First of all, the owners of their own houses equip the territory in order to create a personal paradise for the whole family to relax. But the more complex the design and the richer with plants the landscape, the harder it is to care for it. 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 a certain amount of attention, and not every land can grow good thick grass. In this case, it makes sense to lay an artificial turf in some areas, which looks no less aesthetically pleasing than living (and sometimes more beautiful!), But it will require a minimum of effort from the owners when laying and maintaining. True, it is still not worth rushing to extremes and covering the entire earth with artificial grass, because the design will become too primitive. But in small portions, this alternative is very convenient, especially in places where the grass does not want to grow for many reasons.
Due to the high strength characteristics of the green coating, areas with high traffic are covered with decorative artificial turf. These can be play areas for sports games, playgrounds for a large number of children, places for walking dogs.
Artificial turf in the pool area will create an original green area that will fit into the landscape of the site no worse than expensive tiles or stone
Living grass does not tolerate constant trampling and forms bald spots. And an artificial turf does not care about such a load. They can decorate open parking areas for personal vehicles, combining with road tiles, pool and patio areas.
In appearance, artificial grass looks no worse than real, but it can withstand the contrast of temperatures, and high humidity, and active movement.
In addition, in places near buildings, where the ground is in the shade almost all day, the natural lawn looks pale and thin, because it does not receive enough light. If you decorate these areas with ornamental shrubs, then it is better to cover artificial grass under them. It does not need to be mowed, and root nutrition can be poured in liquid form directly onto the lawn. Its pores will let the solution into the ground. Plus, you don’t have to deal with weeds.
Some owners, for the purpose of landscaping, use fragments of the covering in greenhouses, verandas, terraces, where it is not possible to plant live grass.
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 debris
How is artificial turf created?
To choose the most suitable type of lawn for the site, you need to look at its technical parameters. Manufacturers produce coatings of various densities, grass pile heights, blade thicknesses, 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. From them, on special machines-extruders, grass stems are created, which are then sewn into a flexible elastic base covered with latex. For the decoration of plots, a green lawn is usually chosen. But, for example, for football or golf courses there are 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.
Choosing the type of flooring
When choosing an artificial turf, pay attention to its design. Depending on the purpose of application, they produce filling, semi-filling and non-filling coating options.
Unfilled lawn
The main feature of a non-covered lawn is its almost natural appearance. You need to look closely to notice the artificial origin of the grass. But such a lawn is intended only for decoration. If you walk on it, the soft delicate fibers will begin to crumple and lose their aesthetics.
The decorative artificial turf is not designed for traffic. Its high aesthetic properties are achieved due to the softness and tenderness of the fibers.
Semi-filling type of construction
Typically made of polyethylene, soft and resilient enough to cushion falls. It is the optimal covering for playgrounds with high physical activity. Quartz sand is poured between the grass pile, 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. Used in public places such as stadiums where the grass has to withstand constant stress. Between the blades of grass, the base is covered with quartz sand and special rubber granulate. The rubber filler allows football players to be less injured during sliding falls, because it softens friction.
There is a gradation of artificial turf for outdoor and indoor use. Outdoor options are distinguished by the hygroscopicity of the base. During the cleaning process, precipitation or watering does not settle on the lawn in puddles, but immediately goes into the soil. Indoor lawns do not let water through but leave it on the surface. Therefore, wet cleaning is used less often for them.
Making an artificial turf with your own hands is not difficult. It can be laid both on the ground and on an asphalt or concrete base. In the second case, a lawn substrate is necessarily used, which has a thickness of about a centimeter and is a strong and resilient material. Thinner substrates are not recommended as they can be squeezed during use and the lawn will lose a perfectly flat surface.
Stages of work when laying artificial turf:
- Leveling the surface of the earthen area. The rolls are laid on flat, dense soil, so the area must be cleared of all kinds of debris and leveled. In this case, it is worth creating a slight slope so that during showers, water leaves the coating as quickly as possible.
- Tamping the soil. The leveled soil must be compacted. It is better to use a roller for this, but if it is not there, roll it in with a heavy log or slam it with a wide board. For an asphalt base, this stage of work is not necessary.
- Creation of drainage ditches. The precipitation itself is not terrible for the coating, but the soil under it can rot if you do not create drainage. On large areas along the edges, it is worth digging trenches into which water will drain.
- Laying the substrate and lawn. We line the entire site with a substrate (for asphalt), and roll out rolls of artificial grass on top of it. Roll out in a straight line. Each subsequent row is overlapped with the previous one by about 1,5 cm.
- Maturing the lawn. After the entire area is covered with grass, you can rest for 10-12 hours. During this time, the coating will straighten, the bends caused by rolling into rolls will be removed, and the blades of grass will acquire a vertical shape.
- Bonding rolls together. Rolls are specially rolled out with an overlap to achieve the most tight joining of the rows. To do this, the overlap is cut with a knife so that the joints are as close to each other as possible.
- Creation of a border. The edge of the lawn is formed with a border, which is attached to it with the same adhesive as the joints.
- Filling with sand and granulate. If a semi-filled or backfilled lawn is used, 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. Backfilling 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 his hair and collect all the garbage from the finished site.
Before you start gluing the rows, check for wrinkles, bulges on the coating, trim the edges if there are irregularities, and only then start gluing. It is not necessary to postpone the bonding stage until later, because in the process of changing daytime temperatures, the material can “walk” and the edges will disperse. Installation is best done immediately after trimming. For this, two-component glue and connecting tapes 25-30 cm wide are used. The strip is lubricated with glue, applying it with a spatula, the edges of adjacent rolls are turned off, the tape is laid under them with the glue part up and covered with a coating. In order for the composition to glue well the base of the lawn, roll the seams with a roller. On large sports grounds, the seams are additionally stapled.
When overlapped rolls have been laid for more than 10 hours, they straighten and become more convenient for cutting edges.
The connecting tape is placed under the base of the artificial turf so that each row is approximately half the width
Care for the created artificial turf is easy: once every six months, add granulate and periodically remove debris from the surface. For a strong adhesion of the lawn to the soil, spill the grass with water every 2 weeks and pierce with special brushes to improve aeration and drainage of sediments.
