I have just started looking in to maybe replacing some of my lawn with synthetic lawn. A combination of backwashing the salt water pool 
and a extra large dog (Great Dane) using it as a toilet, has resulted in the lawn dying completely.
I have seen some synthetic lawns from $29.00 psm to $85.00 psm supply only. A common price that keeps coming up is $100.00 psm supplied and laid. Given that I have about 100 sqm of lawn front and back I am keen to research this a bit before investing a large sum of money.
Does anyone have any experience in having had synthetic lawn professionally supplied and laid or in DIY?
My bother's house has some. My brother hates mowing. He bought the house with it already installed...
Negatives - it actually gets very hot in the summer heat. It absorbs heat, then radiates heat. Not as bad as a concrete slab would if it was baking in the sun though....
I would try and keep it to the shadier areas. Otherwise, it looks OK, except in summer when everything starts to brown off, and your lawn is still glowing bright green like lovely fresh Spring growth!
It would be pretty easy to set-up your borders, kill off existing grass, and lay down sand to get the base (use a straight edge, or shorter length with several passes if you are doing undulations....). I think the real trick would be the joins. It comes on rolls, and you will have a certain amount of waste, say 10%+ (meaning you need to buy 10% more than you need, then throw it into the bin!).
If you're a busy man with some money, pay the pros!
bloody horible stuff,,,,but if you have a sheltered shady area that you use alot and dont want to mow then it can look good.
try to get the surface really level and compacted first DIG out any grass, we usually lay down 100mm of roadbase then 20mm of fine "cracker dust' which is well rolled in and compacted before laying the fake stuff.dont just lay it on sand. try to soften out the edges with plants.
re the dog ,the turds and Urine will stain the fake stuff, as will the pool water .dogs love to dig under the edges to get to the cooler ground below, so the dog will have to go.
most of the really nice jobs weve seen have been where the owners have done it themselves and really researched well, used a longer grass rather than the cheap short stuff.
you will need a blower to keep the dirt and sand from building up too much
have you thought about growing a more resilient species of lawn? there are plenty of tough grass strains out there. it'd be a shame for your dog to have to hang out on plastic all day...
Yeah but $10,000 for artificial 
Gawd you could move your backflush system into two deeper soakwells for about $200 if you dig it yourself, then get a resilient roll on and fertilise and water it for years for that price!
I've got "Couch Plateau" google it, it is the shiz.
It's been in since April 2010 and it's been mown once, fed some dynamic lifter a couple of times and granulated lawn food once. Water it 3 times a week for 10mins.
We don't have dogs but we do have three boys.
It's only a buck or so more a square than standard couch.
Go and plant a big f'ckn rubber tree in the middle of your fake lawn. You will be the envy of every wog in the neighborhood.
Hi Barry
Have been in the artificial grass industry for about 5 yrs now and have found the popularity of the products growing rapidly, especially with the ever decreasing size of blocks of land. There are new products on the market that are cooler on the feet in summer. If you go ahead make sure the installer secures the edges so that mutley can't lift up grass, ther are a number of ways to do this depending on your budget. With regard to your dog doing his business on it. The no 2s are easy to pick up after drying a bit as grass does not grow up through it and urine will not stain it but I tell clients to give grass a hose every know and then if you haven't had rain. Hope this helps a bit, if you have any other questions PM me.
With a big dog it will get very smelly after a while!
You have 2 choices mow or vacuum and brush!!! I know what I would rather do!
have you thought about Italian lawn? (green concrete)
I believe (but do not know for sure) that you can change your Dog's diet so that the piddle is not so acidic (or the like) and does not burn your lawn.
Mate just put artificial lawn down out the back - now too hot for the kids in mid 30's and has to put the swings etc out the front... he has a dog but did not mention it to be a problem.
oh FFS, you can't artificially turf 100m2, that is criminal.....
Smaller shady areas I can understand but come-on, the environmental benefit of 100m2 of grass V plastic is huge.
Read this thread and give the guy FuMan Chu a call. He'll sort you out. If done properly you can have a fantastic lawn and a big dog, especially if you have $10k to burn....
forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=21938&sid=027bfb0e774536383f63e1a01235d390
Great advice for anyone with a lawn by the way.
MONDO GRASS FOOOOOLLLLSSS
planted out where my grass was and havent mowed it since pick out a few weeds everynow and then and thats it! dog piss alright to
