Astro turf – how easy is it to put down?

Our small front lawn is a nightmare – more weeds than grass and a pain to mow due to the angle.
Thinking of replacing it with astro turf.
Looked at a few places to see how it’s fixed and it varies between long garden nails and a buried treated wooden frame.
What’s the best base? Again seem sharp sand and crushed granite mentioned. Also read that sharp sand not recommended if you have dogs due to the dust.
Thanks

Just tell it it is not real grass and never will be. That’ll put it in its place.

Not a fan of AstroTurf instead of a lawn. Doesn’t provide any home to nature. Have you thought about sowing some wild meadow flower seeds? Will look nicer, zero maintenance and provides an environment for nature.

Edit: Obviously not ideal if you want to use it as an actual lawn area but assume you won’t be sunning yourself there as it’s the front lawn.

Nicely done steven. The question is, did jeffl go for the same joke but more subtly?

Thanks all – some nice Sunday morning humour lol.
Agree about wildlife, but we mainly get wild crisp packets and whatever the bin men drop.
Will keep the front border with the lavender so the bees will be happy.

Not a fan of the stuff myself, how about slate or other stone – depends on size TBH, and some bigger pots ?

My BIL is looking to go plastic grass in his back garden as the dog brings in loads of mud – it’s mainly decked/stone etc, but the small amount of grass is knackered – thing is, won’t it stink with dog wee – might have to warn him.

I did it 10 years ago to a 3m x 3m area. I think it was a 100mm of aggregate (the words crush and run ring a bell) which I rollered than just layed it on top. Pretty sure I wanged some sand around but I didn’t bother pegging it down and it still looks amazing today.
I did buy decent stuff though.

Another non-fan here. It’s onyl a small area but it’s increasingly being used and not environmentally friendly at all. Just scratch up your existing patch to almost bare and chuck some wildflower seeds down. At least it’ll provide a home to bugs as well as crisp bags.

If the dogs are going to wee on it then look at the special volcanic rock stuff that goes underneath it (can’t remeber the name) and absorbs the smells in some mystical way. We didn’t know about it at a previous house and massively regretted it when the summer sun got on it – the stink was awful.

Did a 4mx9m area at the end of our garden a few weeks back for the kids to use as their own all weather footy pitch. Type1 base, compacted, sharp sand, compacted, grano dust, compacted, membrane, grass. Biggest chew was digging out all the old turf which was back breaking. Rest of it was done in a day including building a wooden frame around the edge. Fixed mine down with pins and those along with the weight of the stuff mean its not going anywhere. Cost was probably about £800 all in for materials using a pretty cheap grass (its not meant to look dead pretty as its purely for football).

Had our old garden professionally done and it was about £3k with top notch grass and it was rubbish. After 2 years it was wearing pretty badly and if we’d stayed in that house we’d have got them back to sort it. Wouldn’t ever have it done again across a decent garden but for small, low use areas its ok.

It’s unbelievably easy with Tuda .

I laid some last week and it’s changed my life!

thanks martinhutch, that does seem cheap!

I’ve wanted to do part of my garden but want to build an extension in a year or so so didn’t want to pay thousands for a pro to do it only to rip it up.

did it look ok?

Laid a rear lawn 15yrs ago. I wouldnt go to so much trouble as this for a front lawn that gets little use but this has lasted brilliant and is one of the first jobs i will do on my new house.

1) Dig out old turf plus a little bit. I had major drainage issues so i dug more than needed.
2)Lay batton frame around edge flush with final height of lawn. I had a slight slope on purpose to encourage rainwater to flow to a drainage channel i put in before my decking.
3) Whatever depth of base aggregate. Dont get it too small like i did as you just move it around. Get decent size stuff. Flatten down
4) Top off with sharp sand and flatten to level with battons.
5) Layer of proper membrane to stop any growth. In truth i have never seen even a single shoot.
6) Fix down with heavy duty carpet staples.

It lasted 10yrs before i had to do a single thing other than hoover it. At 10yrs i ordered a ton or so sharp sand, lifted the grass up and had a day of flattening and leveling. Relaid the grass and its been A1 since.

If you find laying the grass too tricky, do all the work and get a carpet fitter to do the final job if its complicated.

We put fake grass in a back yard that would never have been able to sustain real grass.

Even though I have a good friend how makes the stuff, I’d never replace a viable lawn with some… if you absolutely must get rid there are better alternatives that don’t need mowing.

If you absolutely must get rid, get a decent looking product. I’ve seen loads of front gardens getting done over the last few years and they looks absolutely shite. Look at LazyLawn for some good stuff.

For a front lawn, if you can grow a wildflower meadow then do that – such a nice thing. For the rear we’re looking at fake grass because it’s under too much shade from the house and trees to survive the children’s feet, each year it gets worse whatever we do.