Are you wondering if your new artificial grass will be fire resistant?

Many homeowners are concerned about safety when investing in artificial grass, and whether or not it can be flammable. Especially if they’re a fan of throwing barbecues in the summer!

Luckily, artificial grass is completely safe to install in your garden, and shouldn’t be flammable. However, there are some concerns you should bear in mind.

As an artificial grass specialist, let me explain more about that below.

Can artificial grass ever catch fire?

Absolutely not. Most artificial grass products won’t catch fire and burn, as they are made from high quality, non-flammable synthetic fibres.

However, only artificial grass with sand infill is tested to be fireproof. This is due to the sand having an extinguishing effect, which prevents fire from spreading.

The product we sell, Easigrass, has been tested by an independent body and awarded a DIN 51960 Class 1 certificate. All artificial grass should go through fire risk testing – but it’s still worth checking with your installer, just to be on the safe side.

Can artificial grass melt when exposed to fire?

Unfortunately, it is the case that artificial grass will melt when it comes into contact with open fire and hot objects.

These include:

• Barbecues
• Fire pits
• Cigarettes
• Fireworks
• Motorised machinery (hedge trimmers etc.)

All of the above should be avoided on artificial grass (or at least measures taken to protect the grass from coming into contact with these things).

This will help protect your investment, so you can go on enjoying your new grass for its full lifespan (15 – 20 years).

Advice from an artificial grass specialist

You shouldn’t worry about whether or not your artificial grass will be flammable. All good quality artificial grass from reputable companies will go through fire risk testing, and the sand infill will prevent your artificial grass from catching fire.

Just ensure that your grass is not exposed to open fire, or hot objects, as this will cause the grass to melt. Although, once your grass is damaged, it CAN be repaired.

This can be done by cutting out the burnt section and patching it with a new bit of fake grass. The problem with this is that we can’t guarantee it’ll look exactly the same. This is because fake grass comes in batches, and depending on when the installation was carried out, it may not look exactly the same – even though you’re using the same grass.

Also, like any patched-in section, used turf will look different from new turf, so it may be visible at first. It should become less so over time.

We had a customer who just got his lawn done a couple of months back, and a couple of weeks later, the gardener was cutting the hedges. The customer had put a large tarpolin down to cover the lawn and catch all the trimmings. Unfortunately, the gardener put his hedge trimmer on top of the tarpolin and left it running.

The fumes from the hedge trimmer burnt straight through and melted a large section of the customer’s brand new lawn. The damage was so bad that the customer decided to replace the full area, as a lot of money had been invested and he didn’t want to be left with a patchwork lawn.

This was very costly, and demonstrates the importance of keeping anything hot away from your new lawn investment.

We always advise our clients on how to maintain and protect their new lawns before we install. And luckily, incidents of grass melting have been very rare in over eight years’ of installations.

Conclusion

Worried your artificial grass might catch fire? The good news is, good quality artificial grass should be put through rigorous fire testing. The sand infill it comes with will stop it from catching fire and spreading. Just check with your chosen installer – it’s better being safe than sorry.

Remember, artificial grass won’t catch fire, but it WILL melt. So, take care to keep it away from barbecues, cigarettes, fireworks, fire pits, and motorised machinery.

Do you have any questions about fire safety and how to protect your artificial grass from melting? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!