Does your artificial lawn smell bad? Does it impact the quality of time you spend in your garden with your family and friends? Are you looking for solutions to eliminate the smell of dog urine from artificial grass?

Bad smells are one of the common issues homeowners are worried about when they think about installing artificial grass, especially if the household has pets. This is why we’ve created a comprehensive guide to deal with bad smells when using artificial grass.

From practical solutions to deal with the immediate smell to exploring the reasons why your lawn might be prone to unpleasant smells to offering a comprehensive guide on turf maintenance! Read on and explore how you can become the proud owner of a prettier, healthier artificial garden or lawn!

Eliminating Dog Urine Smell Emanating From Artificial Grass: 5 Effective Methods

When your artificial lawn or garden suffers from bad odour, the issue can range from a mild inconvenience to a major issue that impacts you and your family’s ability to relax, host events, or enjoy the outdoors. It is imperative you handle it as quickly as possible as bad odour, especially from organic sources like dog pee only gets worse with time!

Thankfully, there are practical and reliable methods of cleaning dog urine from artificial grass, and in this section, we’ll go over 5 key methods:

  • Wash the Turf with a High-Pressure Hose

One of the first and easiest steps you take when your artificial turf smells of unpleasant odours is to try to power wash it with warm water using a high-pressure hose. This step doesn’t always work, especially if the smell of dog urine has taken root, but it is easy, cheap, and doesn’t require any specialised tools or chemicals, which makes it a great first step to identify the severity of the situation.

  • Gently Rub the Artificial Grass with Diluted White Vinegar

Diluted white vinegar can eliminate and neutralise the trace amounts of chemicals that give pet urine its distinct smell. Gently brushing and washing the specified spot with diluted white vinegar and carefully rinsing it with water is an effective strategy to deal with the smell of dog urine.

Be careful, however, as highly concentrated white vinegar can be dangerous to fake grass, and in rare circumstances, it might even result in bleaching and discolouration.  Make sure the vinegar is properly diluted before applying it to the artificial turf.

  • Apply a Deodoriser

There are specifically made artificial grass cleaners and deodorisers that are specifically designed to deal with stubborn smells, pet urine, and other common impurities faced regularly when maintaining an artificial turf.

Make sure you purchase a high-quality deodoriser that doesn’t contain any harmful chemicals, follow the use instructions carefully and make sure you apply the spray bottle tentatively to not harm the turf, and

  • Use Pet-friendly Infills

If you are designing an artificial turf for a property with many pets and need to constantly worry about pet urine odor, it is worth investing in pet-friendly infills. These infills are specifically designed to allow pet urine drainage without attracting any long-term smells. They can be a blessing for cat and dog owners who want to ensure their property’s fake grass remains low maintenance.

  • Hire a Specialised Cleaner

If bad smells still persist, you might need to consider hiring a specialist cleaner. A specialist cleaner is capable of analysing and inspecting the turf, the landfill, and the subbase identifying which layers are retaining bad odours and promptly proposing solutions. It is perfect for households who want a quick fix to bad odours.

Why Is Your Artificial Grass Prone to Bad Smells?

Poor drainage is the primary reason bad smells linger on artificial turf. Whether it is pet urine, rainwater, or a spilt drink, poor drainage traps the liquid in the turf, introducing a highly unpleasant smell and letting the chemicals fester, which is a considerable health risk.

There are multiple reasons why your artificial grass installation might suffer from poor drainage. If you want a permanent solution to the smell of dog urine or any other unpleasant smell, you must identify the reasons and act to fix them:

Low-quality Infills and subbase

One of the primary responsibilities of an artificial turf’s infills and subbase is facilitating water drainage. High-quality infills and subbase feature pockets of space that allow liquids to flow while maintaining the integrity and durability of the artificial grass installation. Finding the right infills and subbases for your artificial lawn is critical,

Weed Membranes

Weed membranes are an excellent way to prevent weed growth on artificial lawns. If you live in a humid environment prone to weed growth, they could be necessary. Sadly, they aren’t without their downsides, including reduced drainage capacity.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t install weed membranes. On the contrary, high-quality weed membranes are still vital for an artificial grass installation. However, before installation, you need to ensure the weed membrane offers reliable drainage.

Low-grade Artificial Grass

Last but certainly not least, the quality of the artificial grass is an important part of the equation when analyzing drainage. The blades of low-grade artificial grass tend to lump together and become sticky, especially as time passes. This makes it substantially harder for liquids to drain through, resulting in an awful smell.

Bad Installation

Ultimately, while the quality of the individual components that make an artificial lawn greatly matters, the quality of the installation has an equal impact on drainage and durability. To minimise pet urine odour, you need to be careful during installation, following best practices, carefully inspecting the turf, and testing its drainage capabilities.

Maintaining Artificial Grass: Comprehensive Guide

Though bad smells, especially from animal waste, are one of the biggest signs your lawn needs maintenance, that doesn’t mean those are the only instances you should maintain your artificial turf!

Maintaining your artificial lawn is a process that needs to be performed regularly. This ensures that your lawn looks immaculate, feels great, and lasts long. Here, we’ll go over a comprehensive step-by-step guide to regular maintenance:

Create and Adhere to a Consistent bi-weekly or monthly schedule:

You must adhere to a consistent schedule when trying to maintain your artificial lawn. While taking the time to do a thorough job is important, the consistency of the cleaning matters just as much if not more.

Through a consistent bi-weekly or monthly cleaning schedule, you’ll be able to keep a constant eye on the state of the artificial lawn. Are there any outdoor surfaces that require immediate attention? You can clean it and prevent long-lasting damage to the turf. Has there been unexpected weed growth in a specific area of the turf? You can preemptively stop the breakout. These are just two examples of how routine inspections ensure a clean, durable, and healthy artificial lawn!

Ensure You Have All the necessary tools:

Cleaning is both time-consuming and physically exhausting. This is doubly true for lawns and gardens, which are located outside, often cover large areas, and are subject to Britain’s famous variable weather conditions.

One key way to make sure the process goes along smoothly is by ensuring you have all the necessary cleaning tools at hand. This includes common household items like a brush, a rake, and a hose, and it also includes specific cleaning solutions that you plan to use to eliminate undesirable smells. Whether this is baking soda, an enzymatic cleaner, or uric acid, make sure the solution is prepared and at hand before starting the cleanup.

Take a systemic step-by-step approach to cleaning:

Cleaning an artificial turf is largely a simple, methodical step-by-step process that property owners only need to learn once.

  • You should start by carefully surveying the lawn. Are there any solid wastes, debris, or otherwise visible litter? You should start by clearing these out. This will help you clear out larger objects, allowing you to perform a more thorough and seamless cleaning process.
  • Next, you need to check the health of the artificial turf and ensure it offers adequate drainage. Are there any wet patches? Perhaps a smelly turf? Are there any areas where the grass has clumped together? These are signs
  • After that, you should check out the sources of bad smells and apply effective solutions, be they home remedies like uric acid or specially-designed cleaning agents. Apply the solutions slowly and carefully.
  • Lastly, make sure you completely rinse the area with warm water to wash away any traces of the cleaning agent. While cleaning agents are fine to use, prolonged exposure, without rinsing, can damage the turf.

After rinsing the turf, simply allow it time to dry up and then inspect it again. Your lawn or garden should look clean, the affected area should smell nice, and your artificial grass should remain immaculate for years to come!