyethylene, soft and flexible enough to cushion falls. This is the optimum coverage for playgrounds with high physical activity. Between the grass pile quartz sand is poured, which gives the lawn strength and stability.
Artificial turf for the playground is selected from elastic materials, because kids love to tumble and lie on the grass
Backfill option
They are made of polypropylene, so the blades of grass are tough and stable. It is used in public places, for example, stadiums, where the grass must withstand constant loads. Between the blades of grass, the base is covered with quartz sand and special rubber granulate. Rubber filler allows football players to be less injured during sliding falls, because it softens friction.
There is a gradation of artificial grass for use outdoors and indoors. Street options are hygroscopic base. Rainfall or watering during the cleaning process does not settle on the lawn in puddles, but immediately goes into the soil. Lawns for rooms do not let water through, but leave it on the surface. Therefore, for them wet cleaning is used less often.
Stages of laying artificial turf on the street
It’s easy to make an artificial lawn with your own hands. It can be laid both on the ground and on an asphalt or concrete base. In the second case, a substrate for a lawn is necessarily used, which has a thickness of about a centimeter and is a strong and elastic material. Thinner substrates are not recommended, as they can break through during use and the lawn will lose a perfectly flat surface.
Stages of work when laying artificial turf:
- Ground leveling. Rolls are laid on a flat, dense soil, so the site must be cleared of all kinds of debris and leveled. At the same time, it is worth creating a slight slope so that during rainstorms the water leaves the coating as quickly as possible.
- Tamping soil. The leveled soil needs to be condensed. It’s better to use an ice rink for this, but if it’s not, roll it with a heavy log or slam it with a wide board. For an asphalt foundation this stage of work is not needed.
- Creation of drainage ditches. Precipitation itself is not terrible, but the soil under it can decay if drainage is not created. On large sites around the edges, it is worth digging trenches into which water will flow.
- Laying the substrate and lawn. We cover the entire area with a substrate (for asphalt), and roll rolls with artificial grass on top of it. It is necessary to roll out in a straight line. Each subsequent row is overlapped with the previous one by about 1.5 cm.
- Lawn maturation. After the entire area is covered with grass, you can rest for 10-12 hours. During this time, the coating will straighten out, the bends caused by rolling into rolls will be removed, and the blades of grass will acquire a vertical shape.
- Fastening rolls together. The rolls are specially rolled with an overlap in order to achieve the most dense joining of the rows. To do this, the overlap is cut with a knife so that the joints fit as close to each other as possible.
- Creating a border. The edge of the lawn is formed by a border, which is attached to it with the same adhesive composition as the joints.
- Sanding and granulation. If a semi-filled or filled-up version of the lawn is used, then it is necessary to evenly sprinkle the coating with quartz sand with a fraction of up to 0.6 mm. The exact size will be recommended at the point of sale of the lawn. Backfill is carried out only in dry weather. After that, the surface is thoroughly combed with a rake so that the sand goes deeper between the blades of grass. Then rubber or rubber granulate is poured. Look for the consumption rate in the instructions for the purchased coating. It remains to comb it and collect all the garbage from the finished site.
Before you start gluing the rows, check for wrinkles, swelling on the coating, trim the edges if there are bumps, and only then start gluing. You should not postpone the gluing stage until later, because in the process of changing the daytime temperatures the material can "walk" and the edges will part. It is best to carry out the installation immediately after trimming the edge. To do this, use two-component glue and connecting tapes 25-30 cm wide. They glue the strip with glue, applying it with a spatula, turn off the edges of adjacent rolls, put the tape under them with the adhesive part up and cover it with a coating. So that the composition well glued the base of the lawn, roll the seams with an ice rink. On large sports fields, the stitches are additionally stapled.
When the overlapped rolls lie for more than 10 hours, they straighten and become more convenient for cutting edges
The connecting tape is laid under the base of the artificial turf so that each row has approximately half the width
Maintenance of the artificial turf is simple: once every six months, add granulate and periodically remove debris from the surface. For a strong adherence of the lawn to the soil, spill the grass every 2 weeks with water and puncture it with special brushes to improve aeration and outflow of precipitation.
