This post was originally entered a year or ago. Since then I have visited a few places recently with owners wondering what to do with patios. It has inspired me to post this again, but with yet a few more example patios added. The constructions of these vary from stamped concrete to interlocking brick pavers to  natural stone slabs. But the one thing I have prided myself on was in making each and every one of them appealing as possible to all of our senses.

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Patios are places to relax and enjoy the warmer air. We entertain there and we invite others to share our environments with food and drink and nice sights. I have a strong bias – and always have – towards using brick pavers and stamped concrete in my patios. I also love stone but I always found the durability issue led me away from using the native stones, at least set in sand. Bricks and cement rarely break down. I overbuild the bases of these things, beyond doubt, but the results have been universally stable which, to me, means much.

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There is also this – I prefer that the design of the patio be as pleasing as possible, by all means. But at the same time, I also prefer to know that the developments around the edges and background be equally important – if not far more so. Elements of night lighting, visible features such as waterfalls, gorgeous blooming plants, the many and various points of interest a landscaper and the gardener can provide occupy every bit as much priority in design for me.

In some ways, I guess I’m paranoid about eventually losing integrity of the bases of my constructions more than anything. Add that I have done so many driveways and fire lanes in large commercial projects and you get someone who values stability over just about anything. I suppose it is my own particular training and that experience of watching things over time more than anything that lends to biases towards surfaces. Issues of drainage, compaction, underlying strength are huge for me. But I also enjoy the notion that spills and accidents which regularly occur can be dealt with merely by replacing the bricks themselves instead of reinventing the wheel trying to find matching natural stone pieces, then worrying about their fits when dealing with some fairly obscene accidents and discolorations. In the end, no doubt, I have become a brick guy, with a definite nod towards poured stamped concrete. With all the new patterns, colors and textures, it just seems like the best product.

I feature this patio below elsewhere and it is otherwise not particularly noteworthy in terms of creativity, but it illustrates well my sense of how I prefer putting them together and my sense, upon leaving, that this place will stay very much the way it began – with ample range for improvement and augmentation around the edges. I really do believe a surface is just the start.

In a patio such as this there was very little sloping tolerance allowing for drainage. It is also plain huge. The homeowner himself installed much of the piping (and we had to make a few “adjustments”) owing to such a small slope. We also figured out the best possible way of dealing with keeping the water from the occasional torrential downpour and Reno’s snowfalls away from the house, away from the pool and devise a way to make all that go away.

We arrived at the “Channel Drain”, coursing across the patio, as the ideal solution. Complexities such as this are why brick pavers are such a delight to work with as well. They lend themselves to such tricks by being segmented and adjustable at the onset. The remainder of the project, on the back sides, could simply be diverted into beds and away from both pool and house.

Nor are bricks the only cement solution. Large slabs can be artfully arranged as well, even split such as the ones below and filled in with Thyme and aromatic herbs whose smells light up when crushed by foot traffic and who don’t even mind.

Who wouldn’t enjoy a foot-massaging surface such as the pathway construction from Portland’s Chinese Garden below? Detailed and fascinating stone – or pebble – work such as this one show what is possible if one has the time and inclination for the installation. I actually did run across a few where homeowners have done something similar to this. They were an entire Summer’s work and they were amazing.

Imagine an entire patio of these:

Small, intimate places beg for sharp-looking and fascinating surfaces. Larger ones tend to relate to a theme which struggles to see the relevance of a surface dominating the view or even the local scenery.

Since so many of my constructions have tended towards the “large”, I guess it should be understandable I would prefer some heavyweight base for the patio, driveway and sidewalk surfaces to lay on.

😉  Some of these are lots of work, too!

Like Forrest Gump said. “I’m tired now. I think I’ll quit.”

In this Reno landscape project, taken in the construction process, here are some shots of a one acre lot, sloping in the front and pretty flat out back. It required that we build walls out front, to make an approach possible from the street and to welcome those who came that way. These guys also had a mass of concrete which was nearly overwhelming in its sun-washed brightness. It is why the addition of brick pavers not only widened the concrete sidewalk but it brought in an earth tone to border on green grass. The many paver pathways, the huge patio out back, the smaller patio in the front and the spa facilities to the East were instrumental in providing interesting surfaces and deciding the planes. (Note: Left click all images to enlarge)

The front yard consisted of a narrow walk which we bordered with bricks. The bricks were tumbled brick pavers, made to look antiqued before entry. It provided a softer touch to the hard surfaces and the hard lines all around the property.

The front walls were extremely fun to make. The material was called Celtic Wall Block, from a manufacturer known as Belgard Pavers. It is a top of the line product, very secure and with a rough-hewn frontal feature which appears stuck there long before now. Really cool wall blocks.

Bear in mind as well that these pictures were all taken just a few months after completion, in its first year, no less. The development of the pants has actually made it something of a jungle by now.

The front yard also needed some “hot” green in the person of lawn grass. The spacing came out fabulous as we got a legitimate lawn in a manageable space. It’s placement guaranteed a bit more moisture in the air and was – as always – pretty cool to walk in. I tried it myself! 😉

It was interesting, finishing. We were able to acquire some great Tanyosho Pines which we used to frame the courtyard opening gate.  We also had some fun in the courtyard itself.

Further along, out back, we had a big patio to build with a fire pit and a nearby water feature. An fairly expansive lawn would cover the rest, with beds and planting beyond it.

It was a long process. Or it sure seemed so. But we busted it out anyway. We also added boulders, around which we put our pavers, to break the line a little and to hopefully supply an additional aura of  permanence.

I just thought some construction pictures was what this blog needed. And I am way into dust.

The Fire Pit was basic. No gas lines or any artificial source of heat. They were content to burn stuff. So we had to arrange for a nice informal protected pit for fires.

And the rest of the patio stretched on for a while. While this was not an estate job, the impression was what they wanted. The lengths and breadths of some of the walking features were huge. It made for an extremely lush and amiable environment.

We were delighted in how it all came out. Low lines, nothing outrageous, great color. I went a bit nuts on the color. Lots of perennials and roses. We had some fabulous Smoke Trees out front as well.

The water feature was redone later. The splash sound was too intense for conversation. But its size I think fits perfectly. Considering how dusty this place was when we began, there was no feeling bad with the results.

But, what we liked best were the walls.

The walls not only help so much with the grades and retaining them in place, they also are pretty cool just to look at. Attractive and solid, these – once again – were a terrific product.

The pavers circled the home entirely and provided planting pockets galore. This view is to the East from the front gate at the entry. The rock mulching is from gathered stones during the construction. Lord knows there were enough of them, ha ha.