A luxury Salt Rock seaside home now has a sleek, park like lawn leading to the beach that perfectly complements its contemporary architecture.
Tom Nell, who was recently appointed as a Durban Easigrass partner, explains that his client had long struggled with patchy grass, mud and poor drainage and levelling. His problems grew at the recent drought spread along the KZN North Coast.
“Although our client’s property has stunning views, the natural establishment of grass had taken years. Unfortunately, as the property was exposed to the harsh salty conditions of any beachfront area, the grass remained patchy and uneven. Recent water restrictions exacerbated the problem, leaving the grass to die in our very hot sun,” says Tom Nell.
If nature couldn’t cope, then Easigrass, the world’s leading artificial grass brand, could.
According to Tom Nell, the leading artificial grass brand which has its head office in the United Kingdom and falls under the division of Van Dyck Carpets banner in South Africa, quickly solved a number of this homeowner’s headaches – water restrictions, no longer deal with garden services, weeds, uneven levels and hefty water bills.
Easigrass is a cut above the norm as it does not require irrigation. The land was properly levelled and good drainage installed. Weeds are now a thing of the past as an Easigrass approved weed barrier is used ahead of installation.
“Easigrass doesn’t have to be watered. It also wears well in the harsh seafront weather. Very little future maintenance will be needed as no watering of grass, fertilising or cutting is necessary. The owner can look forward to cost saving as he will no longer need to deal with garden services and labour. He has the ultimate lock up and go,” adds Tom Nell.
The homeowner selected 30mm EasiKensington to cover the 450 m² area.
Herve (Trigger)Truniger, the national accounts manager for Easigrass South Africa, says that this is one of nine artificial grasses that were redesigned especially for the South African market.
“Easigrass is South Africa’s most realistic and highest quality artificial grass and comes with the quality assurances, design excellence and product back up and guarantees that are expected the world over.”
This particular project was completed within a very tight time line of just 10 days despite formidable operational challenges.
Tom Nell and his team started by removing the existing grass and the sprinkler systems and created a drain to divert future rainwater. Excess water is channelled to run off the Easigrass and then below the sand dunes at the foot of the garden to avoid water erosion.
In total, 40 tons of soil and grass had to be removed and 50 tons of crusher dust and sand – which forms the base and allows water to drain through – was installed.
The only problem was that, as there was no direct access from the main road to the garden, work could only be done from the beach. An added complication was that dumping of crusher or sand was not possible on the main road which meant that a crusher dump site had to be located on another property about 100m away from the clients’ house.
Then came the most innovative solution of all – a conveyor belt to move everything up to the to the garden. 50 tons of crusher dust was shovelled and transported along the beach where people moved it along a platform to the site and then on the conveyer belt up to the garden.
The installation process was also interrupted by two days of rain!
“We overcame the challenges and delays by bringing in additional teams to assist with clean-up operations, security, logistics, deliveries and beach logistics. We used wheel barrows to move the crusher from the beach to the site. This equated to just over 1 000 wheel barrow trips along the beach!” Tom Nell remembers.
After the duro textile was fitted, the crusher and sand was then installed in place, the Easigrass was installed and silica sand spread across it. This absorbs impact and also protects the backing whilst also keeping the grass upright and “providing the real feel of grass.”
Tom Nell completed the project by paving the edges of the flower beds with cobbles, planting where necessary and then reinstalling the irrigation systems in the flower beds.
Before and after photographs are attached. A close up of the newly installed 30mm EasiKensington Easigrass which has been installed on the front lawn of a seafront home in Salt Rock, KwaZulu-Natal.
Press Release.
