Although your artificial grass doesn’t require as much maintenance as a real lawn, there are still certain things that you need to do to keep it clean and looking like new.
You’d mop your wooden floors and hoover your carpets, and an artificial lawn shouldn’t be treated any differently to another floor in your home.
Good maintenance will make your artificial lawn last for longer and keep it looking fresh, too. We’ve outlined some ways you can clean your artificial grass, including hoovering it!
How to clean artificial grass
You don’t need to clean your grass every day as rainwater will wash away most of the surface dirt that can accumulate. However, just like a carpet in your home, tea, wine, dog urine and other spills or stains need to be removed from your artificial grass. You wouldn’t spill food on your floor at home and leave it, so you should treat your lawn in the same way.
If you spill a coloured liquid, such as red wine, on your grass, there are a few steps you should take. The liquid should be mopped up as quickly as possible with a dry cloth, kitchen roll or a sponge. Cat litter also does a good job of absorbing liquids quickly. If it has stained the grass, apply a mix of water and washing up liquid. Use a bristle brush to work it into the fibres then rinse the lawn with the hose pipe.
Leaves should be removed regularly. This isn’t as important in spring or summer, but when the leaves start falling in autumn, you should make sure you're keeping on top of this task. You could use a leaf blower, rake or stiff brush to remove the leaves. To minimise the number of leaves that fall on the grass, trees and hedges could be trimmed back on a regular basis.
If you choose to brush the grass, do so carefully - you don’t want to make it all point in the same direction. Use your brush to sweep away the leaves and, once the grass is clear, use the brush to tuft the grass back up again.
Weeds can grow through the drainage holes in your lawn so you should keep on top of them and get rid of them whenever you see a new one poking through. Because your lawn is made from synthetic fibres, weed killer won’t have an effect on the grass but it’ll still do a good job of killing the weeds. You could use weed killer on the whole lawn a couple of times a year and pick any pesky seedlings out when you see them.
Finally, you can use an artificial lawn spray to clean away pet urine. The spray can be made at home, so make as much as you need. First, sprinkle the area with baking soda and then add a diluted solution of water and white vinegar (in equal parts). It may fizz up a bit. Then use a cloth to wipe up the excess liquid. Pet urine should sink into the sand that’s located underneath the lawn, but the baking soda and white vinegar will stop your lawn from becoming smelly.
Avoid putting a chiminea or fire pit directly onto the grass as the heat can begin to melt the fibres and hot ash that lands on it could leave a burn mark. Use a patio for this purpose instead.
Can you hoover artificial grass?
You can hoover certain kinds of artificial grass, however there are some precautions you should take.
First, you should check with the company you purchased the grass from to see if it has an infill. An infill is used in some artificial lawns to keep the grass fibres standing up straight, even when weight is applied. The infill is usually sand but it could also be rubber. If you try to hoover this, your hoover will be sucking up the sand as well as the dirt and leaves. Not only is this bad for your vacuum cleaner, but for your lawn too.
If your lawn doesn’t have an infill, then you are able to use your hoover sparingly. A vacuum shouldn’t be used too regularly as the vacuum could still flatten the fibres, however it is good for occasional cleaning. If your lawn is covered in leaves, it’s advisable to remove these first and then use the hoover to get any final bits of debris. You don’t want to block your hoover with foliage and twigs.
An artificial lawn can save you so much time, particularly as you don’t have to cut it, treat it or watch it turn yellow in the summer months. It looks perfect all year round, as long as you look after it correctly.