Fake grass growing more popular in Houston neighborhoods
High-tech lawns expanding from Astro Turf origin
Junebug and Ladybug romp on their emerald green front lawn, tugging and tossing their rope toys and occasionally checking in with their humans, Randall and Etna Neighbour.
The Neighbours have fought the elements — a split of cool shade and harsh sun combined with spotty rain — and spent endless hours and dollars sodding and resodding their Houston Heights yard to no avail. As they’ve struggled to maintain a lawn that Mother Nature didn’t seem to want them to have, they’ve also cleaned up plenty of muddy pawprints inside their home.
Recently, though, the Neighbours decided they’d just had enough. After a couple of years of research, they opted for a combination of hired help and DIY efforts to install 600 square feet of SYNLawn’s synthetic turf this summer.
The Neighbours are part of a growing trend among homeowners who are installing manmade turf in front and back yards for a variety of reasons. Some simply have too much shade to grow a decent lawn that can stand up to the wear and tear of pets, like the Neighbours’ golden retrievers. Others have harsh sun and find constant watering a tough schedule to maintain. In some parts of the country, drought or lack of water create different problems.
Dan Bond, president and CEO of the Synthetic
Council, a trade organization that represents turf manufacturers, suppliers and installers, said that in the past seven years, the production of synthetic turf in North America has nearly tripled and is expected to grow another 20 percent in the next three years.
That increased output is keeping up with a domestic demand that has tripled in the past seven years, Bond said. He noted that demand is huge in desert states such as New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and parts of southern California, where serious water conservation edicts counter the desire for a lush green lawn.
“Water restrictions in many municipalities are mandating restricted water use for lawns. We’re seeing a lot of folks make the switch because you can’t keep grass nice and green if you can’t water it. It’s as simple as that,” Bond said.
AstroTurf ’s legacy
Synthetic turf first caught the public’s eye when the Astrodome — the world’s first multipurpose domed sports stadium — opened in 1965. Dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the venue that was the home to the Astros soon upped its wow factor the following year when its indoor grass was replaced with synthetic grass called AstroTurf.
Since then, new generations of synthetic lawns have improved, with short and long fibers designed to look like zoysia, Bermuda and even St. Augustine grasses. Installation has improved with better drainage systems, too. And even in sports venues, the early hard surfaces were improved to be softer and safer for athletes.
Since then, most professional sports arenas have shifted back to real grass, but synthetic grass in residential settings is growing.
Houstonians building tall townhomes on 50-foot-by-100foot lots often have little space for a front or back yard, and hiring a lawn service to maintain a tiny patch seems pointless. Families with busy children or active pets hope that synthetic turf will minimize mud or dirt making its way indoors. And there’s the bug factor: removing real grass and the potential for standing water gets rid of a habitat for mosquitoes and other pests.
For Neighbour, not only were he and his wife, Etna, tired of cleaning up dirt his dogs brought in, they were tired of looking at an ugly front lawn.
“We wanted a nice yard, and I operate my business from my house now. It makes sense to have a nice yard so there’s some curb appeal,” Neighbour said of his Kingdom Wealth Management financial planning business.
Neighbour spent two years researching the project and ultimately opted for SYNLawn after buying samples of several brands.
“It’s excellent for tiny yards because it’s a pain to cut it, weed it, edge it, fertilize it,” Neighbour said. “Ours wasn’t tiny. We had 600 square feet put in. In materials alone — let’s call it carpet — it was $1,800. Prices are all over the place, but we went with the least expensive option from the best brand available.”
Neighbour hired someone with earth-moving equipment to prep his lawn, tearing out some tree roots 6 inches down from what little sod he had. From there, a 3-inch base of crushed stone was infilled and then compacted and graded for drainage.
In all, Neighbour said he spent about $5,000, but had he hired someone to do the entire job for him, he likely would have spent close to $9,000.
People without pets have little maintenance once synthetic turf is installed, but Neighbour said that he hoses his yard monthly with a sanitizer that costs $20 a bottle.
‘Since sliced bread’
Jeremy Piltzmaker, a sales manager for SYNLawn Houston, isn’t old enough to have been to the Astrodome when its field was covered with AstroTurf, but he played football at Cy-Fair High School and he remembers well the hard surface he played on a decade or more ago.
Now in his office he has a small piece of turf from the Dome and he marvels at how technology has made every part of it better, from the color and shape of the blades of grass and how they now keep the turf cooler to the touch, to the backing and filling materials.
“It’s the best invention since sliced bread. It really is,” Piltzmaker said of the SYNLawn brand, which is the residential component of AstroTurf, now owned by SportGroup. “Most of the requests we get are pet-related and kid-related. Most of the time, to be honest, customer requests are pet-related. That has a lot to do with the inability to grow grass in areas where there are a lot of trees. They want a place for their dogs and kids to play in the backyard.”
Stephen Clark of Wakasa, a landscape firm now specializing in synthetic turf, said in the past five years he’s gone from one crew to five crews to keep up with demand. He installs up to 50,000 square feet of synthetic turf a month at schools, pet resorts and homes in the Houston area.
Clark said that better-looking turf and improved installation technology have fueled demand. Coloring systems allow the synTurf thetic fibers to stand up to harsh UV rays and better designs make the turf look more realistic, too.
Installation involves removing sod and installing a base of decomposed granite that’s sloped and compacted toward the street or drainage system. A geotextile fabric is placed on top of that to protect the base from heavy rain. Then turf is installed, adhered with spikes and staples, and a sandy infill is brushed in, Clark said.
Cost can vary depending on the materials you use and ground conditions, but Clark said synthetic turf generally costs $7.50 to $10 per square foot. His work comes with a 15-year warranty. Between saving on lawn maintenance and water conservation, the system can pay for itself in three years or less, he said.
Greener grass
In addition to water conservation, synthetic turf also helps keep the air a little cleaner.
Bond and the turf council cite U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies that show a push lawn mower emits as much air pollution in an hour as 11 cars would. A riding mower is even worse, emitting as much pollution in an hour as 34 cars. There’s the issue of grass clippings, too; they’re the third largest component of landfill waste, according to EPA data.
Neighbour said that in addition to making a better impression on clients who visit him at his home office, he plans to host golden retriever play parties — he calls them Golden-Paloozas — in his pretty new yard.
“It took two years to pull the trigger — it was going to be $8,900, are you kidding me? — I’m a financial adviser and I don’t like to spend money,” he said. “I finally decided, hey, if I’m going to have more clients coming to the house after this summer and I’m going to have little parties in the front yard for dogs, then it’s time to go ahead and get it done.”