Concrete Patios - The Big "No No's"

Concrete patios are great. They come in various colors, textures and designs. When installed correctly, the value - emotional and monetary - go up. When done poorly, the costs of maintaining your home can skyrocket - and value can be lost.

What could go wrong with a patio? Well, the biggest "No No's" are..."Don't assume that your patio is sloped correctly" and "Don't assume that your patio is installed against your home correctly."

The first No No is the slope. Ensure that when a level is place on the patio that the slope is AWAY from your home. If it is not, you will have basement issues - end of the story. Walls were not designed to have water pool on them.

The second No No is the attachment, or lack thereof. The patio should not be attached to the house; it should be free floating or sitting on a pre-installed ledger. Too many times HZG has gone to a home with basement water issues only to discover that the water is entering through a rebar penetration. Some contractors actually popped holes in the basement block to install the rebar so that the patio would be levered. What these contractors did not realize is that they created a pathway for water to enter. Once a block is stained, it's stained.

That's it for this ramble...