Are you interested in how to build a concrete patio or walkway? Here is my experience.
The plan
As you can imagine, the idea was to be able to hang out in the backyard and walk around the house on a solid, level and maintenance-free surface in any weather with lots of traction.
The design
I decided to go with concrete, as opposed to interlock stones. The concrete I chose was basically the same one that the city uses to make sidewalks. It is durable, rough and has cool synthetic fibers mixed in it to make the it bond stronger.
The prepare the base under the concrete would be about 6 inches of 3/4 crush gravel (this is basically 3 parts large stones mixed with 1 part smaller stones). The two different sizes help to compact the mixture. I also estimated that for my (and my neighbour’s job) I would need 19 tonnes of concrete. That sounds like a lot … and it was. I had two cement mixer trucks show up.
To prevent rain water from flowing into your house you need to make sure that the forms slope down and away from the house at rate of about 1/4 inch for every 4 feet. To reinforce the concrete I decided to use a steel wire mesh. This was probably not necessary, but I thought it would be very cool.
I would also have to prevent the concrete from cracking but more on that later.