Patio

[RainbowSunshine21]

Hi,

We’re wondering if anyone knew of a cheap-ish way to tackle the monstrosity that is our patio this summer? It’s a mass of concrete.

Would a jet blast and screed do? We looked into resin but unsure of this option? Tile it? Put a couple of outdoor rugs down?

Any cheap- ish ideas welcome and much appreciated 😊

Looks like it's only 2 bricks below the DPC, so I suspect you can't do anything that will raise it, unless you put in drainage to deal with it and isolate the house wall. Which way does water drain on it? Towards the house, or away from it?

I’d be tempted to get a professional outdoor cleaning company in to jet wash , chemically treat, steam, the full works and then paint it with a tough wearing paint.

If you don’t have any budget, then power wash it and shove down a large outdoor rug when summer arrives, in the mean time furniture and lots of pots will fill it out and hide it.

Indeed, you cannot raise it as it due to your damp proof course. Remove concrete and gravel it is probably the cheapest aesthetically pleasing idea.

That’s an utter nightmare though, it would drag in and out of rhe house constantly and it’s not nice to walk on. I’ve a gravel drive. No way I’d have gravel as a patio. I also think it would look awful

I had a similar glory hole down the back of the garden. The patio at the back door is fine, but that thing of horror at the end was driving me nuts.

I got it levelled, as in the younger lads in my family scraped all the crud off, levelled the muck underneath somehow (I let them at it), put down weed membrane, and finished it off with square rubber matting like they use in playgrounds. (Amazon) Worked well. It wouldn't be anything as neat/bump free or professionally done etc. as the "real" patio, but it suffices for now. It's used for sitting when the weather is roasting as it's shaded, and the "real" patio is fiery when the sun shines in Summer.

I think it cost about 200 quid for the mats. It won't last forever but will do until I get around to something more permanent.

If it's fairly level you could jet wash it and then put some down something like these IKEA outdoor decking tiles for a smoother surface? They just click together and aren't permanently fixed down - www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/outdoor-flooring-21957/

Or an outdoor rug?