azredhead
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,755 
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Post by azredhead on Jun 6, 2016 20:15:42 GMT
especially if you're in the southwest or have artifical or a specialty kind? We are looking to do the backyard. We have an area in the back by the pool. It's not big but big enough to let our two big dogs run and play. I'd like to do a synthetic grass. I'm looking at a few different kinds but it has to be pet friendly. And less maintance. We have the awful bluegrass/crabgrass. I'm very allergic and the dogs hate it. I just wondered if anyone has done this type of thing. Putting it in etc... I'd love to have something they can run and play on. Like this SpecialtyGrass our yard is very similar to the 3rd pic on the top row. But with the bluegrass/crabgrass it just grows in spotty and we get a lot of dead spots and it's yucky. We do have a sprinkling system. What do you have an what do you like? Was it a pain to put in? |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jun 6, 2016 20:22:45 GMT
I have heard that the synthetic grass can get really hot and you have to hose it off-- both for the odor if your dogs pee in the grass-- and to cool it off because of the heat (since it's plastic or whatever material it is).
Hopefully someone who has it and has pets can comment for you. We have kinda crappy, cheap grass; we didn't know any better and had the cheapest grade put in. But since the dogs play on it we didn't want to get the expensive golf course stuff, either. Because of the expense of installing the fake stuff- and because we already had irrigation installed where we wanted the grass- we stayed with real. But then again, we don't have any allergies. What I *think* I remember is that it's about 10X the price of sod to install.
I hope you find a solution that works for all of you!
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azredhead
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,755
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Post by azredhead on Jun 6, 2016 20:56:07 GMT
crimsoncat05 yea that's same here... good to know about it getting hot. Is the real grass harder to keep green in this heat etc..
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raindancer
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,095
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Post by raindancer on Jun 6, 2016 21:00:29 GMT
My friend has it and loves it, but they have no pets. However if her kids want to play outside it has to be hosed down to cool it off. You cannot just walk on it.
I had bermuda and it did fine there. I watered it daily at 5am for 20 mins. in summer, then in winter I let it go dormant most years. A couple of times I planted rye, which is much nicer and softer, but I can't remember the water cycle. I just asked my landscaper and he told me, but I didn't do it for the past 5 years.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jun 6, 2016 22:23:00 GMT
ours is currently on the summer watering schedule- we water ours every day for about 5-10 minutes, really early in the morning-- it comes on at 5:30 am.
It does *okay* till it gets really hot for a stretch; in the middle of the summer it will end up kind of dead-looking but it will perk back up in the fall when it cools off some. We water it just enough to keep it going; we don't want to pay the $$$ (we have a horribly expensive private water company where we live) to keep up a 'putting green' type lush green lawn-- we've also never over-seeded it for the winter, or anything like that. We have the grass just so our dogs have someplace to play on that's not gravel. I do know of at least one kennel (Pet & Mac's, in Gilbert) that uses artificial grass for the dogs' outdoor space, but I think they keep it shaded.
it irritates my BF to no end that our grass doesn't *stay* nice and green, but he also doesn't want to pay for that privilege, lol!! I've come to accept that it will only look really good for a period of time in the spring and in the fall.
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basketdiva
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,649
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Post by basketdiva on Jun 6, 2016 23:00:26 GMT
My brother did that for his tiny townhouse yard in Hawaii. He had it installed and there is something in it or the the underlayment that keeps urine smell away. He just hoses it off. People can't tell the difference between real grass and his fake grass. I'll ask him about the heat.
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Post by lisacharlotte on Jun 7, 2016 1:44:25 GMT
When we lived in West Texas we planted St Augustine grass. it's not the softest grass but it was the only thing that survived the heat. I've seen the fake grass in Las Vegas and just thinking about that hot plastic, nope, not for me.
We've had so much rain in the Midwest that my lawn is ridiculously lush at the moment. Unfortunately we are getting the mosquitos to go with all that wet.
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Post by blueeyedpups on Jun 7, 2016 17:53:19 GMT
We had artificial turf installed in both our front and back yards a couple months ago.
We have 2 dogs and we opted for the "dog turf" for the back yard. The dog turf is antimicrobial and also has more drainage holes in the backing.
We love it! No more mowing, fertilizing, watering, etc!
We have not noticed in getting too hot to walk on...I am in the Seattle area and it was in the 90s this weekend and i walked on it barefoot with no issues.
As far as price, we paid around $10 per square foot, installed. There is a lot of prep work for the installation. I'm glad we hired professionals to do it, I don't think it's something we could have installed on our own.
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calgal08
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,519
Jun 27, 2014 15:43:46 GMT
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Post by calgal08 on Jun 7, 2016 19:30:54 GMT
Our community pool has artificial grass and damn, that stuff gets hotter than the surface of the sun.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 15:22:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2016 19:33:55 GMT
My in laws put it in up in their home in Scottsdale. It's been too hot to be on it since April. And my ILs live in a fancy home so what they chose is the "high end" stuff and it still sucks in the heat. I wouldn't do it. It would burn your dogs' paws.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 15:22:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2016 19:34:20 GMT
We grow bermuda grass just fine.
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Post by BeckyTech on Jun 7, 2016 19:56:56 GMT
Our best friend from the dog park has the artificial grass made especially for dogs at his house. As far as I know, that means extra drainage and less heat than a normal artificial turf would have. He has mentioned the part in the sun in the summer gets toasty, but I don't recall him mentioning that it's so hot it's likely to burn their paws. I could ask for the brand name and more specific questions if you like. |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jun 7, 2016 22:16:11 GMT
wait-- now that I see the price listed, artificial is 3X more expensive than regular sod... sod was about $3 per square foot, and the artificial would have been about $10 per square foot.
(the only part I actually remembered was the "10" part... my memory really truly does suck!)
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Post by kimpossible on Jun 7, 2016 23:07:19 GMT
We had artificial turf installed in both our front and back yards a couple months ago. We have 2 dogs and we opted for the "dog turf" for the back yard. The dog turf is antimicrobial and also has more drainage holes in the backing. We love it! No more mowing, fertilizing, watering, etc! We have not noticed in getting too hot to walk on...I am in the Seattle area and it was in the 90s this weekend and i walked on it barefoot with no issues. As far as price, we paid around $10 per square foot, installed. There is a lot of prep work for the installation. I'm glad we hired professionals to do it, I don't think it's something we could have installed on our own. Ok - I live in AZ also and of course it is tempting, but we too have a dog - a big dog, big poop if you get what I mean. Even with drainage holes, doesn't the poo sit below the grass and well, for the lack of a better word - ferment? |
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Post by kimpossible on Jun 7, 2016 23:10:04 GMT
My in laws put it in up in their home in Scottsdale. It's been too hot to be on it since April. And my ILs live in a fancy home so what they chose is the "high end" stuff and it still sucks in the heat. I wouldn't do it. It would burn your dogs' paws. Our neighbors 3 houses down have a very high end product too (not in Scottsdale though) and they have a chihuahuas. We toured the home before they bought it from a nice retired couple that also had a chihuahua -1, not 3 like they have. I met them shortly after they moved in and they stated they had to hose it down for their dogs after April too. |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jun 7, 2016 23:11:11 GMT
where do you live, kimpossible?? we live south of Phoenix... we've trained our dogs to poo and pee on the gravel, NOT the grass-- but even if they pooped in the grass, I think it would dry into a rock within about an hour, as dry as it is here! Does it not do that where you live? It's the pee smell more I would worry about with artificial grass (aside from the heat factor)- I don't think we knew about the 'dog turf' option when we were investigating getting it. |
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Post by kimpossible on Jun 7, 2016 23:12:30 GMT
where do you live, kimpossible ?? we live south of Phoenix... we've trained our dogs to poo and pee on the gravel, NOT the grass-- but even if they pooped in the grass, I think it would dry into a rock within about an hour, as dry as it is here! Does it not do that where you live? It's the pee smell more I would worry about with artificial grass (aside from the heat factor)- I don't think we knew about the 'dog turf' option when we were investigating getting it. I'm in the west valley and our dog goes on the gravel too. I'm originally from California and love grass...but its just not practical out here. |
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Post by 2peaornot2pea on Jun 7, 2016 23:17:50 GMT
If it has to be hosed down, why is it touted as being better for the environment than having a grass lawn?
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Jun 7, 2016 23:25:10 GMT
If it has to be hosed down, why is it touted as being better for the environment than having a grass lawn? ^^^ it only has to be hosed down to cool it off IF you're going use it in the summer / hot months-- for example, if your kids or dogs will be playing on it. If you use it in your front yard, for example-- and no one will ever be USING the front yard for any reason-- because most people don't use their front yard here in AZ (they're mostly just for 'show')-- well, then, it IS better for the environment because you don't have to irrigate it to keep it green, it never has to be mowed, no weeds, no maintenance whatsoever. |
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paget
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,039
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
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Post by paget on Jun 8, 2016 0:10:38 GMT
We had artificial turf installed in both our front and back yards a couple months ago. We have 2 dogs and we opted for the "dog turf" for the back yard. The dog turf is antimicrobial and also has more drainage holes in the backing. We love it! No more mowing, fertilizing, watering, etc! We have not noticed in getting too hot to walk on...I am in the Seattle area and it was in the 90s this weekend and i walked on it barefoot with no issues. As far as price, we paid around $10 per square foot, installed. There is a lot of prep work for the installation. I'm glad we hired professionals to do it, I don't think it's something we could have installed on our own. I'm in Seattle area and also hve two dogs and seriously suck At lawn care. Do you have a pic of either yours or the kind you got? |
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azredhead
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,755
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Post by azredhead on Jun 8, 2016 0:35:44 GMT
We had artificial turf installed in both our front and back yards a couple months ago. We have 2 dogs and we opted for the "dog turf" for the back yard. The dog turf is antimicrobial and also has more drainage holes in the backing. We love it! No more mowing, fertilizing, watering, etc! We have not noticed in getting too hot to walk on...I am in the Seattle area and it was in the 90s this weekend and i walked on it barefoot with no issues. As far as price, we paid around $10 per square foot, installed. There is a lot of prep work for the installation. I'm glad we hired professionals to do it, I don't think it's something we could have installed on our own. Ok - I live in AZ also and of course it is tempting, but we too have a dog - a big dog, big poop if you get what I mean. Even with drainage holes, doesn't the poo sit below the grass and well, for the lack of a better word - ferment? that's a good ?? I am noting a bunch of ?? to ask this weekend. So glad I posted and the peas are asking too!  crimsoncat05 I know I have to do measurments on Thur so I can see what we're looking at and how much we want to spend. I don't know if I want to take all of our savings. |
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Post by blueeyedpups on Jun 9, 2016 14:02:39 GMT
Ok - I live in AZ also and of course it is tempting, but we too have a dog - a big dog, big poop if you get what I mean. Even with drainage holes, doesn't the poo sit below the grass and well, for the lack of a better word - ferment? You still have to poop scoop, you can't just let it sit there! The antimicrobial treatment is more for the pee. You can also hose the pee off every so often so it doesn't smell. |
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Post by blueeyedpups on Jun 9, 2016 14:06:46 GMT
We had Dream Turf installed. Here's their website: Dream Turf |
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paigepea
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Location: BC, Canada
Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
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Post by paigepea on Jun 9, 2016 14:09:35 GMT
I'm in Vancouver and on my regular strolling route pass a house with this grass - it is becoming more common here. This is the home's front yard and it looks so gorgeous, especially in the summer when we have water restrictions. I always touch it when I pass and haven't noticed it hot, but as others have said it's the front yard and can't imagine anyone playing on it.
It does look great. It has square cement blocks in a design by the front of the house and the design all looks perfect.
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