Parking car on artificial grass drive?
Discussion
I'm going to convert my current front lawn into a parking space.
My original thought was to replace the grass with tarmac. Resin is too expensive and I don't think block paving would really look right. Quotes for tarmac have come in at about £5.5k.
But, yesterday I noticed one of the guys who came to quote for tarmac also laid artificial grass. I jokingly asked if you could use artificial grass and how much thinking the costs would be far higher than the tarmac. To my surprise it was about half the cost of tarmac even allowing for preparing a proper bed to park a car on. This has now got me thinking as grass would look much better. It also drains better than tarmac so I don't need to put any extra drainage channels in.
I've googled using grass instead of tarmac and the main problem seems to be tyre damage and flattening of the grass if a car is parked in the same place for a period. I can live with both these issues.
Anybody done this, or seen it used as a drive? If so, what are your experiences?
My original thought was to replace the grass with tarmac. Resin is too expensive and I don't think block paving would really look right. Quotes for tarmac have come in at about £5.5k.
But, yesterday I noticed one of the guys who came to quote for tarmac also laid artificial grass. I jokingly asked if you could use artificial grass and how much thinking the costs would be far higher than the tarmac. To my surprise it was about half the cost of tarmac even allowing for preparing a proper bed to park a car on. This has now got me thinking as grass would look much better. It also drains better than tarmac so I don't need to put any extra drainage channels in.
I've googled using grass instead of tarmac and the main problem seems to be tyre damage and flattening of the grass if a car is parked in the same place for a period. I can live with both these issues.
Anybody done this, or seen it used as a drive? If so, what are your experiences?
A friend has this setup. Yes, the areas where the wheels compress the “grass” are very flat and very obvious with 2 straight lines. But, it’s a compromise he’s happy with and only looks particularly odd when the car isn’t there. At first he spent some time with a plastic rake effectively trying to raise the pile of the grass but that didn’t really do much.
There are many different sorts of 'artificial grass'.
Some of it is OK as an outdoor doormat.
I think you'd need to get quite specific about the exact flavour/species of it.
I parked my boat on its trailer on some plastic grass, it flattened it permanently where the wheels were.
If you want a single parking space, you could just put down two strips of paving where the wheels go.
The rest can be gravel, plants and stuff. Grass even!
It's surprising what will grow quite happily with a car parked over it half the time.
Some of it is OK as an outdoor doormat.
I think you'd need to get quite specific about the exact flavour/species of it.
I parked my boat on its trailer on some plastic grass, it flattened it permanently where the wheels were.
If you want a single parking space, you could just put down two strips of paving where the wheels go.
The rest can be gravel, plants and stuff. Grass even!
It's surprising what will grow quite happily with a car parked over it half the time.
Simpo Two said:
OutInTheShed said:
It's surprising what will grow quite happily with a car parked over it half the time.
A neighbour had a Scooby which he parked on his lawn; it left scorched patches, presumably from the cats.OutInTheShed said:
If you want a single parking space, you could just put down two strips of paving where the wheels go.
The rest can be gravel, plants and stuff. Grass even!
I like this suggestion. Two landing strips for the wheels with artificial grass either side and in between, an all round winner.The rest can be gravel, plants and stuff. Grass even!
beambeam1 said:
OutInTheShed said:
If you want a single parking space, you could just put down two strips of paving where the wheels go.
The rest can be gravel, plants and stuff. Grass even!
I like this suggestion. Two landing strips for the wheels with artificial grass either side and in between, an all round winner.The rest can be gravel, plants and stuff. Grass even!
beambeam1 said:
Gravel?
Good shout. Plus if you use a grid system under the gravel you will get a very stable and strong parking place, something like this;
https://www.ibran.com/products/gravel-parking-grid...
I have used these at the top of our drive by the house and they are excellent. You can also buy sloped edge attachments if you don’t want to have a slight bump up or don’t want to dig down to get them level.
Edited by skeeterm5 on Friday 4th April 08:04
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