You’ve taken the leap and put beautiful artificial grass down in your garden, ready to enjoy it across all the seasons. Your dog loves it too – but in summer you get a whiff of an odour you’d rather didn’t infuse your space. How can you make sure your fake grass smells just as fresh as it looks, and still let your pets have their necessary bathroom time?
The quality of the installation of your artificial grass can make all the difference to how easy it is to maintain in the future – a suitable fully porous sub-base to allow for excellent drainage is ideal. Even if the installation is completely sound, though, there can still be a build up of unwanted aromas.
With these four ideas below, you can keep your artificial grass fresh and your pets happy, with very little effort.
Set up your System
It’s easy to keep fake grass well maintained with a few simple steps. Once every month, hose down the area to keep on top of any smells that might be accumulating. Low rainfall and high heat in the summer months can make any smells more noticeable, so keep your eye out for any puddles and your nose out for the invisible ones. A little soap and water is a very handy option for those on the spot emergency cleans! Cleaning up promptly after your pets’ visits in general is also a good idea.
Brush it Out
Everyday there’s a lot of debris that can get caught up in your grass, and leaves and hair are the most common culprits! If you have a resident furry friend who’s prone to shedding, this could be a problem; pet hair can cause a block in the drainage below your grass, which will leave urine with nowhere to go. Giving your artificial lawn a regular brush, a hoover or going over it with a leaf blower can work to loosen anything caught in between the strands. This will help keep your grass looking and smelling good as new.
Go for a Mega Clean
So you’ve hosed down, you’ve brushed, but the smell is still lingering? Urine, whilst 95% water, has a sneaky 5% make up that is responsible for the stink: urea, uric acid and ammonia, to be precise. Hosing down won’t always do the job because the other elements of urine remain even if the water is washed away.
If the smell is persistent, your grass might benefit from a commercial cleaner, which will help by breaking down any organic waste hanging about, namely those lingering elements mentioned above. Just remember to pick something natural and non-toxic to keep the wildlife (and your pets) happy! Our own Healthy Habitat® Disinfectant Spray is a great choice as it’s a 3-in-1 cleaner, disinfectant and odour eliminator that’s 100% safe for pets, babies and the environment. After you’ve done a full clean, putting down a turf deodorizer can help neutralize any final, persistent whiffs. Make sure, again, to select a natural product that won’t harm your pets. Apply it liberally to any areas where you know unwanted smells can gather for longer-term effectiveness.
Train Your Pet
Ultimately, your pet still needs to use the grass for their business, but perhaps they don’t need the whole lawn? Consider setting aside a particular patch of your artificial grass for your dog to have as a bathroom. Set down the spot with some stones and train your dog to head in that direction when nature calls.
Doing all of these things now will keep your artificial grass looking and smelling great at all times so you and your pets can enjoy your outdoor space for longer.