As the UK’s premier artificial grass manufacturer and the only one selling
direct to homeowners, we are keen for our customers to understand as
much as possible about artificial grass.
We have compiled a
glossary featuring a variety of terms - used from
the factory floor through to sales, customer
service, the installation process and
by the general pubic and media.
We hope you will find it of interest.
Artificial grass: a man-made material designed to look
like natural grass
All weather training: one of the key advantages
for artificial grass used in a sporting environment is the ability
to use the surface in most weather conditions.
Artificial turf: another term for artificial grass.
Astro turf: a term with 2 meanings:
- a registered trademark brand for an artificial grass product developed
in the 1960’s and first installed in the Astrodome in Texas,
USA
- commonly accepted as a generic term to refer to any kind of artificial
grass product (much in the same way as hoover is used by many people
to describe a vacuum cleaner)
Base: used to refer to the ground immediately below the
artificial grass. Typically the base is compacted sand and grit. Our
artificial grass installation guides give more details.
Bobbins: the
process of artificial grass manufacture starts with large bobbins of
specialist yarn. We generally use 6kg size.
Colourfast: the
artificial grass colour should be stable and not fade or alter over
the life of the grass.
Collector board: feeds the yarn down to the needles
which tuft the artificial grass yarn into a polypropylene backing.
Colours: there is increasingly a wider range
of colours of artificial grass. Apart from green artificial grass
we also manufacture white artificial grass (used in Christmas displays,
Santa’s
Grottos) and blue artificial grass (popular for promotional and corporate
events). As a manufacturer, we can also other colours depending on
customer requirements.
Creel: a highly specialised term used in our artificial
grass factory - the creel holds the bobbins of yarn.
Critical Fall
Height: a term relating to the fall height
below which a life-threatening injury would not be expected. Where
play surfaces are concerned, British Standards have strict criteria
relating to CFH achievement. Our Lifestyle® Play Grass when used with
Lifestyle® Shock Pad underneath offers a CFH of 1.2m to meet British
Standards BS EN 1177.
Cruises: artificial grass is often
installed on cruise liners. In an environment where natural turf
is clearly impractical this offers an ideal, colourful yet low maintenance
solution.
Dtex: a manufacturing term relating to yarn measurement;
an abbreviation of Decitex, it is the unit of the linear
density of continuous yarn - equal to 0.90 of a denier or 0.10 of
a tex.
Directional pile: when laying artificial grass you need
to check to see if there is a directional pile within the yarn. Very
much like matching patterns when pasting wallpaper this is a simple
and easy check to do.
Drainage: it is important that surface water can drain
through the artificial grass and disperse through the base material.
Our artificial grass factory has specialised equipment for the perforation
of drainage holes in the artificial grass. Guidelines for suitable
base material can be found within our installation guides.
Durability: the
potential for artificial grass fibres to stretch not tear. Helps maintain
optimum condition.
Artificial Grass Glossary Page 2
Artificial Grass Glossary Page 3
