william_harris•25d agoMost Upvoted

Serious question, is artificial turf actually worth it or just a trend?

I was dead set against fake grass for years. Thought it looked cheap and felt weird. Then my neighbor in Phoenix put it in last summer. Their water bill dropped by $80 a month, easy. The yard stays green no matter what. But I also visited a buddy's place who installed it five years ago. His turf is faded, the blades are matted down, and it smells like dog pee in the heat. One side says it's a no-brainer for low maintenance. The other says it's a ticking time bomb of plastic waste and repairs. Which side is actually right for a normal backyard?

3 comments

3 Comments

lee84725d ago

Wait, $80 a MONTH in water savings? That's NUTS to me honestly, I figured you'd save maybe twenty bucks. But then you hit on the dog pee thing and that's the REAL dealbreaker, I've seen those yards in summer and the smell is absolutely VILE. I guess it comes down to if you have pets or not, simple as that.

william_garcia25d ago

Eighty bucks a month? That's wild, I figured you'd be lucky to see thirty or forty. My neighbor switched to fake grass last year and their water bill dropped like a rock, he showed me the before and after and it was legit half of what he used to pay. The dog pee thing though, I never even thought about that until you mentioned the smell baking in the sun, that's gotta be rough for anyone with a backyard mutt.

spencer_coleman25d ago

I water my wallet's savings every time I see a real lawn going brown.