Stamped Concrete Patio

Basically it’s gray on gray. It’s a very popular color combination. It looks natural and the highlights of the dark gray release become part of the ashlar slate.  This all started with a blank slate. The owners steps came down to the Earth like so many do. They wanted a change.  This is what we came up with. I really like the way they have decorated the patio. The different colored chairs and tables contrast well with the color of the patio. That is a nice way to dress up a wooden fence too. Hanging baskets and plant stands.This stamp is our most popular and has been requested a lot. It is called Random Ashlar Slate. Thank You to my customer for sending me this picture. It really looks nice!

What more would you want? A beautiful yard with landscaping, trees, and furniture? Oh yea, one more thing, a beautiful stamped concrete patio to tie it all together. This stuff just doesn’t happen by accident.

Going into every project I feel confident that my crew can perform whatever I sell to the customer. Think about it, I don’t want to sell something that I cannot do. Some contractors sell more then they can give. They will tell the customer oh yea, we can do that or oh yea, no problem.

What I do as a contractor is sit down (and sometimes stand) and communicate with the customer and find out what they want. Believe me, sometimes its hard, because the customer is not always sure. So I work through the process, step by step and describe what we do and how we do it.

The communication and listening was accomplished on this project. When a project is complete is when I get my fulfillment, knowing that we did a job just the way the owner wanted it. The smile on their faces and the sincere words “Thank You Very Much” gives me a wonderful feeling.

Happy customer, mission accomplished. On to the next one…

Here we are pouring the concrete sitting wall that surrounds a 125 year old maple tree in Richmond, VA. What you see in the video happens to be the easiest part of the project. Getting too this point was the hardest. The home owner, Jonathon, helped us out immensely. He dug the holes. That was the key to this project, because you don’t pick where the holes go, the tree does. Finding those holes where we could keep the form work symmetrical around the tree was a bear. We were unable to install a typical footing for this project because of the large tree roots. When we finally got around to pouring the wall we put sand at the bottom of the forms over the tree roots. This will give that beautiful old maple some time to grow before it will affect the wall. More pictures will be coming later.

A lot of times when we pour a patio, sidewalk or driveway the owner wants a border. Borders are nice because they set off the interior portion of the concrete area. In this photo for instance we used a border at the transition area from a patio that was poured years ago to the new one you see here. I suggested the border on this project for two reasons. First the original patio to the left was poured several years ago. I do not know the color or stamp that was used on the old patio. Even if I knew the color of the old patio, I know it  will not match the color of the new concrete patio. So I suggested a border to transition the two patios together. The border  does two things for this patio. It throws in a new color and a new texture. In this instance a  brick border with a darker color. Now, when looking at the patios poured it is much more difficult to notice the difference in the color or texture , because your eyes are drawn more to the darker color and busier pattern of the brick stamp between the two areas.  Something to think about if you are planning on enlarging your patio area.

How do we get a footing around a tree this big?
In some ways we did and some ways we did it in a different way. The sitting wall that is 12 feet or so from the tree we could put in a typical footing. We dig it out 2 feet deep the length of the wall. Around the tree is a different tale. Where we could find openings in the roots we did a post footing. In other words we dug holes 2 feet deep between the roots. We were able to get 3 to 4 holes per 8 foot wall section. Believe me, it was hard to find a place to put a hole.

Are the post holes substantial enough to carry this wall?
The post holes by themselves filled with concrete is not enough to carry the wall. So what we have to do is install re-bar. Four 1/2″ re-bar per hole with re-bar running horizontally near the bottom of the wall and near the top of the wall . We also had a series of re-bar to reinforce the cantilevered concrete bench. The re-bar we install in the post holes is sticking in the hole near the bottom of the hole and extending up into the wall, but is bent at 90 degrees to catch the re-bar running horizontally both top and bottom in the wall.

Don’t the roots from the trees grow and heave or crack the wall?
Yes, in time they will. This is what we did. We encompassed 3 to 4 inches of sand over the roots between the post holes at the bottom of the wall. This enables the wall to float over the roots for many years. So the wall is in a way formed like a bridge. In other words we bridged the roots. The post holes full of concrete and re-bar will hold the wall in place both vertically and horizontally. Once complete I will show you the finished pictures.

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