We’re in the home stretch with this construction madness! I can’t wait to have my driveway and morning hours back. I can’t wait to sit outside in this grassy oasis even more! Yes, I said grassy. The synthetic grass is here.
To recap, we had narrowed our options down to 3 finalists.
A short grass, a medium length and a long length (3 inches). We finally decided on the longest of the grasses because the tall grass is like walking on cushions. It’s butter under your feet. The best way to describe the 3in grass is that it’s as if the lawn hasn’t been cut for 2 weeks. It’s that length – but evenly that length – and you don’t seem to notice.
Installation would have normally been scheduled in a 2 day block to allow for enough time. But our installation went a little faster than usual because my construction crew had already done all of the fill and base that goes down before the grass. The city required us to install a core paver system underneath the section in front of the garage door. (Don’t get me started on that whole saga.)
Grid like core paver system. Interlocking hard panels for a drivable grass system. Normally your next step would be to have real grass cover the top…We chose to lay artificial grass instead.
The core paver installation includes the addition of a base and fill that would also be suitable for the artificial grass to live on top of. So we killed two birds with one stone. The work on the grass began at 8am as usual and by 3pm about 8 guys had both the yard and paver sections banged out. Done in one day. We cut off an entire day by having the base already prepared.
So let’s back up – The crew carried in large rolls just like carpet, unrolled it, matched the seams beyond perfection and nailed down the edges to keep it firmly in place. There are 2 large main sections and then the smaller ends, sides and curves are all patched in. I’m telling you…there is not a single trace of a seam. My fears of bad installation did not come true. It’s beautiful work. Soon the crew moved on to the tedious task of putting 2 inch strips in between the poured patio pavers. Remember how I said artificial grass has a nap – a direction it must ALL be laid in to match? There is no evidence of those strips in between the stones being cut individually. The great workmanship is appreciated SYNLawn!
BEFORE
AFTER
NOW…I’m going to go out and plant the gardens this weekend and thoroughly enjoy walking on, sitting on and gazing on my new Midwestern childhood, lush, plush lawn while I work. Only it’s not a Midwestern lawn really…it’s a Southern Cali drought friendly, water rarely required synthetic lawn. We feel good about doing our part – but it was also decidedly a way to edit out yard maintenance from the list of things my brain power or money goes towards. Grass installed. CHECK.
So what’s next?
- I still need to select a few pieces to round out the patio furniture.
- Installation of our beautiful Trex fencing in the next week and a half.
- Final coats of paint
- Installation of outdoor lights
- Install patio furniture (fire pit table gas hookup) and gas grill
- And finally, the landscaping must be completed. Underground drip systems were installed for the most efficient watering in this southern Californian heat. Additional drip lines must be run once we complete the planting of the flower and vegetable beds – which we chose to do ourselves.
We are almost to the finish line. Just. Keep. Running….
edit. your. life. 