Artificial Lawn & Grass in Arizona 480-586-0655

Have you ever thought about it? Where it came from? Why its become the thing to have? Who made it? I never really had until today, and it was just more curiosity than anything else. So if I was curious, maybe you are. So here are some fun facts about the history and birth of where synthetic grass has come from:

All From wikipedia.com:
“David Chaney – who moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1960 and later served as dean of the North Carolina State University College of Textiles – headed the team of Research Triangle Park researchers who created the first notable artificial turf. That accomplishment led Sports Illustrated to declare Chaney as the man “responsible for indoor major league baseball and millions of welcome mats.” This turf first came to prominence in 1965, when AstroTurf was installed in the newly-built Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The use of AstroTurf and similar surfaces became widespread in the 1970s and was installed in both indoor and outdoor stadiums used for baseball and gridiron football in the United States and Canada.”

First Used in Baseball
Artificial turf was first used in Major League Baseball in the Houston Astrodome in 1966, replacing the grass field used when the stadium opened a year earlier. Even though the grass was specifically bred for indoor use, the dome’s semi-transparent Lucite ceiling panels, which had been painted white to cut down on glare which bothered the players, did not pass enough sunlight to support the grass. For most of the 1965 season, the Astros played on green-painted dirt and dead grass.

First used in the NFL
In 1969, Franklin Field, the football stadium of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, switched from grass to artificial turf. Also home of the Philadelphia Eagles, it was the first National Football League stadium to use artificial turf. In 2006, Gillette Stadium, the football stadium of the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution, switched from grass to FieldTurf due to the conflict of poor weather and hosting many sporting and musical events at the stadium. It is one of 13 National Football League stadiums that have turf instead of grass fields.[1]

Landscaping Today
Since the early 1990s, the use of synthetic grass in the more arid Western states of the United States has moved rapidly beyond athletic fields to residential and commercial landscaping. This trend has been driven by the dramatic improvement in the quality and variety of available synthetic grasses, the reduced cost of maintenance and care compared to natural grass, and the realization that artificial lawns can be a significant water conservation measure in areas where water usage is a concern.

So there you have it. Very interesting facts about the history of synthetic grass and how its still growing and evolving.

An agency in California is doing something quite incredible. They are handing out $1000 Rebates to residents that install water saving synthetic turf instead of choosing to maintain water hungry grass. The Solana County Water Agency is trying to get a better handle on water conservation.

This county is giving $1000 to anyone who will take measures for conservation of water. This includes replacing landscaping with artificial turf, plants that don’t need daily watering, or replacing outdoor areas with designs that allow water to drain through them in either patios or walkways.

It costs a state or county government in areas that don’t see water on a steady basis hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat water, filter water, and gather water. Desalination processes, as well as a myriad of other costly programs all add up and take money from governments that are increasingly becoming short on cash. Everyone knows that California is one of the hardest hit areas in the country financially. These rebates may not cover all costs of converting a persons lawn from grass to artificial turf, but it makes a giant dent. Also, it saves the area you live in money. Money that could be put towards better initiatives like education or hospitals.

So if you’re a lucky resident of Solana County – take the water agency up on their offer. If you live anywhere else, contact your local government to see if they can offer some kind of program that’s similar.

How many times have you traveled anywhere? Hundreds of times, right? And how often have you stopped on a layover thankful that there’s a bathroom close to your gate because you just simply cannot wait to go in search of one? Or how many times have you been on a really long flight and while it’s not the best place, you’ve been thankful that there are multiple bathrooms on flights? Probably more times than you can count.

How often have you traveled with your pet? Your dog or cat locked up in a crate for the long haul, be it a couple of short connecting flights with layovers, or a really long distance single flight. Don’t they deserve a bathroom break as well?

According to The Washington Post, this might be a possibility in the future. Reagan and Dulles Airports in Washington DC, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, have created pet relief areas in order for your pets to be able to have a quick layover and get out of their crates too.

The relief areas will have clear signs and resources for waste disposal. At Dulles these areas are consisting of artificial grass in fenced in enclosures inside some of the concourses. There are drainage systems in place for it to remain clean and cared after easily.

This is incredibly forward thinking on behalf of these airports. They do know that happier pets make happier traveling animals. And by having small artificial turfs inside, it makes it a lot easier for travelers to take better care of their traveling companions. Hopefully more airports take the same lead.

In a surprising turn of events, the country of the United Arab Emirates has decided to outfit all areas in synthetic grass for a number of great reasons. The local governments have all decided that it would be best for the people, the government, and their budgets.

According to the United Nations, the residents of the UAE are amongst the top water users in the world having used 550 liters of water per day. Which you would expect seeing as how some of the richest people in the world live in Dubai, and it is an epicenter of business located in an extremely scorching desert. The thing to note about their water usage is that it also must go through an expensive and long desalination process. The whole procedure is arduous and needs to be changed.

According to this article, ‘”If a family of four reduced their time in the shower by one minute per day, they would save 11,079 litres of water a year, or filling a bath tub only halfway would save 13,870 litres per annum,” said Markus Oberlin, General Manager of Farnek Avireal, a leading UAE-based company advising building owners on how to dramatically cut their carbon emissions and utility bills. “Putting that into context, the savings potential for local governments using artificial grass in pubic urban landscaped areas such as road verges, traffic islands and interchanges, must run in to hundreds of millions of Dirhams. It needs 2.5 million litres of water to irrigate a 200 square metre lawn over 40 months, the same amount of water that would fill an Olympic sized swimming pool,” he added.

By redoing all public parks, traffic medians, and building landscaping, they will also be cutting down their carbon emissions significantly. They have viewed their decision in a matter of health as well. Grass harbors various kinds of insects, such as mosquitoes which are known to carry deadly diseases. This would be lessened with the implementation of synthetic grass.

Overall, the UAE is taking steps that would lessen expenses on water, cut carbon emissions, keep people healthier and safer, and all because they’re switching to artificial turf. They also will make all of their initial costs back after 4 years of not having to maintain it the way they do now. A win win for everyone, right?

Florida A&M University is looking to install new artificial turf on their field just in time for the fall 2010 football schedule to get underway. One of the team’s players has vivid memories of the field though. His memories aren’t necessarily good since he suffered a pretty bad injury on the field during his freshman season that led to a pretty serious knee injury.

The player turned out to be ok, and is returning this year for his final year on the team, and is looking forward to playing on a new artificial turf. Turf, that he believes if it had been there four years ago, his injury might not have taken place. Apparently the old field was very hard and difficult to play on. His cleats became stuck in a hole and his knee twisted, causing him to miss many practices.

With anything else, when a decision to turn a field into artificial turf, there will be discussions that include many pros and cons. However in this case, the players all banned together to voice their concerns and support overall of getting a new field. So when you have the people that will use the field most all in agreement, it would seem like kind of a no brainer for the community decision makers. Even the coach went to bat for this team and the field.

The field as it stands is full of potholes, bar spots, divots, and weeds. It has not been managed well during these discussions. If voted down, the school will have to pay significant amounts of money to repair the field this year, and provide serious upkeep and maintenance during the tough football season. The team is fairly confidence that the voters will see their side of it and vote on upgrading to Artificial Turf overall to provide the players with the safety and the comfort they need and deserve.

Mud.

Blades of grass.

Mud.

Dirt.

Rocks. Sand.

More Mud.

Tired of cleaning up after school children who run around outside and then run around inside? Do you live in an area that has a lot of playgrounds, fields, and outdoor areas for kids who are sometimes not able to play outside but somehow bring the dirt in anyway?

A small school in Kent, Ohio has decided that in order to keep its halls pristine, they are going to be placing artificial grass in all of their outdoor areas. They are tired of not only having to maintain the fields and playgrounds, but also the inside of their school.

Traditional grassy areas need a strong maintenance team. The fields must be watered, cut, clipped, fed, and mowed throughout the year. After strong play for any sports, the fields must be given time to grow back. But during all of this time, kids are playing and rolling around and getting dirty. When their recess time is done, where do they go? They go back inside.

The halls of a school require the same kind of maintenance. The janitorial staff and hall monitors must sweep, mop, and clean all surfaces of the school to keep it tidy at all times. When students are outside for any reason, be it gym or recess they track all of that grass and dirt back into the school.

Artificial grass alleviates this problem.

This decision has seemed to please everyone involved. They students are happier, the school is happier, and being that the students are cleaner and now safer – it really was the best way to go.

The worlds of fake grass and real grass have collided. Debuting at the World Cup games this year is a hybrid of synthetic turf and blades of grass. The experience is thought to be an extreme success and one that will assuage the arguments of Real vs. Fake when it comes to the types of fields that players play on.

For many years arguments of advantages and disadvantages have plagued the World Cup and FIFA (the governing board of international Soccer leagues). Does having artificial turf benefit those who can afford to have it while other poorer nations are only able to play and practice on grass?

Or does having artificial turf hurt those that play on it because they are not used to playing on everyday grass fields when they travel to different stadiums? How does all of this affect the outcomes of the games? Does it create an unpredictability that is needed in these games? Does it hurt those that are favored to win and give possibility to underdogs?

Perhaps the blending of synthetic turf and real glass blades will level the playing field. This type of grass, will be threaded 8 inches into the ground and woven with the natural blades. This will create a toughness that should outlast any sport, tackle, tumble, or even the toughest concert goer crowd.

The World Cup however, produces some of the toughest soccer play – where balls are kicked, skidded, and rolled over every inch of grass and the players run as hard and as fast as they possibly can. This will be a true test of strength for this new style of synthetic grass when it is debuted on the world stage for the Algeria vs. Slovakia game this month.

Many major stadiums in Europe use this style of grass so far, and it may very well be the turf of the future for premier world soccer matches. Stadiums in America for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Denver Broncos have also adopted this style of turf and it seems to be boding well for all involved.

There is a strong possibility that will be thought of as very eco-friendly since the natural grass is predominant here. The artificial threads attach with the blades under ground and now lets people run on the most natural feeling beautiful pitch available. And the fields still do not need much upkeep, either. The best of all worlds, wouldn’t you think?

When it comes down to thinking of synthetic grass I think it is fair to say that 95% of people automatically think of a football stadium, baseball field, or soccer pitch. Maybe a few of those 90% think of it for school playgrounds as well, but how many of you think of artificial turf covering a whole entire city?

Many small cities do not have the time or money to continually focus on their landscapes and keep the green grass beautiful and luscious. Oftentimes strong summer heat will even turn gorgeous green grass into burnt yellow hay – and there’s really nothing that can be done, unless you want to spend absurd amounts of money on labor and materials. A few small towns have even taken to just covering road medians with asphalt instead and while that’s an easy fix just one season later you will see that stubborn grass start to grow through the cracks and nature does find a way.

Recently a small city in Wyoming has decided to take it one step further. They are determined to keep their city gorgeous without breaking the bank. Gillette, Wyoming is conducting a one year test of placing artificial turf on all areas of the city near sidewalks, in street medians, parks, around parking lots, & outside of buildings. This area also receives a lot of snow throughout the year so they are doing an ample testing of various areas to see how fading or other factors will work over time. They will start on a rooftop with a small 15×15 patch, and then bring it down to near the parking lot closer to the winter to see how it will handle immense snow and plowing.

What an smart way to keep your city constantly looking beautiful, don’t you think?

What is your feeling on Artificial Turf? Do you think that it is an increasing thing you see everywhere? Or do you think that it is a fad, something that just seems to be talked about but not really implemented anywhere?

Do a quick search on Google for the words Synthetic Grass, or Artificial Turf. The first three posts are:
Loyola to add Synthetic Grass to Messmer Stadium, Synthetic Turf coming to Watsessing Park, and “A Lawn Unto Itself: Chelsea Flower Show to Allow Fake Grass for the First time in 148 year history”. They were all updated recently and all are very positive. If you continue through the pages you will see that the majority of all news links and posts are positive, and demonstrate that more and more people, organizations, schools, and sports teams are for the most part, adding and installing synthetic grass.

There are naysayers everywhere. There are also personal preferences, and a myriad of reasons why people choose the things they do. However, if the news and blogs are any indication, maybe the majority of people are right. This isn’t just a fad, and more and more people are seeing the overall benefits. Not needing to spend your life tending to grass seems to be a very popular opinion. There’s something to be said about having your free time to yourself, and always having a gorgeous lawn or stadium to look at.

What do you think?

This past week saw a flurry of news concerning the Chicago Bears’ weighing their decision to either keep their stadium’s traditional grass or move forward and put artificial turf in place. In the beginning of the week it looked as they were going to look towards a bright future with turf, but in a surprising turn of events, they opted for hard to manage & to maintain, grass.

But, why?

Well, the Bears have claimed that they are citing personal injury case studies that demonstrate too many mistakes happen on synthetic grass and they are keeping the players in mind.

Is this really the case? Hundreds, if not thousands, of fields, parks, and stadiums across the country have recently come to use artificial turf and they ran the same case studies in all likelihood. In fact Most recently the Baltimore Ravens have started work on replacing grass with artificial turf, so if it is good enough for Baltimore, why isn’t it good enough for the Bears?

Many are claiming it is sticking to the “good, ol’ fashioned, traditional American way of playing football.” Could that be just an excuse to not to deal with a transition? It is costly for a professional football team to overhaul a stadium, train people how to take care of it over time, give extra practice time to teams to get used to the new feel. Do the transition costs outweigh the long term benefits of low maintenance costs, year round usage (especially in an area like Chicago and their awful winters), and a chance for re-branding? Apparently they do.

So, at least for now, the Chicago Bears are sticking to their roots and not moving towards the future for laying down artificial turf. Will they be left behind when more teams & stadiums like the Ravens start looking to the future?