The "Save Water" movement has inspired many Australian homeowners to install synthetic or artificial grass in and around their homes. The green colour soothes your eyes, and beautifies the surrounding areas. The wonderful thing is that you need no watering, pruning or maintenance. You might know this by some different name, for example, synthetic grass, artificial grass, fake grass, imitation grass, or artificial turf. The question that comes up once you have bought artificial grass for your home is how to install synthetic grass yourself. Before I start to explain the process, let me tell you that this is a bit more of a complex process than laying turf or natural grass, but a more convenient and efficient one. You would find think that this might be as simple as laying a carpet, but it is not. Any mistake or improper installation may affect its durability or usability, or both. If you can manage to install this the way that has been recommended, you can save a lot of time and money without the need for maintenance. Preparing The Ground for Artificial Grass First you need to decide the exact area where you want to install artificial grass. You then need to make this area clean and free from any dust, dirt, soil and similar substances from a 75 to 100mm depth. You can use some sorts of hand tools for this job. You may also need an excavator like a bobcat or backhoe to dig out large rocks, hard clay and other such things from below the surface. If you think you may need to need to hire a bobcat, you will need to measure the access area first. If you have to hire a bin for disposing grass and rocks, confirm before hand whether or not you need special permission to use the bin for this purpose. Generally, this excavation process for an average area may take a whole day. Larger areas may take weeks. This time length can reduced or extended through weather conditions and the number of people you may have involved in the process. Installing The Base for Synthetic Grass Once you have excavated the area and surrounded this with a border of bricks, timber, tile etc, you should try to squash the soil to the right level. level. Unload crushed rock or powder near the site of installation either in your back yard or front yard. If the truck has difficulty unloading it anywhere near your site, you might have to do it manually. Fill the ground area with crushed rock. Apply crushed powder over this to 10mm depth approximately until the area is smooth. If any dips or craters remain, these will reflect in artificial or synthetic lawn as well, so it is better to let them not be there at all. You also need to provide appropriate outlet for flow of water. Light rain can be absorbed by synthetic lawn, but heavy fall will flow off its surface. Installing Synthetic Grass Artificial grass come in rolls. They come with grains to keep the grass fibres aligned. The sheet should be laid so that the grains can be aligned in the same direction. It is okay to let it get some sun heat, approx an hour before installation. Now cut to the required sizes and paste. You can use a Stanley knife for the purpose. Now fill the artificial grass surface with fine, kiln-dried sand. You can obtain this from either your artificial grass vendor or from other quarry/supplier. Sand fills the gaps between fibres and makes it sit properly. Now you brush out the excessive sand from over the lawn. You are almost done. All you need now is to cover the sand. You can do this by using a granulated rubber product. These products can be obtained from your synthetic grass vendor or supplier. Eureka! You’ve done it!
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