Concrete Patios in Greenwich, CT

We design and pour concrete patios for Greenwich, Connecticut homeowners who want usable outdoor space that does not sink, puddle or push water back at the foundation. The work runs from layout and excavation through base, forms, reinforcement, the pour and the finish — a flat, correctly pitched surface you can put furniture on for the next thirty years.

(475) 267-2083

What Goes Into a Poured Patio?

We start by walking the yard with you and marking the footprint, which is the step people regret skipping. A patio that looks generous on paper can feel cramped once a table and chairs are on it; sixteen by twenty is a realistic minimum for dining and seating together.

Then we excavate to subgrade, compact a four-to-six inch stone base, and set forms with a deliberate pitch — roughly a quarter inch of fall per foot, always away from the house. The slab is poured four inches thick with wire or fiber reinforcement in an air-entrained mix, finished with a light broom or a smoother trowel texture depending on whether it sits in the sun, and jointed to control cracking. Where the patio meets the house we install an expansion joint so the two can move independently, because they will.

When Does an Existing Patio Need to Come Out?

The clearest sign is water. If rain stands on the surface for more than an hour after a storm, or runs toward the foundation instead of away from it, the pitch is wrong and no repair fixes pitch. Beyond that: panels that have dropped enough to trip on, cracking wide enough to catch a chair leg, surface flaking across most of the slab, or a patio that has tilted as a slope behind it crept forward. That last one is a grading problem, and it usually wants a low wall to hold the sitting area level before any new concrete goes down.

Why Do Patios Fail Around Here?

Patios sit closer to the house and lower to the ground than most flatwork, so they absorb everything the roof and the yard send at them. Gutters that dump at the corner of a slab will undermine it within a few seasons. The clay pockets in our glacial till hold that water rather than letting it drain, and when it freezes the whole slab lifts.

Shade is the quieter problem. A patio under mature trees in Cos Cob or the backcountry stays damp for days after rain, which feeds moss, accelerates freeze-thaw damage and keeps the surface saturated going into a cold snap. Tree roots then work underneath looking for exactly that moisture. A patio in full sun on a flat Old Greenwich lot fails differently and much more slowly.

What Drives the Cost of a Patio?

• Size and shape. Curves, steps and multiple levels all add forming labor over a simple rectangle.
• Site access. Backyards reached only through a side gate mean wheeling in base stone and concrete by hand or pumping it over the house.
• Excavation depth. Building out from a sloped yard means either cut and fill or a wall to retain it.
• Drainage. Adding a trench drain or tying downspouts into pipe is common and worth doing.
• Finish. Broom is standard. Color, stamping, exposed aggregate and border bands each add a step.

Poured Concrete or Pavers?

Both work here. Poured concrete costs less per square foot, installs faster, has no joints for weeds to find, and can be textured. Pavers flex with ground movement and individual units can be reset, but joints need maintenance and settling shows up as an uneven surface. If you want the look of stone with the behavior of a slab, stamping the surface gets you there for considerably less than natural bluestone installed.

Patio Questions We Get

Start With a Free Estimate

Call (475) 267-2083 or tell us about the space, and we will come out, take measurements and price the patio you actually want.