Eventually artificial grass will need to be replaced. It could be your artificial grass is starting to look its age having been walked on a lot or it was simply badly laid in the first place (not by Perfect Grass, I can assure you), or you are simply looking for the latest and most realistic looking grass, then you may want to consider upgrading.
There are many other reasons why you might want to upgrade your artificial grass. Some of the most common reasons include:
• After a period of 8 to 10 years the timbers used in the groundworks can start to rot and the artificial grass that sits on top can start to move.
• The latest artificial grass products have a PU backing so unlike the older latex backed grasses dog wee can be washed through so no odours will accumulate.
• Cheap grasses bought from online warehouse sellers can last just months as the grass discolours, the fibres split, different colour grass from roll to roll etc
• The grass has been laid on a boggy area which requires the grass and groundworks to be lifted, the boggy area sorted and the groundworks and grass relaid
Improvements to Artificial Grass in the Last 10 Years
Artificial grass is now a popular option for homeowners. As of 2022 it is estimated over 1.5million households in the UK have artificial grass. That is 1 in 10 households. As such more grass products are coming to market.
We are finding that well laid artificial grass will last around 10 years before you need to consider upgrading. Artificial grass has come a long way in that time. The materials used to make artificial grass are now much more durable and realistic, the stitching more dense and the fibres better shaped and coloured. But what I consider to be the biggest breakthrough is the addition of a denser pile so infills now don’t need to be used.
On top of the improvements to our products, our installation process has improved.
The process of Upgrading Artificial Grass
1. Remove the old artificial grass
If the artificial grass lawn was laid by us the process of upgrading artificial grass is relatively simple as we know the groundworks were professionally installed. A simple way to show the groundworks are good is to look for any movement in the grass or any bumps or collecting of rain water.
The first step in upgrading the artificial grass is to remove the old grass. We remove it by hand and cut it up into smaller sections approx. 2 metres square so we can easily move it. We do try to find a home for the old grass and have given many metres to animal rescue centres. Very soon we will be baling up the grass and sending it back to the manufacturer where it will be made into granules that can be used to make other products like benches and flowerpots. This way we will have zero landfill. At the moment the backing and the fibres are both recyclable but they can’t be split. Soon they won’t need splitting i.e. the fibres and base will be made from the same material.
This installation was 16 years old. Grass was growing through it, it had sunk and come away around the edges. Definitely a time for an upgrade.
2. Replace timber fixings and top up groundworks
Once the old grass has been removed, if the base is one of our installations from the past 14 years, we will remove the rotten fixings, and replace with new ones around the edges. We then top up the granite dust, compact it and rescreed before fitting the new grass. I say from the last 14 years because this was the time when we started putting Type One and granite dust in our groundworks.
If the grass was not laid by ourselves we will check the depth of the Type One under it. If this is ok and the grass shows no signs of having moved we can upgrade the grass. If not to our specification we will need to start the installation from scratch.
There was only sand below the grass on this installation. In this instance we needed to remove the sand and put in Type One aggregates, a weed membrane, new timber fixings and Granno dust before the new grass could be fitted.
The cost of upgrading your artificial grass lawn
If you can upgrade your artificial grass because you have good quality groundworks the savings can be huge. To give you an idea of the saving take a 100 m² lawn. To install this from scratch will cost in the region of £8000 inc vat. For an upgrade for the same lawn, you will be looking at approx. £5000
Another reason to get your lawn professionally installed in the first place.
Upgrading your artificial grass will give you another 10 years of joy, with a low maintenance, mud free space for you to use all year round.
