Case Studies - Natura Installations
Indianapolis, IN
Challenge
An apartment complex in Indianapolis, north of downtown, was having difficulty with their dog park. More residents adopted dogs over the last two years thus the use of the park increased. The late, wet spring caused their dog park to be muddy, which was not acceptable for the apartment management team, the residents or their pups. They wanted a new ground cover that wouldn’t force them to close the park on rainy days.
Approach & Results
We wanted a clean, level surface, so we tilled and removed debris before we seeded and fertilized the grass. The next day, we began installing Natura across the dog yard, starting at one end and working to the other. By early afternoon, the hybrid grass was fully installed and ready for use. The bio-degradable anchors were used to keep the turf in place.
The grass is growing through Natura in areas where it isn’t being heavily utilized. This is what you’d expect. Even when there’s no grass, the turf still appears grass-like, as you can see from the image on the slider above.
Everyone is content a year after the Natura grass was installed. The dog park added exercise equipment to encourage more intensive usage of the area. In talking to some residents who were in the dog yard with their pups on a March morning, they said, “we didn’t use the dog park before, now with the new turf we love it, there’s actually a group of us who get together daily here now.” That’s the kind of ringing endorsement we love to hear. Happy residents mean more business to the property managers!
The residents of this Indianapolis apartment complex and their dogs will enjoy this dog park oasis for years to come, and will not have to worry about bringing home a muddy dog. Success!
Here’s the time-lapse video of the installation.
St. Louis, MO
Challenge
An apartment complex in west St Louis county was experiencing high use of their existing dog park, and the grass was not standing up to increased traffic. They did not want to permanently cover the ground with layers of rock to put a traditional turf over top – that was simply more than what was needed. With the promise of a wet winter ahead, they knew they needed a fast solution that would protect the ground and be seen as a valuable amenity by their residents who have dogs. They wanted a dog park that could stay open all winter long; rain or snow, and still look great come spring.
Approach & Results
Taking advantage of some unseasonably warm November days in St Louis the complex’s grounds crew removed the old, worn dog obstacles and cut the grass down low to prepare the 2,000 sq ft park for a full Natura™ covering. Natura was rolled out from the highpoint of the pack to the low point, anchoring seams along the way.
Natura provided a great value with low installation costs (their own crew) and low on-going costs (no need to re-sod annually). The complete installation was complete in about 7 hours – which includes ground prep to level the yard and the installation. This was significantly less than a traditional artificial turf installation that likely would have taken days, if not weeks to install.
Additional Natura was later installed at the gate to complete the installation. Natura is bound to reduce resident complaints about dog park closures or muddy conditions that leads to excessive puppy baths. In fact, in talking to a resident enjoying the park with her dog, she said, “honestly, it was so $%^# and muddy before we would not even use the dog park. We have been here twice already because of the new turf.” Satisfaction ratings are improving already!
The property manager, Jamie, says, “residents love the turf, although you always hear more if people are unhappy.” Such is the life of an on-site property manager. Luckily, with Natura now installed for the multiple freeze / thaws ahead for a St. Louis winter, Jamie will be able to focus on the next complaint, not the dog park – that one is taken care of.
