A patio sized for your yard
Back patios, extensions and pergola pads, poured four inches thick with a broom finish. Text us a photo of the spot with rough measurements to start.
Patios
A lot of people who want a patio already have one. It is just too small. The builder poured a ten by ten slab off the back door, enough for a grill and one chair, and the table ended up half in the rock. Other people have a pergola going up, or a bare corner of the yard that turns to dust every time the wind blows. Each of those is a small pour, the kind we plan our pour days around.
They are also the jobs that never get a call back. A patio takes two or three yards of concrete, and a ready-mix truck carries about ten. A crew built around big pours cannot make that math work, so your message sits. We set pour days by town and put several small jobs on the same truck. That is how a twelve by twelve patio gets a real spot on the schedule instead of a maybe.
Common sizes
- 10 by 10 extension
- Poured beside the builder slab, this roughly doubles a small back patio and gives the table its own place.
- 12 by 12 patio
- Room for a table and four chairs, with space to pull the chairs out.
- 12 by 16 pergola pad
- Sized to sit under a typical backyard pergola with some margin past the posts.
- 16 by 20 back patio
- Enough for a dining table on one end and a grill or seating area on the other.
How the job goes
- 1
Lay it out and dig
We mark the shape with stakes and string so you can see it before anything is dug. Then we take out the rock, sod or soil down to firm ground and set the grade so the finished patio sits just below the door threshold.
- 2
Base and forms
Gravel goes in and gets compacted in thin layers. Forms are staked to the slope, falling away from the house. Where the new slab meets the old patio or the foundation, we add an expansion strip so the two can move separately.
- 3
Pour and finish
The truck comes early. We place the concrete, screed it flat to the forms, float it, round the edges and pull a broom across the surface. The broom lines give bare feet and wet shoes something to grip.
- 4
Joints and cure
Control joints get cut into the slab, typically so no panel is much bigger than ten feet across. Forms come off the next day and you can walk on it. Give it about a week before the heavy furniture and the grill go back.
What makes it last
Concrete fails from the bottom up. These are the parts you will never see once the job is done, and they decide how the slab holds up.
- Four inches thick
- A patio carries people, furniture and a grill, not vehicles. Four inches of concrete is the typical thickness for that load, and we hold it across the whole slab instead of letting it thin out at the edges.
- Compacted gravel base
- Washington County has plenty of red clay and soil that swells or settles when it gets wet. A compacted gravel layer under the slab spreads the load and gives the concrete an even bed to sit on.
- Slope away from the house
- We build in a fall of about one eighth to one quarter inch per foot. You will not notice it under a chair, but it helps rain and hose water run to the yard instead of sitting against the foundation.
- Joints where cracks want to go
- Concrete shrinks as it cures and it will crack somewhere. Control joints give it a planned weak line, so the crack is more likely to follow the joint line instead of running across the slab.
Start with a photo.
435·220·5536Text us a photo of the spot and rough measurements. We will tell you what we can from the photo, or come out and take a look. Rather type it out? Use the form.
Patios: straight answers
Can you add on to the patio I already have?
Yes. Extensions are normal work for us. The new concrete will not match the old in color, since aged concrete darkens and weathers. We line the joint up cleanly and match the height, so the two feel like one patio underfoot.
Will the patio crack?
Hairline cracks are normal in any concrete slab. What we control is where they show up and how well the slab is supported. A compacted base, steady thickness and well placed joints help keep cracks thin and along the joint lines instead of across the slab. Nobody can honestly promise zero cracks.
Can a pergola or cover be bolted to the slab?
That depends on the pergola. The maker's anchoring requirements decide what the posts need under them, and some call for thicker footings. Tell us what is going on top before we plan the slab, and check whether your city or HOA has rules.
How soon can we use it?
Walk on it after about a day. Wait roughly a week before rolling patio furniture or a grill on wheels across it. Vehicles do not belong on a patio slab. In summer we ask you to mist it with a hose for the first several days, because slow, damp curing makes a harder surface.