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HomeBuildHow To Build A Raised Concrete Patio

How To Build A Raised Concrete Patio

Can I Complete The Project Safely On My Own

President of Stonehenge BPL, Jeff Pozniak, stated, The problem Ive so often seen in my 30+ years in the industry is a fundamental lack of understanding of engineering principles and proper construction methods. With that being said, make sure to carefully review your area, draw out a plan and figure out what you need first.

Since raised patios typically require just a few layers of materials without building a whole structure, you can safely build it on your own. The process is relatively simple and does not require handling dangerous tools.

As the easiest and most durable option, choose concrete pavers or bricks to skip the extra step of cutting out each individual paver. Other popular choices include stone, graphite, and other materials that come in pre-cut shapes like squares and rectangles.


Other tools you might need in addition to your building materials are a rubber mallet, metal spikes to mark your patio outline, a trowel, metal pipes, a rake, a shovel, a plate compactor, and a level.

How To Pour A Concrete Patio

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Patios can be wonderful additions to any home, but homeowners generally have to weigh the benefits of having a patio with the expense of having someone do the construction. To save on this expense, however, consider making a concrete patio one of your next do-it-yourself projects.


And That Is How You Build A Raised Garden Bed To Put On Concrete

Or perhaps I should say how we like to do it! Clearly, there are many different ways you can garden on top of hard surfaces. With a little creativity, food can be grown in more places than most people imagine! I hope this article gave you plenty of new ideas for your space. Please let me know if you have any questions. Happy planning, building, and growing.

Dont miss these awesome related articles:

How Easy Is Building A Raised Patio


Some might say decks are easier to build than a raised patio. However, depending on how its constructed, building a raised patio with retaining walls can be just as much work as building a deck, if not less! Well get into more about that below.

Today, well share the story of how we got to building a raised patio with retaining wall along with answers to these popular questions about raised patios:

  • What did your raised patio cost?
  • How did you build your raised stone patio?
  • Can you tell me how to build a raised patio on a slope?
  • Do you have photos of building a raised patio with retaining wall?
  • How can you help me decide on the best raised patio design for my situation?
  • What are the best raised patio ideas, designs and materials?
  • How do you edge a raised patio?

BONUS: Im also going to share a secret with you about what wed do differently now, so that you dont make the same mistake!

Decorative Stencil Masking Cost

Elevated Concrete Deck Design


Concrete stencils can be used by your installer. Stenciling will cost $1$10 more per square foot depending on the intricacies of the design.

  • Appearance: This process allows for both layering and colors to be used, delivering an old-world craftsmans look.
  • Pros: Perfect for the homeowner who wants a unique look for the patio.
  • Upkeep: Pressure wash to clean, and if sealed, then reseal every few years.
  • Summary: With the right design input, this is an excellent way for homeowners to take some grey concrete slab and apply their individuality to it.

Getting Started: Evaluate Your Space

Before you go slapping together a raised bed and plopping it down on your patio, take a moment to think about your space. As with any garden space, an ideal location should receive full sun . It should also be fairly level. Even more, building a raised garden bed on top of concrete or other hard impervious surfaces brings about a whole new set of considerations. What is the hard surface like? Can it handle the moisture and weight of a heavy raised garden bed?  

For example, if youre hoping to add raised garden beds on top of a nice wood deck, the style of bed Im going to show you in this article may not be the best choice which sits right on the ground and drains from the bottom. Instead, youd likely want to protect your deck by using an elevated raised bed kit, or one that has a solid bottom and contained drainage system. In that case, See the Alternative Options section at the end of this article. 


On the other hand, the steps we used to modify our newest driveway garden bed will work well on top of concrete, asphalt, pavers, or similar surfaces. If and when you ever decide to move the garden bed, it may have some discoloration below. Yet a pressure washer should be able to remove it!

grow our potatoes

Concrete Patio Vs Wood Deck

The average cost to build a deck is $25 per square foot with most homeowners spending around $4,380 to $10,080. For an entry level deck it costs around $15/sq.ft., and for a deck built with premium materials costs $35/sq.ft.

  • You wont have to deal with mold, rot, or termites.
  • A decks wood fades if not treated,
  • It might not be able to hold the weight of a hot tub or BBQ grill and kitchen area either.
  • Usually needs to be power washed, stained, and resealed every few years.


What Is The Cheapest Way To Build A Deck

Keep it simple: suppressing curves and other unique interface properties will set it apart, but shrinking the overall volume of the interface is where youre sure to find the most significant savings, Wormer said.

Choose the wood, but be careful: untreated wood interfaces are usually the cheapest to have but dont forget the costs in the long run. Wood-filled ones need annual care and deteriorate quickly if they dont get it.

Does it right: the warmer months are more popular for creating terraces, so developing your installation in the off-season can be a way to save.

Do it yourself if you dare: getting privileges, interpreting the creation codes, and correctly arranging the foundation supports are above the capacity level of several amateur DIY enthusiasts. 


Among other things, a professional could arrange an unfinished wood interface, and you could seal, stain, or color it. It is effortless for some owners and would save some money.

How To Prepare The Patio Slab Site

Before you start, contact your local building department to see whether a permit is required and how close to lot lines you can build. In most cases, youll measure from the lot line to position the slab parallel to it. Make sure there are no pipes or services below the ground you are proposing to put your patio slab. The national call-before-you-dig number is 811. If there are any buried utilities, these can be marked with paint or flags so that you dont accidentally dig into an underground utility line.

Striking The Diy Concrete Patio

Move a strikeoff across the form to level the concrete. On large jobs, do this batch-by-batch, rather than after all the cement is placed. Move the board slowly along the form, using a side-to-side, sawing motion; be sure to make two passes. Even on narrow forms, two people will make the work faster and more efficient. If necessary, a third person can shovel extra concrete into any corners to save time.

Smoothing concrete patio surface

If you’re working on a very small walkway leading to your patio, you can skip this step.) After striking off, use a darby or bull float-depending on the size of your project-for the initial finishing, to smooth down high spots and fill small hollows left after striking off.

Use the darby on small DIY concrete projects. Move it in overlapping arcs, then repeat with overlapping straight, side-to-side strokes. Keep the tool flat, don’t let it dig in. For larger jobs, use a bull float . Push it away from you with its leading edge raised slightly. Pull it back nearly flat; overlap your passes.

Edging concrete

Giving your Do It Yourself concrete slab or sidewalk a curved edge will help it resist chipping and prevent stub-toes or tripping accidents. To edge the cement, begin by running a mason’s trowel between the concrete and the outer edges of the slab form . Follow with an edger . Run it back and forth to smooth and compact the concrete. Unless the tool has a toboggan end, raise the leading edge slightly as you move it.

Brick Patio Step #2: Lay The Bricks

Youll want to lay landscaping fabric in the trench giving the bricks a material that they can lie on top of. Then lay the bricks level and side by side on the material, following along the string line guide. Continue this process as you continue to add more rows in the same manner. As you lay the rows, add gravel between the fabric and the back of the wall to prevent soil from washing through the cracks in the wall. 

Step 4: Place & Fill Your Bed

Ta-da! Your new raised bed is all prepped and ready to be installed in its new hardscape home. Set the bed in place, as level as possible. Make sure you like the location before filling it with soil! Now, add soil to the bed, taking care to keep the fabric flush against the inside of the bed as you go. Speaking of taking care remember to be gentle and dig only lightly in this bed, now and in the future.

We are huge fans of no-till gardening here anyways, so we dont intend on digging way down into the soil any time soon anyways. But if you do need to do any digging, use caution to not accidentally rip open your fabric bottom. It isnt the end of the world if it gets a little tear. To learn more about ongoing soil care for your raised bed, check out this article about how we amend and fertilize our raised beds before planting using a no-till method. 

Advantages Of A Diy Raised Patio

Concrete Patio Rock Face Elevated ...

The main advantage of a DIY raised patio is its endless customizability. You can create a unique shape, pattern, or layout you feel comfortable with. This freedom saves you from settling for basic designs that you might feel pressured to accept if you were working with a contractor. A raised patio is also easily upgraded with outdoor seating, pergolas, fire pits, and planters.

This beautiful addition is more affordable than a wooden deck, which not only has higher building costs but also requires more maintenance. A deck needs to be polished, power washed, and sealed to shield it against the elements and wear and tear, but a raised patio might just need a little power washing every once in a while to keep it fresh.

Our Raised Patio Area Before

First, the quick backstory!

When we first bought this house, the outside space may have been what first sold us on it. With an expansive backyard and massive, mature trees over 30 years old, we suspected this might be the perfect house for us and our growing family.

Heres what it looked like when we first toured it:

Do you see the large tree roots in the lawn? Yep, thats where the raised patio now exists!

After moving in, we didnt do much work to the backyard except adding some plants and landscaping.

Over the next several years of living in this house, we slowly got to know all the ins and outs of our backyard.

It was during this get to know you period that I started to realize something:

One of the best views of a nearby mountain range was from a seemingly random spot on the edge of our lawn!

I discovered this one day while walking around the backyard and going through my usual Jess process of reimagining the space.

How To Build A Raised Patio With Retaining Wall Blocks

Once you have determined the location and design of your raised patio, stake out the location and use a string line or paint to mark out the area. A garden hose is an excellent tool for marking out curves. Then excavate the area by removing all the surface vegetation and organic materials from the area. These cannot be used as backfill material.

  • Starting at the lowest point dig a base trench 24 in. wide by 6 in. deep plus 1 in deep for each 1 ft. of wall height.
  • Compact the base trench as well as the entire patio base area, making a minimum of 2 passes with a walk behind plate compactor. Compaction of these areas are very important as they make up the foundation of both your wall and raised patio.

Like any other Allan Block retaining wall, your raised patio needs to have proper drainage. A drain pipe is used to prevent water pressure from building up behind the retaining wall. Place the drain pipe at the back of the trench and vent to daylight at the lowest point.

In addition to managing the water the drain pipe, you will need to manage the water flow around the house foundation . To do this you will need to waterproof the foundation wall. Check with your local building officials or with the material manufacturer on recommended installation of this waterproofing material.

To begin building the retaining wall that will make up your raised patio, start by preparing the base.

Genius Hacks: 3 Ways To Build A Raised Patio

Were sharing all the tips, tricks & details of building a raised patio with retaining wallalong with our raised stone patio design and cost!

Do you have a sloped area in your yard that seems unusable? Or perhaps you want to avoid a deck off the back of your house and have started envisioning your own way of building a raised patio with retaining walls?

Whatever your need, youre in the right place, my friend!

Were big believers in the power of a raised patio! Sure, a deck could be built to try to utilize a sloped area, but well take a good raised patio on a slope over a deck any day.

Would you like to take a slope where no one could previously sit , and turn that slope into seating for 10, 15, 20or more?

Then read on!

Raised Concrete Decking Patio Deck How To Build A Over Step Replacing Wood Ideas Designs

Outdoor Patio And Backyard Upadated :

Home concrete pavers versus a poured or stamped patio in somers ny, a concrete patio is made for practicality not beauty it starts out looking plain and goes downhill from there as craters cracks stains accumulate can go dull to downright ugly in just few years, my concrete patio slab developed a foot long crack that varied from hairline next to the house widening inch at edge of.

Architrex structural wood tiles offer a simple way to create solid surfaces over sloping or uneven exterior substrates such as rooftops courtyards terraces pool surrounds etc for both residential and commercial applications, hydra pressed pavers architectural supported by pedestals are stunning in any setting and perfect for residential municipal commercial applications including garden patios pedestrian plazas terraces pool decks. The tile council of north america inc is an international trade association dedicated to expanding market for ceramic manufactured in tiling over exterior deck or balcony.

Step 1: Build Or Obtain A Raised Garden Bed Frame

First, you need to build a wood raised garden bed frame for your space. If you need any pointers here, please check out our detailed tutorial. There is even a step-by-step video included! For our new driveway raised bed, we simply used our standard bed design but modified the bottom and installation. The dimensions in this example are 6 feet long, 20 inches wide and 18 inches tall. We needed to keep it quite narrow so I wouldnt hit it with my car going in and out of the driveway!  

Note that the following steps will work best as-described below with a wood bed frame that is about 2 or 3 feet wide. For beds wider than 3 feet, I suggest you consider adding a couple wood cross-beams along the bottom of the bed. They will help support the weight of the soil on top of the fencing and landscape fabric were going to add next. Sorry, I dont have a photo but I did my best to draw what I mean! See below. Use a durable wood such as cedar or redwood 2×4 or 2×6 boards. Install them within the frame NOT attached to the outer bottom of the bed frame. That would inhibit your bed from sitting flat on the ground. Make sense?

Solve The Water Problems

Most of the time, the patio corner had settled by many years. For this reason, rainwater can be stuck in the basement. It is a better idea to fill the reservoir with an exterior self-leveling compound. Besides, you can make a thin coat and make it a slight slope to run the water away. You can keep a gap between the house and the patio. Besides, there are some other ways to solve the water problem.

Aggregate Concrete Porch Floor Construction Process

Inside view of front porch cavity
Chipping holes in brick for steel channels
Steel channels and corrugated metal sheathing
Steel channels inserted into holes on brick and supported by foundation blocks
Steel sheathing being installed
Steel sheathing ready for concrete
Concrete pumping truck
Concrete being poured on steel sheathing
Concrete pumping truck

Lay The Sleepers And Predrill For Concrete Screws

Raised Patio with Steps

The sleepers don’t have to be level; they can follow the slope of your patio. But they do need to form a flat plane. If your patio is in good shape, you’ll get a flat plane automatically. If your patio has ridges and sunken areas, you’ll spend lots of time fussing with shims.

To preview the situation, lay a straight board across the patio in a few spots. Look for the highest hump in the patio and fasten your first sleeper there. Then work outward from the high spot, adding sleepers and checking for flatness along each sleeper and across them. Add shims to raise low spots.

Drill through sleepers, spacers and into the concrete with a hammer drill, then drive in concrete screws. Overhang the sleepers along one edge of the patio and trim them to exact length later.

Building A Raised Brick Patio

A raised brick patio can significantly enhance the appearance of your outdoor space. Building brick patios, however, may require you to spend hundreds of dollars on labor costs and materials, particularly when you hire a contractor to do the job. There is a way, though, to still save money and get the kind of brick patio you want in your outdoors and that is to do the job yourself. Building a raised brick patio may seem like such a daunting task, but it is actually as easy as building level patios. You only need to make a retaining wall and the rest of the process will be a breeze.

Step 1: Determine the Height of Your Patio

Decide how high you want your raised patio to be. When it comes to the height of raised patios, the sky is the limit but usually they are raised to the level of the house floor from which they are often accessed. Once you have determined the height, you will then be able to pinpoint how many rows of bricks are needed to build your raised brick patio.

Step 2: Mark the Area

Get a tape measure and mark the area for the patio. Hammer stakes on the ground so you will know the demarcation line of your patio floor. Also use a string and a carpenter’s level to help you mark the desired height of the patio.

Step 3: Dig a Trench 

Step 4: Level and Compact the Trench Bottom

Level the bottom of the trench using a level and a piece of wood or lumber. Make it as firm and compact as possible.

Step 5: Install Waterproof Lining

Step 6: Assemble the Retaining Wall

 

Drying Concrete: Curing The Diy Patio

Patio slabs need to be moist cured to keep their surfaces from drying too quickly- especially in our high desert heat of Twin Falls, ID. If the surface dries too soon, it will be weak and may later become powdery or crumble away. Cure your concrete by keeping it wet. Cover the slab with burlap, sand, straw, or other material and wet it . Wet it down as needed until curing is finished.

Another option is to use plastic sheeting or a commercial curing compound. Water evaporating from the slab will be trapped, eliminating the need for wetting.

Whatever method you choose, curing should last a minimum of three days-longer in cold weather- but it’s best to let the slab cure for a week, just to be on the safe side. Don’t walk on it for at least 3-4 days, nor drive a vehicle until 10 days have passed.

Now it’s time to enjoy your new DIY cement patio!

Need More Help? Check back to our site as we will be adding the best “how-to’s” on concrete, and articles for do it your-selfers.

How To Build A Raised Concrete Deck

Do you know how to build a raised concrete deck?

A slab with so much inconvenience is impossible to fix. But it can be contemplated, and this article will show you how. The results are similar to a cover, but getting them is more straightforward and less expensive than creating a body from scratch. In most situations, this undertaking is also cheaper than a new patio installed by a contractor. 

Local contractors estimated costs of $7 to $10 per sq.

To remove this patio and put a whole slab. Surely you could replace your deck yourself for less than the value of this undertaking, but DIY demolition and precision casting are huge and exhausting jobs.

Reinforced concrete decks have become increasingly popular among homeowners.

Thats because they need very little care related to wood decks. The concrete blocks used to create the decks are carefree, only requiring occasional washing with a regular garden hose.

To enlarge the essential outdoor space, the installation of a comfortable concrete patio may be all that is required.

A basic raised concrete patio is not a complicated undertaking if you have some experience in the field.

A raised concrete deck gives an attractive outdoor space and adds value to your living space. There are other considerations to create a high interface, including the lot, the location, the type of wood that can be used, and of course, the value and estimated completion of the development.

A raised deck is supported on the ground level by wooden legs. 

Excavate The Patio Area

Remove all vegetation in the patio area, extending the edges about 6 inches beyond all sides of the patio . Excavate the soil to a depth of 8 inches. As you work, measure down from the layout lines to gauge the excavation depth. It’s usually easiest to dig out the sides to full depth, then dig out the interior area, using a long, straight 2×4 and level to make sure the entire area is level . Tamp the soil thoroughly with a rented plate compactor.

Tips For Working With Sleepers

Screwing down sleepers with concrete screws is simple, but there are some things to keep in mind:

  • Screws should penetrate the concrete by at least 1 in., so 3-1/4-in. screws are perfect. In low spots, where we had to stack up shims, we switched to 3-3/4- in. screws.
  • As you drill, dust compresses around the drill bit. That slows you down, strains your drill and overheats the bit. To clear the dust, pull the bit completely out of the hole once or twice while drilling each hole.
  • Drill the holes 1/4 to 1/2 in. deeper than the screw will reach. Extra-depth provides a space for dust and grit, so screws are easier to drive.
  • Have extra drill bits on hand. As a bit wears, it doesn’t just drill more slowly; it also bores a slightly smaller hole and screws become harder to drive. We replaced each bit after about 40 holes. When all the sleepers are screwed down, take a few minutes to double-check for flatness. Set a 4-ft. straightedge on each sleeper, both across it and along it. If you find spots that are 1/16 in. or more out-of-plane, back out the screw and add or remove shims.


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