The play area for the girls was either going to be soft fall material or artifical grass. Now the artifical grass is more expensive but requires less maintenance and would not blow all over the tiled areas and rot down needing replacing like the soft fall might.

The first step was to fill in the area under the grass with crusher dust to a level 15mm under the tiled area level. The grass we purchased has a leaf length of approx. 20mm to 25mm. It cost approx. $74 per linear metre at a width of 1.8m. 16m of the grass was purchased.

Also required is small green, steel bentover spikes that pin the grass down to the underlying material. This costs about $41 per bag of 100 and I purchased 2 bags for this area with a few left over as spares.

A final layer of white sand was used under the grass as shown below.

Special attention was given to the drainage pit, ensuring that water could run easily into this drain from anywhere across the artifical grass area.

Just like laying carpet, the roll of artifical grass is rolled out across the area as shown below.

The completed look is shown in the image below.

More white wash pit sand was broomed over the grass and into the grass itself. This helps drainage and also helps to keep the leaves upright and realistic looking.