Concrete patios and pool decks in Warner Robins, GA

Patio and pool deck prices

Those are square footage times the per-foot rate. A patio costs a dollar or so more per foot than a driveway because almost every one is in a backyard: the mixer parks on the street and the concrete arrives by pump at $600 to $900 or by buggy through the side gate. Steps, a border in a second color, or a thickened edge for a future roof are each a line on the quote. Removing an old patio adds $2 to $4 per square foot. Small-pour pricing follows the same logic as the driveway cost guide.

Finishes that hold up through a Middle Georgia summer

Summer highs run 90 to 95 F with high humidity. Winters rarely hold a hard freeze, so we pour year-round, with the busiest months March through November. The finish choice is about heat, slip and upkeep.

• Broom. The standard. Light gray, cooler underfoot than anything darker, the most slip-resistant surface we pour, no sealer needed.
• Salt finish. Rock salt pressed in and washed out leaves small pits. Common on pool decks: slip-resistant wet, without the cost of stamping.
• Exposed aggregate. Top paste washed off to show pea gravel or river rock. Durable, harder on bare feet, and the stone color depends on what the plants on Foy Evans Drive and Plantation Road are running that month.
• Stamped and colored. Needs sealer every 2 to 3 years, and a dark color on a west-facing patio is too hot to stand on barefoot in July. Choose a light base color and ask for non-slip grit in the sealer near water. Patterns are on the stamped and decorative page.

How we build a patio that drains away from the house

The red clay under most lots south of Russell Parkway shrinks in August and swells in a wet February, and a patio poured straight onto it follows. The build is about the base and the slope.

1. Layout. String lines set to fall 1/8 to 1/4 inch per foot away from the foundation. Downspouts that discharge onto the patio get piped under it first.
2. Excavation and base. 8 inches down, soft clay replaced, 4 inches of crusher run compacted. New-construction lots in Magnolia Hill and Harley Farms South often have buried brick and drywall scraps right where the patio goes.
3. Isolation and steel. A half-inch expansion joint against the house. 6x6 mesh on chairs, or fiber mix for a clean stamp. If a roof or screen enclosure might come later, we turn down a 12 by 12 inch footing under each future post. Tell us before we dig.
4. Pour and joints. Early in summer, before the surface heats up. Control joints tooled or sawn at 8 to 10 feet, never more than 12 on a 4-inch slab, laid out where a pattern or border hides them.
5. Cure. In summer we pour early, mist the surface, and apply a white-pigmented curing compound. You can walk on it next day, park a car after 7 days, and it reaches design strength at 28 days. Stamped work is sealed after the 28 days, not before.

Pool decks: what differs from a patio

• Timing. We pour after the pool shell is backfilled, compacted and filled with water, so the backfill has settled before the deck sits on it. Pouring the week the shell goes in is how decks crack along the pool.
• The coping joint. The deck never touches the shell or coping. A half-inch expansion joint runs the full perimeter, filled with flexible mastic, so the deck moves without pushing on the pool.
• Slope and drains. 1/4 inch per foot away from the water, with deck drains where the yard falls toward the pool.
• Slip and heat. Broom, salt finish, or a light stamped color with grit in the sealer. Wet feet on a smooth dark surface is the one finish we refuse to pour.

A hot tub pad needs 4 to 6 inches depending on the fill under it; see slabs.

Resurface or lift before you replace

An ugly patio is not always a bad one. If the slab is solid and the problem is spalling, stains or a finish you dislike, a resurfacing overlay at $4 to $8 per square foot gives a new surface for a third of a tear-out. If the patio has sunk toward the house, common in Hawthorne and Woodbridge where lots fall toward the back of the house, foam leveling at $600 to $2,500 restores the slope in a morning. Replace when cracks go all the way through, when sections have heaved more than an inch against each other, or when you want it bigger, since adding onto an old patio leaves a seam that always shows.