The Progression of Artificial Turf
You may think this “fake grass” movement just recently started and came out of nowhere, but artificial turf has actually been around since the 1960s. The progression of artificial turf has been dramatically improved over the years thanks to new technology and the idea of it being used for residential and commercial landscaping too instead of just for sports’ fields. If you’ve ever wondered how artificial turf came about and the progression of artificial turf, this is the article for you.
Artificial turf was first co-invented and patented in 1965 and was called “ChemGrass” originally. It wasn’t until 1966, when the Houston Astrodomes installed it in their stadium, that artificial turf was first well-publicized. Due to the publicity from the Houston Astrodomes, the ChemGrass was then rebranded as AstroTurf. In 1994, Southwest Recreational Industries, Inc. acquired the AstroTurf brand. Shortly after that in 1996, Southwest Recreational Industries, Inc. was acquired by the American Sports Products Group Inc. In the 20th century, AstroTurf was the industry leader for field turf and was used on many golf greens, baseball fields, soccer fields, and football fields. Other companies like FieldTurf began marketing products of tall-pile polyethylene turf with infill in the early 2000s, so AstroTurf began to lose its popularity.
The artificial turf in the 1960s is known as the first-generation turf products and systems. The first-generation products were quickly replaced by the second and third-generation products and systems that are more commonly used today. Second-generation synthetic turf has longer fibers and uses sand infills. The third-generation synthetic turf offers infills that are mixtures of sand and granules of recycled rubber (crumb rubber infill). A lot of health concerns began to rise with the crumb rubber infill though, so this system has begun to fade out now.
Artificial Turf Today
Although artificial turf was mainly used on sport fields and golf greens, we began to see it being used for residential and commercial landscaping in the early 1990s in western states of the United States. We began to see people buying this “fake grass” to install in their yards and buildings. Due to the fact that artificial turf was primarily manufactured for sports-related purposes, the turf in the yards looked extremely fake and they had no drainage for pets. As more people started wanting this “fake grass” for their homes and businesses, the industry began to dramatically improve the products as well as how it was being installed.
Today, products are specially made and marketed as landscaping synthetic turf, putting green synthetic turf and field synthetic turf. All are completely different as you can read in this article here. The landscaping artificial turf today has permeable backing systems, heat reduction technology, no shine, different thatching, different weights and heights, and so on. There are a ton of different products and ways of installing it today. Doing research on the best products and services for you before buying is definitely a necessity with today’s market.
The progression of artificial turf has been fast paced over the years, but it has all been for the better. Saving water and money have been the top reasons why most people have made the switch. If you’re wanting to make the switch as well, give us a call at 877-405-5296 and mention this article to set up a free estimate.