The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: tooqk4u22 on May 07, 2013, 01:49:59 PM
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I want to add a patio to our house and would like something that is nice looking, cost friendly, possibly creative/artsy like, and DIY....this combination may not be possible. Pavers and natural stone are fairly expensive, definitely don't want wood deck.
Any ideas out there that may fit the bill.
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I really like stamped concrete... though I am not so sure how cost friendly/DIY this is. It's do-able yourself, but lots of work (and still fairly expensive.
I'd like to see other ideas that might be more DIY/inexpensive.
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Similar to the stamped concrete idea, Quikrete has some paver forms that I have used and I've been really happy with how it turned out. I've only used it for paths/smaller areas though. So far it's holding up after 7 years of heavy traffic.
http://www.quikrete.com/athome/walkmaker.asp
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relatedly you can do poured concrete which is fairly straightforward and inexpensive and do a stain--some of the effects, while not easily controllable, can be really gorgeous. I've seen combinations of poured concrete with paver edging that look nice.
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One note on the stain: Our whole first floor is stained concrete and I totally love it. The patio is stained as well, done by the same guy with the same stain. While I *LIKE* the patio... it's not nearly as nice as the inside. The stains take totally differently on swept concrete (and you probably want swept concrete in an outside area).
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Similar to the stamped concrete idea, Quikrete has some paver forms that I have used and I've been really happy with how it turned out. I've only used it for paths/smaller areas though. So far it's holding up after 7 years of heavy traffic.
http://www.quikrete.com/athome/walkmaker.asp
I like the stone looking one - based on what it says it takes an 80lb bag to fill the mold (approx 4sq ft), a bag of concrete is about $4 so then about $1/sf for the patio (not including base or other stuff). That is pretty good. For a patio that seems like a lot of labor but overall could be a good option.
Any other ideas - concrete forms could be made into something neat maybe with tumpled rocks or a mosaic of some kind put in.
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I saw a deck made of brick and train track ties that was really cool. They used free bricks found online, the owner was doing a reno and getting rid of them. Some people list free stones and bricks since they don't know how else to get rid of them.
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I'm planning to build a patio/mini-deck this summer out of free wood pallets. For me, the difficulty is getting the pallets home (only one at a time fits in my car and I don't own a truck or know anyone who does). But, almost completely free (labor + screws + stain) which is exceptionally attractive to me! Here are a bunch of different pictures of how different folks have done it different ways. Maybe one of them will work for you. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Pallet+decks&qpvt=Pallet+decks&FORM=Z7FD
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I'm planning to build a patio/mini-deck this summer out of free wood pallets. For me, the difficulty is getting the pallets home (only one at a time fits in my car and I don't own a truck or know anyone who does). But, almost completely free (labor + screws + stain) which is exceptionally attractive to me! Here are a bunch of different pictures of how different folks have done it different ways. Maybe one of them will work for you. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Pallet+decks&qpvt=Pallet+decks&FORM=Z7FD
I know i said I didn't want a wood deck, but this idea is brilliant - for the price (free) this is definitely on the table if I can find the pallets. There were some cool pics for furniture too. THanks