I know people try to convince themselves that artificial plastic lawns look good, especially after spending ninety thousand dollars, but sorry, they are ugly. Horrible trend!

What was the name of this company? If someone was willing to do this at their home, they must really trust them. It would be great to know who did it.

Plastic.

I can only imagine the decor on the onside.

Saving wear and tear with plastic covers on the sofa, Petey?

Comments sight unseen are simply a display of the poster's ignorance.

You are welcome to come by and see the front lawn - it looks great.

The company we selected, after careful research, was Heavenly Greens - they did a great job.

"I can only imagine the decor on the onside." Fortunately you have no idea how beautifully decorated the inside is.

Peter: I have to wonder if you considered native plants. There are fine examples in the area that are very sparing on irrigation, encourage the return of native wildlife and have no temporary or lasting negative impacts.

Joe - as noted in the article "Research led them to choose artificial turf over alternatives, such as low water-use plantings, which wouldn't provide the flat surface they needed for activities, such as croquet, and a play area for their five grandchildren."

Phase II of our water reduction effort will be to convert all the other planted areas to Xeriscape with drip irrigation replacing the remaining sprinkler heads. We welcome suggestions regarding specific plants that do well in this area with minimal watering.

Here are some photos of the completed installation, including one of our cat who quickly decided that this was more fun and comfortable than was the old dry grass:

Web Link

"Comments sight unseen are simply a display of the poster's ignorance."

Pretty ignorant to think folks haven't seen plastic turf in this day and age. Its down the street at MA, up the street at Hillview, etc..

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OW - just because you have seen one redwood tree doesn't mean you have seen them all.

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So Peter, if you are so concerned about water usage, why don't you remove your pool ?

Did you consider spending a lot less than $90K to dig a well, like your neighbors at 124 James did (long ago) ? They have so much water available, they can water the street, gutter, etc.

Can't believe you hope that water gets more expensive. Irresponsible platform.

"if you are so concerned about water usage, why don't you remove your pool ? "

The pool is partially covered and uses very little water and it serves as an emergency water supply for both domestic use and firefighting in the event of a disaster.

"Did you consider spending a lot less than $90K to dig a well," Yes but the water table at our location produces very alkaline water that is unsuitable to most vegetation and unusable for domestic use. Also all the tailing from drilling a well in Atherton are now considered as hazardous waste and therefore are very expensive to dispose of.

"Can't believe you hope that water gets more expensive." You did not read the entire story:

"Mr. Carpenter said that he thinks local water providers should make their tiered pricing more steep, with low-priced water only at a "lifeline" level.

"If you want more water than that, then you should pay substantially more than that," he said."

I stand by that statement. Both gas and electric pricing tiers escalate MUCH more rapidly than do the pricing tiers for water - that is a huge economic mistake and one which I predict will soon be corrected.

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When the Alaska water line gets built, and water is cheap and plentiful, you'll have something else to complain about.

Really needs to understand that California is IN a water crisis and no pipeline from anywhere can be built fast enough to solve that problem. The immediate answer is water rationing either by fiat or by pricing - I prefer rationing by price.

And I have no problem being an early adopter - we installed solar domestic water heating over 30 years ago, had two all electric cars a decade before Tesla went on the market, installed fire sprinklers in an existing home when there was no legal requirement to do so and reproofed part of our formerly all cedar shingled home with identically appearing concrete nonflammable tiles.

For every early adopter there are hundreds of people who insist on coming late to innovation - your choice.

"What was the name of this company? If someone was willing to do this at their home, they must really trust them. It would be great to know who did it."


http://www.heavenlygreens.com

Very nice. Great improvements have been made to artificial grass. Thanks for sharing, Peter. The option you chose sounds pretty pricey, but I imagine there are various options for quality, durability, etc. How long do you expect this lawn to last before it needs to be replaced? And how did you weight the environmental impact of creating this artificial plastic non-biodegradable material vs. continuing to use water?

Great questions.

" How long do you expect this lawn to last before it needs to be replaced?

This particular product has a 15 year non-prorated warranty.

"And how did you weight the environmental impact of creating this artificial plastic non-biodegradable material vs. continuing to use water?"

The product we selected can, at its end of life of 20? years or more from now, be entirely repurposed to:
– Conversion to energy
– Synthetic lumber
– Molded parts

So 100% recyclable vs 20 years of wasted water, fertilizer, lawn mower gas, etc. - no contest.

Peter,

That looks great. And clearly helps our community with lower water usage.

We have several friends who've recently done the same thing with amazing results in lowering their CalWater bills.

Nicely done.

Roy Thiele-Sardiña

I'm sold! When I saw the photo of your cat on your new lawn that is all it took. Cats will have nothing to do with anything that is not good quality and comfy.

It does look great.

Thanks for the company name.

Good for you and Jane! Too bad there are so many naysayers in Menlo Park!

Some posters have asked about the artificial turf which has been installed at the fire stations.

Those installation were done by a different company than the one that did the installation at our home.

Here are the costs for those installations;

Station 1 $9,600
Station 3 $6,688
Station 4 $12,256
Station 5 $5,742
Station 77 $9,968