As a drought becomes a major
concern in California, the idea of replacing old lawns with artificial grass
becomes more and more attractive to home and business owners. In the interview
with Ken Wayne, Fox News, San Francisco, Jim Luthi, the homeowner of Newark,
confessed he has bit the bullet and replace the sod with artificial turf: "Thirty something years of having
droughts on and off. "
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As every homeowner knows, a
nice lawn takes a lot of work and water, and for some it doesn't worth it
anymore.
"A few years ago I
wouldn't have got this because I didn't like the artificial turf, but they've
gotten so good now that I figured you know what, I'm going to do it. And I
wanted to lessen the workload on myself a little too," Jim said.
Michael McGinnis, a
landscaper, loaded his pick up with a giant roll of artificial turf at Global
Syn-Turf's warehouse in Hayward, California. He says he is getting a lot more
business installing turf.
"It's becoming extremely
popular. People can't get enough of it I guess," he told KTVU.
The artificial grass industry
is exploding. Global Syn-Turf, the largest artificial grass manufacturing
company in America runs 45,000 square foot warehouse in Hayward. But that's
only a small part of their business. They carry artificial turf products all
around United States, including large metropolitan areas in Florida, Texas,
Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, New York and East Coast. Residents and landscaping businesses in
Southern California pick up turf directly from GST's huge Los Angeles and San
Diego warehouses. With increasing popularity of artificial turf in United
States, most manufacturers run out of products quickly, but not Global
Syn-Turf.
Dave Maronic, a company
vice-president, told KTVU the business is booming. "We've doubled, tripled
every month," he said. "Different engineered blades is the way of the
world right now."
Global Syn-Turf produces more
than 65 types of artificial grass of different colors, heights and weights.
Engineered blades are designed for high performance, impeccable resilience,
super-natural looking turf. It is not
your old-fashioned, carpet looking Astroturf.
"It looks just like the
real thing, feels like the real thing. It's environmentally safe for the kids,
for the pets," said Maronic.
With the late concern about a
crumb rubber linked to health issues and used by other artificial grass
manufacturers, Dave Maronic made it clear that Global Syn-Turf has never been in favor with the use of old,
used crumb tires, and always recommended natural infill solutions to their
customers.
"It's environmentally safe
for the kids, for the pets," said Maronic. "There's different padding to
meet G-Max ratings for fields that you don't have to use that rubber. So it's
not something we carry. Not something we sell," he said.
G-Max is the measurement of
the shock attenuation of sports surfaces. The performance values of an
artificial grass field can be understood as a reflection of the field's G-Max
rating. With the G-Max below 120, the surface is too soft and may not provide enough
energy return to the athlete, and leads to premature exhaustion. When G-Max
rating is above 180, it creates an overly hard field, and will cause a
performance hazard introducing the risk for severe injuries. The use of crumb
rubber is not required to achieve perfect G-Max rating, and there are other
ways to achieve a maximum level of protection to athletes.
This year, Global Syn-Turf
installed a million square feet of turf at the Twin Creek Sports Complex in
Sunnyvale, California.
You may think that installing
artificial grass is a more expensive alternative to a natural sod, but in a
long haul it pays for itself by reducing water bills and the maintenance
costs. In California, major water
agencies run rebate programs to help homeowners transition their lawns into the
drought-tolerant landscape. According to professor of Earth sciences at UC
Santa Cruz Lisa Sloan, who predicted a severe California drought back in 2004, "the
actual situation in the next few decades could be even more dire that our study
suggested." But even the scientists are wrong, for most homeowners swapping to
artificial lawns makes more sense money and maintenance wise.
At least that's the thinking of Jim Luthi as he gazes at his pristine Newark yard. "I think it looks
great. Looks fabulous. Looks like regular grass."
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