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Fake grass

If you leave a comment, Jim will visit your blog and leave a comment. With San Diego being under a Level II drought alert -- which means car washes and landscape watering are cut back -- many home owners seems to be opting for artificial turf, also known as fake grass, faux grass, plastic grass, and Astroturf.

Interestingly, artificial turf has a high lead content (but we don't know the definition of "high" in this situation), which makes me wonder why it's okay but lead paint isn't.

The "grass" blades are typically made out of polyethylene, polypropylene, and nylon, with some more specialized turfs including recycled tire rubber and sand.

According to the San Diego County Water Authority, one square foot of real grass requires about 46 gallons of water each year, making artificial turf seem like a winner for a desert area such as San Diego with its ten inches of rain each year.

Along with not needing to water artificial turf, there are other advantages:

No gophers will be digging it up
No need for pesticides
No need for fertilizers

The warranty for artificial turf is usually about eight years and costs about anywhere from $9 to $12 per square foot. Mulch, rocks, pebbles, and native vegetation or other drought-tolerant plants are less expensive, still don't require any more watering than what Mother and Father Nature provide, and, in my opinion, creates a much more relaxing home environment than artificial turf. One other problem with artificial turf is that it does get very hot, which could be a problem in some areas of San Diego County.

*****

Jim Frimmer, Realtor, Century 21 Award Mission Valley
California real estate license #01458572
619-729-5701 -- jimfrimmer@century21award.com

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This week's posts:

Services from the Internet - 7/12/09
Presenting Friars Hollow in Mission Valley, San Diego, California - 7/12/09
SST (Speechless Sunday with Text): A good reason for being late - 7/12/09
What if this was your job? - 7/11/09
Our different four-legged friends in Boston - 7/8/09
WWW (Wordless Wednesday with Words): A ponytail???? - 7/8/09
Presenting Mission Bellwood in Mission Valley, San Diego, California - 7/7/09
Growth Leader, Week 12 - 7/5/09

Last week's posts:

Things are looking up here in San Diego real estate - 7/5/09
Are these MLS pictures representative of the house? - 7/5/09
Here's why I've always been a fan of open houses - 7/5/09
Virtual staging is here, but at what cost - 7/2/09
When in doubt, disclose, disclose, disclose - 7/1/09
WWW (Wordless Wednesday with Words): Torrey Pines Gliderport slide show - 7/1/09
July Fourth in City of San Diego and East San Diego County - 7/1/09
A day late and a dollar short. So sad for my Client - 6/29/09
Growth Leader, Week Eleven - 6/29/09
Red light cameras in the City of San Diego - 6/29/09

Previous week's posts:

SST (Speechless Sunday with Text): Federal Stimulus money and universal health care - 6/28/09
Realtors have been (still are?) part of the problem - 6/27/09
East San Diego County numbers you can use - 6/25/09
East San Diego County municipal goverment numbers - 6/25/09
Recycling centers in East San Diego County - 6/25/09
Growth Leader, Week 10 - 6/24/09
WWW (Wordless Wednesday with Words): San Diego Zoo tiger slide show - 6/24/09
Encinitas ranked #3 surf town in America - 6/23/09
Should we put our own house in order first? - 6/22/09
Presenting Mission Greens in Mission Valley, San Diego, California - 6/22/09

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Posted by Jim Frimmer, San Diego Mission Valley Realtor on 07/12/2009 10:45 PM

Comments (17)

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17 Comments on Fake grass

JUL

Jim, We have considered the artificial mulch but I'm just not sure if I would like it. We are in the middle of a drought also. We have been here 12 years and I don't EVER remember it being this dry. I keep expecting our water restriction signs to go up but so far so good.

Very interesting- I am not sure if I would like having artificial turf in my yard. I have two little girls who have inherited their Mother's clumsey nature- falling on artificial turf does not feel to great.

In Colorado, I see people spray painting their "lawn" (for lack of better words, that's what they call a spray painted front yard). Really wierd.

It was good enough for the Brady Bunch back in the day, who knew it would come full circle

Hi Jim: We have had some record rainfall in my neck of the woods. I'll gladly send some your way.

JUL

Jim,

This works me; not because we don't get rain-I just hate cutting the damn grass.

Hi Jim, Good post. Thanks for sharing.

Best - Sash

Artificial Turf gets pretty hot...I say go with the rock or mulch option. Why fight Mother Nature?

I wonder what the future liability will be for homes purchase that have artificial turf with regard to the lead content? Doubtful that it will be ignorned.

Jim - I saw artificial turf when I visited family just north of San Diego about a year ago. I have to say that it looked beautiful! Yes, it does get hot to the touch but it is a great alternative. Either that or no grass and complete rock landscaping.

I had not considered artificial turf for an entire lawn. No need to mow....now there's a good thought!

Hey, Jim. I am with you on this one. The new turf is made so well that it looks and feels better than real grass. Not to mention that it would save me about six hours each time I cut. Thanks, Jim

JUL

Jim, I saw that for the first time in our market yesterday on tour. The home had it in the backyard. The cool thing was there was a weed growing on the side of the lawn/rug. Kind of made it look real. We haven't seen it much up here, Northern Nevada, but it might be coming as retirees want less lawn to maintain. Thanks for the information on the lead - interesting.

Only 10 inches a year? It's been dry here too, but the other night we got 3 inches in some spots. I was glad to see it, but it wasn't much fun to drive in.

Happy to live where corn and grass grow! You should see the corn and potatoes in our garden!!!! The peas need picked too, and I've been keeping my eye on the summer squash that will be ripe soon!

Hey, Marchel - I'd rather have real mulch and virtually any time of vegetation. I can't even stand the plastic plants when I go to the doctor's office.

Hey, Christine and Jennifer - There is a reason why so many baseball and football stadiums have, and are, switching from artificial turf back to real grass. Of course, that means we get some good mud football games, too.

Hey, Larry - Back in the California drought in the late 1980s people were spray painting their dead grass.

Hey, Brian - The Brady Bunch came out in 1969, not too long after Astroturf was invented and installed in the Astrodome in Houston.

Hey, Matt - Please do. Do I have to pay shipping and handling? LOL

Hey, Terry - I grew up having to mow the lawn and came to despise grass. There are options now, though, with lots of grass types that don't grow as fast and can tolerate droughts.

Hey, Sash - I get the impression you don't have to worry about too many droughts there in Windsor, just excessive snow.

Hey, Holly - As we have seen with lots of things in the past, what was thought to be great turned out to be not so.

Hey, Leesa - I actually haven't seen any properties with artificial grass, yet, but it might have looked so good that I didn't realize it wasn't real.

Hey, Irene - I'm all for not mowing. In fact, many cities have regulations about mowing - how often, how loud, gas or electric, etc.

Hey, Jim Hart - But if you didn't have anything to mow, how would you discipline Josh when he gets to be a teenager? LOL

Hey, Jim Valentine - Are you sure the weed wasn't fake, too? LOL

Hey, Ann - The first time I went to Texas with my marketing guru, we got stuck in Floresville, southeast of San Antonio, in a thunderstorm that dropped something like four inches in an hour. I didn't realize such things happened outside of hurricanes and monsoons.

Hey, Marilyn - I want to see pictures of real corn, potatoes, squash, and peas. No fake ones!

JUL

It sure would give us extra time rather than mowing the lawn. With all the rain we have had in RI in the month of June, our grass has grown so rapidly, no sooner it is cut it needs mowing again in a couple of days.

SEP

Artificial turf has many benefits like no watering, no mowing which ultimately help to save water the most precious element of the earth.Source: http://http://www.actglobalsports.com/

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