Artificial Lawns
Artificial Grass Belfast
Artificial grass solves some problems very well and creates others. CSW installs it in Belfast on a sub base that drains, and is honest about which camp your garden is in.
What It Is Good At And What It Is Not
Artificial grass has a genuinely useful place. A small, shaded Belfast back yard where real grass has never worked and never will. A garden with a dog and a mud problem. A household that wants somewhere green the children can use in February without tracking half of it inside. In those situations it does something no lawn can do, and the people who have it are pleased with it.
It is not, however, a universal upgrade, and it is worth hearing the other side before spending. It gets noticeably hot in direct summer sun. It does nothing for wildlife or drainage compared with a lawn. It needs occasional brushing and cleaning rather than nothing at all. And on a dog garden it needs rinsing, because unlike soil it has no biology to break anything down.
The installation itself lives or dies on the sub base. Artificial grass laid on compacted ground with nowhere for water to go will sit in a puddle after every heavy shower and smell in warm weather. Laid on a properly built free draining base, water goes straight through and the surface is usable within minutes of the rain stopping. That is the whole job.
Excavation And Sub Base
Dig out to depth, remove the existing surface and any soft material, and build a compacted free draining base of angular stone with a laying course on top. The part that decides everything.
Edging And Fixing
A proper perimeter to hold the edges down permanently, whether treated timber, paving edge or an existing wall. Loose edges are the most common visible failure.
Grass, Joints And Finish
Laid with the pile all running the same way, joined with jointing tape and adhesive rather than left to be walked apart, trimmed to the edges and brushed up.
Why CSW For Artificial Grass
Free Draining Base
Angular stone compacted in layers, not sand on top of clay. Water has to be able to leave or the surface will pond and smell.
Straight Advice First
If your garden would do better with real grass, or with paving, we will say so. It is a large spend to make on the wrong recommendation.
Groundwork Trade
This is an excavation and levelling job more than a landscaping one, which is why having builders do it produces a flatter, more stable result.
Edges That Stay Down
A real perimeter fixing rather than pegs into soft ground. Lifting edges are the fault everybody notices and nobody can unsee.
Joints Done Properly
Pile direction consistent across the whole area and seams tape jointed. A visible seam or a mismatched pile direction ruins the effect entirely.
Rest Of The Garden Too
Paving, edging, walls and planting in house, so the transition from grass to hard surface is finished rather than improvised.
Drainage, Levels And Permissions
Artificial grass needs no consent of its own, but replacing a permeable surface with a manufactured one has drainage consequences, and building the base changes levels. This is general guidance and NI Water and your district council are the authorities on your own property.
Where The Water Goes Now
A lawn absorbs a great deal of rainfall. A properly installed artificial grass system passes water through the backing into the sub base, and from there it has to go somewhere: into the ground beneath, or into a drainage outlet you have provided. If the ground beneath is compacted clay and no outlet exists, the base becomes a shallow reservoir.
Where a drainage solution involves connecting into anything, it is worth knowing that building over or near, or realigning, a public sewer, water main or associated works without NI Water's prior consent is an offence under Article 236 of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, with a protected strip of three metres or one and a half times the depth, whichever is greater.
- Surface water should go to a soakaway within your own ground rather than into a foul sewer.
- On heavy clay, a drainage layer or land drain within the sub base is not an optional extra.
- Locate any inspection chamber before setting out, and keep access to it.
Levels, The House And Edgings
Building a sub base raises the finished level, sometimes by a good deal, and that has to be planned rather than discovered. Finished artificial grass should sit clearly below the damp proof course and must not block airbricks ventilating a suspended timber floor.
Where a new edging, kerb or low wall is needed to retain the base, the Planning (General Permitted Development) Order (Northern Ireland) 2015 limits a wall, fence or other means of enclosure to two metres, and to one metre where it adjoins a road or a footpath.
- Excavate down to make room for the base rather than building up against the house.
- An Article 4 direction removes permitted development rights. Belfast City Council has made them, Malone Park being a published example.
- Front gardens can raise separate planning questions that back gardens do not.
Not A Building, But Worth Knowing The Thresholds
Artificial grass is a surface rather than a structure, so building control does not come into it. Building control in Northern Ireland is administered by your district council under the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, and there is no private approved inspector route here.
The thresholds are worth knowing because these projects often grow. Schedule 2 exempts a small detached single storey building not exceeding thirty square metres and standing at least one metre from a dwelling, road or boundary, and a carport up to thirty square metres open on at least two sides.
- Laying a surface is not notifiable work.
- Adding a garden room or covered structure to the same project has its own thresholds.
- Both the area limit and the one metre distance must be satisfied for the small building exemption.
How It Is Installed, And What Goes Wrong
The Sub Base Is The Product
Everything that goes wrong with artificial grass goes wrong underneath it. The base is excavated to depth, existing turf and soft material removed, and angular stone compacted in layers so it is both stable and free draining. A laying course on top gives the flat surface the grass sits on.
Sand on top of clay, which is a common cheap specification, gives you neither stability nor drainage. It settles into hollows, holds water and produces exactly the puddled, faintly sour surface that gives artificial grass its poor reputation.
Edges And Why They Lift
The most visible failure is an edge curling up, and it happens because the perimeter was fixed into soft ground with pegs rather than into something solid. Once an edge lifts it catches, and once it catches it gets worse.
A treated timber perimeter set into the base, or the grass fixed to an existing paving edge or wall, holds permanently. It is a small part of the cost and it is what keeps the installation looking deliberate rather than temporary.
Pile Direction And Joints
Artificial grass has a nap, and two pieces laid with the pile running in different directions will look like two different colours in certain light no matter how well the seam is made. All the rolls run the same way, and that has to be planned when setting out.
Seams are tape jointed and adhered rather than simply butted, because a butted joint will be walked apart within a season. A well made seam in the right pile direction is genuinely invisible.
Living With It Honestly
It is low maintenance, not maintenance free. It wants brushing periodically to lift the pile, occasional removal of leaves and debris, and in a garden with a dog it needs rinsing, because there is no soil biology to break anything down.
It also gets hot in direct summer sun, considerably hotter than grass, which is worth knowing if the area faces south and small children use it barefoot. In a shaded Belfast back yard, which is where most of it is installed here, that is rarely an issue.
How An Installation Runs
Decide If It Is Right
We look at the aspect, the drainage, the use and whether real grass could actually work. It is a large spend and it should be the correct one.
Check Levels And Drains
How much depth is available before the damp proof course or the airbricks become a problem, and where the water will go once the surface changes.
Excavate
Existing surface and soft material out to the depth the base needs, arisings taken away rather than spread somewhere else in the garden.
Build The Base
Angular stone compacted in layers with any drainage layer or land drain the ground requires, then a laying course screeded flat.
Edge And Lay
Perimeter fixed into something solid, grass laid with consistent pile direction, seams tape jointed and adhered, and trimmed cleanly to the edges.
Brush Up And Explain
Pile brushed up, area cleaned down, and a straight account of what it needs from you, which is a little rather than nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does artificial grass drain?
The grass does, through perforations in the backing. Whether the installation drains depends entirely on what is underneath. Laid over compacted clay with no outlet, the base becomes a shallow reservoir and the surface will pond and eventually smell. On a properly built free draining stone base it is usable minutes after the rain stops.
Why is the sub base so much of the cost?
Because it is the product, and the grass is the visible part of it. Excavating to depth, removing soft material and compacting angular stone in layers is genuine groundwork. Sand spread over clay is much cheaper and it settles into hollows, holds water and produces exactly the result that gives artificial grass a bad name.
Is artificial grass really maintenance free?
No, it is low maintenance. It wants brushing periodically to lift the pile, leaves and debris clearing off, and in a garden with a dog it needs rinsing, because unlike soil it has no biology to break anything down. That is far less work than a lawn, but it is not nothing, and we would rather say so.
Where does artificial grass actually work best?
Small, shaded back gardens and yards where real grass has never established and never will. Dog gardens with a permanent mud problem. Households who want something green and usable in February. In those situations it does something a lawn genuinely cannot, and people are pleased with it years later.
When would you tell me not to have it?
On a large open garden with decent light and drainage, where a real lawn would thrive with reasonable care. Also on a south facing area used barefoot by small children, because it gets considerably hotter than grass in direct sun. It is a substantial spend and it should be the right one.
Will the seams show?
Not if the pile direction is consistent and the joints are properly made. Artificial grass has a nap, and two pieces laid running in different directions look like two different colours in certain light regardless of the seam quality. Seams are tape jointed and adhered rather than butted, because a butted joint walks apart within a season.
Why do the edges curl up?
Because the perimeter was pegged into soft ground rather than fixed to something solid. Once an edge lifts it catches underfoot and gets progressively worse. A treated timber perimeter set into the base, or fixing to an existing paving edge or wall, holds permanently and is a small part of the total cost.
Will it raise my ground level?
Yes, sometimes by a good deal, which is why the excavation depth is planned rather than discovered. Finished grass must sit clearly below the damp proof course and must not block airbricks ventilating a suspended timber floor. We dig down to make room for the base rather than building up against the house.
Is it suitable for dogs?
It is one of the better applications, provided the base drains freely, because dogs and real grass in a small Belfast garden produce mud from October to April. The honest caveat is that it needs rinsing periodically. There is no soil biology under it to break anything down, so hosing is part of owning it.
Can I put it over an existing lawn or patio?
Not over a lawn. The turf has to come out, because organic material underneath will decompose, settle and leave hollows. Over existing sound paving it is sometimes possible if the falls and drainage are right and the level works, and we would look at that on site rather than rule it in or out in advance.
More Landscaping & Garden Design From CSW
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Tell us the area, how much sun it gets and whether there is a dog. We will give you a straight view on whether artificial grass is the right answer for that garden before we quote it. No charge for the visit.
- Call us: 07703 433214
- Email: Cswbuild@gmail.com
- Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland