The history of artificial or fake grass is to say
least an interesting one and arose out of social desire to in-effect ward off what could be seen, as far back as 1950s, as an increasingly unhealthy tendency by youngsters not to exercise. History has it that birth of synthetic grass began through attempts by scientists trying to develop a type of grass that would not only allow children and adolescents to play on regardless of weather condition but encouraged them to do so, in other words, a surface that they enjoyed using or a user friendly surface. Hence advent of fake or artificial grass.
The result was one of early prototypes of what we now know to be fake or artificial grass. The earlier types were not only hard under foot and made for impracticality especially where sports and children were concerned given tendencies to fall but were very unpopular. Conversely, however, in terms of workability and endurance this surface proved itself worthy, with originally playing field where fake grass surface was installed lasting twenty years of solid wear.
Claims that in terms of practicalities due to poor drainage and its tendency to rot fake grass has limited applicability are unsubstantiated. Furthermore, highly contentious arguments revolving around argument that artificial grass causes more on-field injuries when used in sports-grounds is again unfounded and may be derived from factions wanting to see this type of surfacing a thing of past. The claim by industry is that if laid correctly no problems should occur. In fact, if anything, this type of surface should encourage better drainage enabling competitive sports to continue play with less interruption time due to rain.
Today advances in artificial grass surfaces are enormous and can’t be down-played. It is common practice to no longer use asphalt as an underlay beneath surface of grass which has increased shock absorption provided by grass, decreased retention of heat during summer and further improving drainage ability of grass. Finally and possibly most importantly no longer does fake grass look, both on and off T.V like earlier versions of fake grass, that is, FAKE.
Typically artificial grass is approximately 3cm thick (from base to blade tip). The material of ‘blades’ themselves are a polyethylene-polypropylene blend which are then woven into a mat-like backing (much like that of carpet). The only maintenance that is recommended is that surface be given a once over each month, which involves rubbing it down. It you were to get this done professionally it is estimated that it would cost no more than a couple of thousand dollars a year. While this may initially sound a lot when compared to water costs alone for real thing – there is virtually no comparison. For those still sceptical and missing small things associated with ‘real’ grass consider this. In America, consumers missing smell associated with cut grass can purchase, that is right, purchase a can whose contents promise that ‘just cut smell’!
