Anyone here had astroturf instead of lawn?

[kippax]

AS per title we have moved into a new house & the lawn gets very muddy easily & with us having a large labrador who loves dirt nearly as much as food we are in the process of getting quotes to replace & improve the drainage & replace the turf.
One of the things I am looking into is replacing the lawn with astroturf (good quality one not crappy plastic looks pretty realistic)
Has anyone on here done this & if so is it really zero maintenance as suggested?
I don't want this to end up knackered as it costs 4 times more than replacing the lawn but I am inclined to think that no matter what is done to improve the drainage we will still end up not being able to let the dog loose in the garden without him getting covered in mud & the idea of a perfect lawn with no maintenance is massively appealing.

Thanks
Howard.

[507bhp]

A sound investment. But what if 'Max' decides to poo on it?

[kippax]

507bhp said:

A sound investment. But what if 'Max' decides to poo on it?

It can just be hosed off but he has already decided where his toliet is & luckily it's down the side of the house where there are lots of stones & good drainage & he refuses to do it anywhere else happy days.

H

[Famous Graham]

Won't the dog rip up the astroturf to get at whatever he's digging for?

[offroading.net]

next door neighbour has done it, "grass" bit is about 15x15 foot, did it as they are oldies and struggle with the garden. looks okay

[kippax]

Famous Graham said:

Won't the dog rip up the astroturf to get at whatever he's digging for?

Apparently this is very difficult to do & tbh we don't have a problem with him digging just tear arsing round in circles & slipping in the mud.

H

[BB-Q]

My brother in law did it as the kids had literally worn the grass down to mud. Said it was pretty much perfect.

[allegro]

i think they do one now that you can grow real grass though so it looks less false. keeps the ground stable too. ( unlike city's current form )

[ImALoserBaby]

We had it done in the garden last week and it looks awesome if you get the quality stuff. Can't yet comment on the durability but we know of someone who did it as the kids got so muddy playing footy.
Said it was the best thing he'd ever done with the garden.