You’ve seen those Calgary homes that have lawns that look like they come right out of the pages of a home and garden magazine. On close examination, you might have discovered that the lawn was actually artificial turf, and it may make you wonder, if you too should go for a fake lawn. Before you do, you need to weigh the pros and cons of having a real lawn vs. an artificial lawn.

Temperature Differences

• Artificial lawns may look cool, but they really are anything but cool. Artificial lawns heat up quickly and hold heat. This can make spending time out in yard on a hot summer day unbearable.
• This hot turf may not be overly kind to your pet’s paws or your children’s bare feet.
• A real lawn on the other hand is cooler than artificial lawn and when your lawn is cooler, it can help keep your home cooler as well. Plus, there’s nothing better than walking on cool grass on a hot summer day!

Amount of Care Needed

• Many people believe that real lawns need more lawn care than artificial lawns. However, this may not be the case. Yes, you need to keep your lawn mowed and water it during dry weather, however artificial lawns need to be irrigated during hot weather to keep the temperature down.
• Artificial lawns also need to be rinsed off to remove dirt and keep the lawn looking green and not dirty.
• You also may have to constantly vacuum the lawn to keep it clean. Having your neighbours watch you vacuum the lawn, how weird would that be?

Effects on the Environment

• When it comes to comparing a real lawn to one that is artificial and which is better for the environment, then the real lawn wins hands down. For starters, artificial turf is made of plastic using petrochemicals, which makes the manufacturing of this type of lawn bad for the environment.
• A real lawn helps to clean the air of carbon dioxide and just 1000 square feet of real grass will produce enough oxygen for an entire family. This makes real lawns much better for the environment than artificial lawns.

Effects on Health

• Studies have shown that falling on artificial turf results in more serious injuries for both adults and children, compared to taking a tumble on real grass.

Longevity

• With proper lawn care real lawns can and will last a lifetime compared to artificial lawns that only have a life span of 10 to 15 years.
• Doing a bit of ongoing maintenance on a natural lawn will still be cheaper than the high cost of installing and having to replace an artificial turf.

Effects on property value

• Research says that artificial grass can devalue your home. This is because when selling your home you must appeal to the masses, and Real estate agents in Calgary say that artificial lawn will leave out many potential buyers as most people want a real lawn.

When you weigh the pros and cons of real lawns vs. artificial lawns, it is clear that natural grass lawns win hands down. One cannot forget the sweet scent of real grass early on a Calgary morning, or the feel of real grass under your bare feet as you walk across the lawn.