Concrete Patios in Harrisburg, PA

Concrete patios make sense in Harrisburg for the same reason they do anywhere: a flat, solid surface for a table, a grill and some chairs, with very little upkeep. HomeGuide's patio guide puts plain concrete at $4 to $12 per square foot installed, and the slab can be broom-finished, colored, exposed or stamped. Summers here are warm and humid, with July highs averaging about 87 degrees on Wikipedia's climate table, so most people want the patio ready by late spring.

Rowhouse yards

A lot of Harrisburg back yards are narrow strips behind a rowhouse, sometimes with a fence on each side and an alley at the back. A patio in a yard like that is often the whole yard. The questions are practical: where does the water go, how do we get concrete back there, and how does the patio meet the back steps and the alley gate? In tight spaces we may wheel concrete in by buggy or use a pump. Old brick, broken concrete or packed gravel often has to come out first, and we price that separately.

Suburban back yards

On larger lots, the main mistake is building too small. A table for six with chairs pushed back fills an area about 12 feet square. Add a grill, a walkway and a couple of lounge chairs and you are near 16 by 16 feet or more. At the estimate we mark the outline on the ground so you can stand in it and decide. Curves, a step down to the lawn and a path to the driveway can all be poured at the same time.

Drainage comes first

A patio is a large flat surface right against your foundation, so slope matters more than finish. We generally pitch the slab about a quarter inch per foot away from the house. Before we set forms, we look at where water runs now, where downspouts empty and whether a neighbor's runoff crosses the yard. In attached houses, the last thing anyone wants is water pushed toward a shared wall or the house next door. If a downspout needs to be extended past the patio, we plan for it.

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Finishes

• Broom: light texture, good grip, lowest cost
• Integral color: pigment mixed in at the plant, so color runs through the slab
• Exposed aggregate: surface paste washed off to show the stone
• Stamped: stone, slate or brick patterns, covered on our stamped concrete page
• Saw-cut patterns: a grid or diamond cut into a plain slab that also acts as control joints

How we build it

We remove sod or old paving, set the subgrade to the planned slope and compact a crushed-stone base. HomeGuide says 4 inches is the standard residential patio thickness, and 6 inches with extra reinforcement for heavy loads like a hot tub or outdoor kitchen. We use air-entrained concrete, add mesh or rebar as the size and soil require, and place an isolation joint where the slab meets the house so it can move without pushing on the foundation.

Care

Sweep and rinse it. Do not use salt on a patio; use sand if you walk across it in winter. Reseal plain and exposed-aggregate patios every few years. Keep planters raised so water does not sit under them, and keep downspouts emptying beyond the edge of the slab.