Do you have recommendations on artificial turf? We are looking at putting down about 1200 square feet of turf around our pool and working with the landscaper on which brand/ style to choose.
Any tips on pile height or face weight?
I'm leaning toward using SmartTurf that's 2" tall with a face weight of 70 oz. But I'm interested in hearing advice from people that have turf installed on whether thats too long or other things we need to think about.
Thanks!

I know little to nothing about residential products but I have been on several dozen different artificial turf athletic fields going back decades, including several generations of the newer stuff (at least 3-4 generations). It keeps getting better but there are a few things to look out for -- and these PROBABLY relate to residential installations, even though there isn't anywhere near the activity on them. I know the stadiums in Texas that have the best turf but unfortunately, I don't know what installation they have. Dallas ISD, believe it or not, installed some quality turf on their athletic fields but they'll keep it there too long. The old stuff stayed 7-8 years and was horrible by the time they ripped it up. See if you can find out what they've got and then see if there is a residential copy.

I don't know if its strictly use, age or both, but as some of these products get older, the "grass" comes off easily. People getting on them with wet feet will experience the same thing they would walking on freshly mowed grass with the clippings left on. If that isn't bad enough, a lot fo this stuff sticks to both socks and clothing so bad, you can't get it off. Like, AT ALL! So you don't have to be barefoot or be wet. I'd see if you can visit people who've had theirs installed for a couple of years at least to see how it has held up.

The other thing is that if you get a heavy rain and water pools, it will take the "inlets" (or whatever you call them) embedded in the turf so ask about how the product drains.

Where are you located? I have a friend that owns a company doing work in central Texas. Happy to make an intro

Get ready to pay big. **** is more expensive than concrete

contact Marco, class of '94 I think, former A&M golfer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-gortana-627b5657/

8-12 dollars per SF, can go up from there.

Thanks for the replies. The landscaper we are using is doing the installation as part of the whole project, so I have to use him for the installation.
The turf we're looking at has a 15 year warranty, so I hope it doesn't fall apart like the turf in an athletic field. We're in Austin and there is a "local" company called SmartTurf that we are leaning towards, but there are so many options.

How did it go? We are looking into this and are in central texas as well.

We just had about 1200 sqf of Real Turf "Deluxe" installed. The kids love it, the dog loves it, it's great. 15 year warranty. We paid a little under $10/sqf.

Six months in on ours and we love it. Nice to not worry about mud or wet grass in a shady area. Not sure what our weight of specs were.

Notes:
Make sure they build a subsurface. We had drains to the street underneath, but they should dig out a lot of dirt. Removed 5 inches or dirt, sloped dirt to drains, weed blocker installed, rock aggregate fill (4 inch), then 1 inch of crushed granite, then installed turf on top. Weedblocker order may change based on pet. We have no pets. Then they put some greenfill/sand on top to keep the grass blades standing up.

Watch videos on youtube to get familaiar with the right ways to install. Manufacturers have good videos.

I will say I do not mow the back yard now, but with trees around, you do spend time with a leaf blower instead.

We've had our turf for about out a year and love it. One thing we did and would highly recommend, is to run sprinklers to it. It gets really hot for bare feet if it's in direct sun, but the sprinklers cool it down for a couple of hours. There is also an infill product that you can use that will help keep it cooler as well called T Cool. We have a dog so opted for the anti bacterial coated sand instead.

Who did you wind up going with? I'm in the Austin area as well.

Austin Gardners did our whole landscaping project (fence, turf in back, grass in front, and beds).
If I were just doing turf installation, Smart Turf in Pflugerville had some installers they worked with that were a ton cheaper than going with t some of the other turf companies we talked to (Lawn Pop, Souther Turf). They sell the turf and can put you in contact with the installers. The other places were basically turn key solutions, but were very expensive.