Artificial Grass in Australia is booming.
With climate change making a sustainable natural lawn more and more difficult to maintain , people are opting for the ease of artificial grass.
Namgrass Australia has come up with an all inclusive guide to help you make the right choice when it comes to purchasing your artificial lawn.
Why Choose Artificial Grass?
There are several reasons to switch to artificial grass , the main benefits include:
A year long gorgeous look no matter what the season.
Time saved from an extremely low maintenance area.
The ability to absorb the demands of kids and pets.
Less mess , no more mud out the back or being transfered into the house.
Your Budget
The first thing you should do is to set your budget. This will be a deciding factor on the type of grass that you look at – you don’t want to fall in love with a type of grass that you can’t afford. Most grass will be sold in metres squared, so knowing how much you can afford per metre will help you filter out grass out of your price range.
Measure the space you want covered by artificial grass. Our How to Measure Guide and Plan Your Project tool explains how to do this in full.
Decide whether you’d like to install it yourself or have an installer do it for you. Watch this video for the process to help you decide. You will have to pay for an installer, but it will be usually be smoother than doing it yourself.
If you do opt for DIY, take a look at our How to Install Guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbL267l99F4&t=93s
There are a few factors that can increase the cost of installation, including how much work needs to be done to prepare the ground. Artificial grass is a permeable surface, so any water will go through into the soil below and drain away. However, if your soil is very dense, like clay soil, then you may need more aggregate in order to make sure that water doesn’t pool when it rains.
If you’re doing the install yourself, you’ll need to consider whether you are able to remove the material and introduce the aggregates you need easily (the average job of 40 sqm is around 5-6 tonnes of aggregate).
Get a few quotes to compare prices and decide whether an installer doing it for you is within budget.
Choosing your Namgrass
Pile Height
Namgrass has a variety of different pile heights, all dependant on it’s intended use. The longer grasses, around 30mm mark, will give a lush, luxurious look, whereas shorter, 16-27mm grass will look neater, and is more suitable for kids or pets.
Weight
Good quality grass should be weighty, with a weight of 2-3kg per metre square. The weight is particularly important if you’re installing it yourself, as you will have to lift and move the roll around.
Colour
Because there are two elements to an artificial lawn, the grass blades and the thatch, there’s a vast range of colour combinations to choose from. You could go for a natural look, but whether that’s a light or a dark green is up to you and what looks natural in your garden. We’d recommend ordering samples and going out into your garden at different times of the day to see how the sunlight makes it look. Make sure that the pile is facing the house or the main viewing point. This is how your lawn will be placed and it makes a difference to the way your lawn will look.
Samples
When comparing samples, it’s important to look at the quality of the yarn and the backing. As well as the right colour, the yarn should be UV stabilised so it won’t fade in the sunlight. It should feel like natural grass too. The backing should be permeable, so water can drain through, as well as containing holes in case it rains heavily and there is a large volume of water.
Things to Consider
A few other questions to ask include:
Where is the grass made?
The quality of artificial grass can vary depending on where it’s made. Chinese manufacturers, for example, use C4 materials (as opposed to C6), which could be recycled polyethylene that’s sensitive to temperature and potentially unstable when it comes to UV light. Product manufactured in Australia from Chinese sourced materials will encounter the same issues. Cheap is good in the short term for your wallet , but over the long term it ends up costing your more visually and financially.
Namgrass is manufactured in Belgium, using high quality, C6 materials. This means that your artificial grass is stronger, less sensitive to temperature, UV stable and softer to the touch.
What is the warranty like?
When looking at samples, or comparing manufacturers, it’s important to look at the warranties in detail. How long does it last for and what does it cover?
Namgrass’ warranty is for 10 years. Being part of Europe’s largest manufacturing group we have a very close working relationship with them so we can comfortably offer warranty on our grasses. It covers UV stabilisation or colour fade and the general integrity of the product.
If you have any more questions, feel free to get in touch or ask your installer – they’ll be able to answer any questions that you may have specific to your project.