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  A patio is an imperative element of your house. Concrete is the most famous material using in manufacturing beautiful patios for your home. A decorative concrete patio attracts homeowners and visitors. In comparison with wood decks, pavers, and stones, the concrete patio is long-lasting, durable, and requires less maintenance. Moreover, it is less expensive than other materials.

There are three major types of concrete patio:

1. Stamped Concrete Patio: 

The stamped concrete patio is the best decorative pavement options for your house’s outdoors. This concrete design is adopted nowadays because it provides stunning beauty, weather-resistance, and provides maximum durability. You can enhance the look of your stamped concrete patio by adding different colors, designs, shapes, patterns, and sizes that suit your background. A professional contractor can form your patio according to your need.

How to Design Stamped Concrete patio:

There are various stamped concrete patterns and colorings available which will enhance the look of your stamped concrete patio:

Coloring:

1. Integral Coloring:

This color works with the material that is best for pastels and earth tones.

1. Dry Shake Color Hardeners:

They intensify the concrete-color and make it provides strength to you stamped concrete.

1. Surface applied Colors:

They are dyes and stains that give a natural look to your stamped texture.

Patterns:

1. Ashlar Slate:

It uses a mixture of rectangular shape, and it provides the look of cut stones when it is dissolved with different colors.

1. Brick:

If you want to have a traditional look to your stamped patio, the brick texture would be a perfect choice. It is available in classical red brick design and herringbone design.

1. Random Stone:

These patterns give a highly natural and stony look to your patio.

1. Wood Stamped Concrete: 

If you love a wood deck, wood stamped concrete would give you the same look of the wood deck. It will be more durable than a wood deck.

2. Stained Concrete Patio:

The stained concrete patio is the best way to make your existing or new patio look decent and versatile. You can add customs graphics, subtle color shades, and border designs in stained concrete patio. You have the option to choose water-based stains or acid-based stains according to your need. Both will give you the color permanence.

Designs of Stained Concrete patio:

  You can give a beautiful touch to your stained concrete patio by saw cuts, stencils and hand traced patterns. There are various designs like:

1. Hand-score vine design
2. Swirled Floral Pattern.
3. Acid-Stained Micro topping.
4. Decorative stenciled Rug designs.
5. Acid-stains, Saw cuts, and Sandblasting.
6. Scored and Stained Polymer Overlay.

3. Exposed Aggregate Concrete Patio:

Exposed Aggregate is a type of material used for paving is made from regular concrete with different particles to enhancement of the concrete. It strengthens your existing concrete. You can customize your patio-designs with exposed aggregate concrete using different colors and patterns.

How to design Exposed Aggregate Concrete Patio:

1. You can add decorative glass, stone, or luminescent material into your regular concrete to get a shimmery effect.  
2. Lightening with beautifying the overall beauty of your patio, steps, and driveway.
3. You can form stamped borders with exposed aggregate concrete.
4. You can add integral color or tropical stains to give a stunning look to your exposed aggregate concrete.

We hope that the above information about the concrete patio and their design would be helpful for you to choose the best concrete patio.

The ready mixed concrete is prepared at a stationary cement plant and then delivered to the construction site. It is made as per the requirement of the client. It includes water, portland cement, and other chemical additives. Additives are solid or liquid chemical substances that serve the purpose of added durability or less water content. Sometimes crushed stones or gravel are also added to the mixture. The ingredients are put into the truck plant of the mixture. Then, it is mixed by the plant until it is delivered to the site. 

Ready-mix concrete is preferred because it does not require a stationary plant at the site, making it easier to work with on limited spaced sites. Until it is delivered to the site, concrete is mixed from 2 to 6 rotations per minute.

There are two categories of ready mixed concrete:

● Transit-mixed.

● Shrink mixed

Transit Mixed:

Transit mixed concrete is also called truck mixed concrete. In this type, the materials are put together in the stationary plant and then put into a truck mixer for transit. During the transit, the materials are mixed partially. That way the water is kept separate from the rest of the ingredients, protecting it from hardening. Once it is on the site, the concrete mixture is mixed properly and ready to be used. 

Shrink Mixed:

As the name suggests, in this type the concrete is mixed partially at the plant to shrink it, making more space for the bigger batch. It is then completely mixed either at the job site or during transit.

The ready mixed concrete is remixed once it is delivered to make sure that the desired slump is obtained. Remixed concrete is said to have settled quickly as compared to the concrete mixed only once. Materials are also added on the job site to get the correct amount and quantity of batch as per requirement. These are the basic materials like water or chemical additives. 

Why Ready Mixed Concrete is Preferred:

The ready mixed concrete is preferred over site mixed concrete, because of its less preparation time and delivered readily. It is suitable for all sorts of projects as it has less batch variation than the site mixed concrete. Its higher cost is worth paying for as it saves you from the trouble you have to go through while preparing concrete at the site. 

Its controlled environment eliminates the chances of nature’s involvement in the process. Moreover, it doesn’t require storage space. It is poured right after it is delivered. The product estimation is easier considering ready mix cement as a single unit while other types of products require estimation of products that are used in preparation separately. It can easily fulfill the requirement of higher volumes as compared to the site mixed concrete.

 Ready-mixed concrete can be transported to multiple places inside the site mining it easier to pour as well. Ready-mix concrete reduces your stress for preparing concrete, and it is prepared in large plants as well, eliminating any requirements for mixing materials at the site which results in better space utilization.

As we look around, the most common materials used for the roadways or pavement are concrete and asphalt. The challenging thing is to pick the right material for your design or project, whether for pavement, driveways, or roads. But, before let us discuss the pros and cons of these different materials.

Which material is best either concrete or asphalt? A common question, that arises in one’s mind. The choice of the materials often depends on the cost or budget of a person or company. As everyone wants a solution that could be done within a fixed budget.

Both materials have their pros and cons over another. We are going to narrate the facts; why one should choose concrete as a choice. The novel argument will give you the reason to choose concrete over asphalt. 

Let discuss why concrete is the best solution for you.

Durable than Asphalt:                  

                   The concrete is rigid and long-lasting having an average life of 20-40 years. It is resistive against heavy rain and can withstand extreme weather conditions. The lasting life span of concrete is quite enough to choose the concrete.

1. Risk-Free: 

                 Concrete is safer when it comes to the driveway. Unlike asphalt, which is unsafe due to its rough surface. On the other hand, concrete makes it easy to walk and maintain, especially having kids around.

2. Easily Maintenance:

                                  Asphalt does not go well when it comes to driveways, as it does not give a good impression. On the contrary, the concrete is easy to maintain, and it does not require regular maintenance. 

3. Better when it comes to comfort:

                                                As concrete is more effective in extreme weather conditions. Its the best choice for the driveways, keeping in mind that it is a commonly used area of a house. The concrete is a far better choice over asphalt, as it is comfy to walk on. Along with the fact that asphalt gets hot during the hot season, that makes it dangerous to walk on. 

4. Eco-friendly:

                   Asphalt is non-eco-friendly as melting asphalt could give rise to toxic gases. Whereas, concrete possesses no harm and is eco-friendly, with the fact that it is 100% recyclable.

5. Beautiful: 

                   The concrete can be colored according to need, while asphalt is black. 

6. Time-saving:

                      After installing, require no extra care. Thus, it provides you time to spend with your loved ones. While extra care is needed afterward when you install asphalt.

Thus, concrete is the best choice for users due to its variant features. The factor that is crucial in choosing any good is durability, the cost for maintenance and the material best fit within the budget is selected. The use of concrete material is common in most cases. The concrete pavement can reduce maintenance costs and time due to its long-lasting and endurance capacity.

If you are still having an issue in choosing between the concrete and asphalt. Choose the materials that provide a more feasible solution for you with the best results.

The price calculation of a concrete job has many variables to include, concrete being the most important one. Other variables include materials required, labor, and the work needed to be done at the site before the concrete job. To understand the calculator we need a detailed view of the variables. 

Materials: 

The cost of concrete is the most important thing in the whole process. It doesn’t matter if you are using ready mix concrete or other material for concrete. You can bet the quotes for the local suppliers in accordance with the site location and required project details. Concrete prices are usually calculated with per cubic yard or cubic meter. It costs around $77 per cubic yard.

A major portion of expenses depends on formwork for concrete. Formwork is mostly labor dependent, hence it requires your input for the type of formwork, its installation, and the decision of buying or renting the form equipment. The rounded or other shapes of concrete require costlier work as forms are used more in these shapes. Formwork cost on average is around 1.10$ per square foot. 

In building concrete some sort of reinforcement is required. The reinforcement materials differ for different projects i.e. rebar wire mesh fiber mesh and steel reinforcement. The price varies with the reinforcement material.

Concrete Work:

Concrete work requires grading, sub grading, and finishing of concrete. The estimation of grading depends on the area that needs to be leveled and the amount of work needed to level or grade the ground. Grading is usually required when building concrete on the soil. If 75% of the ground is leveled the cost will estimate around $65 per hour. Extra grading work can add $10 per cubic yard or meter, to the estimated amount including the preparation of the site by removing soft spots, and filling them with suitable material.

Schedule and Labor: 

The labor wages rate, varies per day, which could affect the cost of the concrete work. The number of laborers also varies for the smaller to bigger projects. The duration of the project highly affects the overall cost. If the duration of the project is short high labor will be required, needing more money to be spent. However a well-timed project will cut down the extra expenses needed for a short timed project, hence it is better to have your projects finish in a well estimated time. 

Concrete Finish:

The concrete finish depends on the type needed for the desired design. Concrete finish varies in cost for stamped, aggregate, stained, and other sorts of concrete designs. You can estimate around 0.80$ per square foot for concrete finishing. 

Once the estimate is calculated you need to add a certain amount for mishaps and incidents during the construction. This way if any mishaps occur you won’t need to worry about managing the money, you’ll have it saved making no dents in your current earnings. Keeping all these variables in mind you can easily estimate the price required for the concrete job. 

Oahu concrete contractors are a good source to help expand your knowledge of these processes. Until then let this article help expand your knowledge. The requirements of materials depend upon the type of concrete job under construction.

The materials for concrete itself are cement water and sand. They should be mixed in the right amount to get the standard viscosity and stickiness in the concrete.  

Driveways and Patios:

For driveways patios and decorative projects on the ground, a woodenware frame is required in which the prepared concrete mixture will be poured. For decorative purposes acidic agents, color mixtures are required. Shovels and hoes are also required for the movement of concrete to the desired site.

Sidewalks and Slabs:

For sidewalks or slabs, forming is required.  It requires digging up the area and leveling it by removing debris and sod. The area should be of the same level of depth. To make it perfect it is recommended to recess the area in accordance with the desired depth. Also, it is important to keep the ground moist.  

One of these things are taken care of, the form is then constructed by 2 by 6’s formula. The stakes on the backside of the forms are then placed in the ground 3 to 4 feet apart from each other. The stakes are then cut off by the form boards and fastened with the form boards using duplex nails. Once the form is in place, it is then observed for its uniform level above the ground. 

Reinforcement Material:

The reinforcement material is required for driveways and patios and garages. The concrete can be reinforced by using steel rods or wire mesh as reinforcement material. For driveways and garages, the area inside the boundaries of form is then filled with dirt and then the installation of the gravel is the essential part. At the top concrete is poured to add firmness to the base.

 To smooth put the concrete pour, a screed board is required. The screed board removes the excess pour with side to side motion, but this work is hard and demands to be done by hand. For floating, the surface bull, magnesium, or wooden float is required depending on the project. 

Small projects use magnesium and wooden float while larger projects require bull float. The purpose of the float is to fill any remaining voids leveling out the surface. 

Finishing:

For finishing a margin or pointing trowel, Edgar, control joints, jointer, a cuff saw, and power trowel is required.  Margin trowel is used to separate concrete from the form. Edger rounds off the edges of the form to avoid chipping off. Control joints and jointers are used for large slabs of concrete in driveways or garages to prevent them from cracking. These jointers are run along the concrete to create a straight line. A cut saw is used to remove the jointers once the concrete cures. The power trowel is required for large concrete jobe to smooth them out. expansion joints are also placed to avoid cracking due to expansion and contraction effect of nature. 

Curing:

Curing requires a lot of water but in small amounts. The concrete is covered with a plastic sheet and requires to be kept damp regularly for five to seven days after pouring.