Patios
Concrete patios in Henderson, Kentucky
A backyard slab sized to how you actually use the yard, sloped away from the house, and finished so it is not a skating rink after rain. Poured in one pass by crews that work Henderson County.
The job
What a Henderson backyard patio includes
The East End ranches and the newer two-stories off Zion Road were mostly built with a small stoop out the back door and a yard. A patio is the room that yard was missing. The version that holds up is four inches thick on a compacted base, with the slope and the joints planned before the first form goes in.
- Layout on the ground with the furniture in mind, not just the square footage. Where the table sits, where the grill goes, where people walk from the door.
- Base and slope built in, a compacted gravel bed graded to fall away from the house.
- Four inches of air-entrained concrete, mesh on chairs, broom finished for grip. Exposed aggregate or a stamped pattern are the same slab with a different top; those are on the stamped and decorative concrete page.
- Expansion joint at the house and control joints cut on a grid that makes sense for the shape.
- A step or landing poured in place where the back door sits above the slab.
Henderson ranges
- 12 by 12, broom finish
- $1,500 - $2,200
- 20 by 20, broom finish
- $3,600 - $5,000
- Exposed aggregate, per sq ft
- $12 - $17 per sq ft
- Stamped, per sq ft
- $16 - $24 per sq ft
Installed, Henderson County. Odd shapes, steps and tight back-yard access move the number. The full picture is on the page about what concrete costs in Henderson.
Getting the truck there
Back yards, fences and the wheelbarrow question
A driveway pour has a mixer truck backing right up to the forms. A patio is behind the house, and whether the truck can reach it changes the day. A side yard with a gate wide enough for a buggy or a wheelbarrow line is a normal pour with an extra hour. A fenced yard with no access means a fence panel comes down for the morning, or the concrete gets pumped. The crew figures this out on the site visit, and it shows up on the quote as its own line, not a surprise.
Pool decks and covered porches
The two patios that get poured differently
A pool deck is a patio that is wet all summer, so it gets a finish with more grip and a slope that sends water away from the pool wall, and it gets sealed before the first swim. A covered porch or patio under a roof stays dry and can take a smoother finish, but it needs the same expansion joint at the house and the same base underneath; a roof does not stop the clay from moving.
Henderson specifics
The patio season, and the summer heat rule
Patios get poured from April into early November. The busy weeks are May and June, and a quote written in March gets a spring date. The thing that changes a summer patio pour is heat: a slab poured at two in the afternoon in July can dry on top before it cures underneath and end up with a weak, dusty surface. So July and August patios get poured early, before the sun is on the back of the house, and get a wet cure or a cure blanket through the first day. It is the kind of detail that shows up in year five, not day one.
Asked and answered
Patio questions from Henderson callers
Is a concrete patio cheaper than a deck in Henderson?
Per square foot, yes, and by a wide margin over the life of it. A 12 by 12 broom-finished patio runs $1,500 - $2,200 installed and needs a sealer every few years. A wood deck the same size costs more to build and needs staining, board replacement and eventually rebuilding. Where a deck wins is height: if the back door is three feet above grade, a patio needs steps and a landing, and a deck does not.
How big should a patio be for a table and grill?
A 12 by 12 fits a four-person table and a grill with room to walk around. A 16 by 20 fits a six-person table, a grill and a couple of chairs off to the side, and that is the size most Henderson backyards end up with once people measure their furniture. Bigger than 20 by 20 usually means two zones and a second control joint layout.
Which way should the patio slope?
Away from the house, about an eighth of an inch per foot, so a 12-foot patio is an inch and a half lower at the yard edge than at the wall. On the flat lots on the East End that slope has to be built into the base, because the yard will not provide it. A patio that slopes toward the house sends every storm against the foundation.
Can the patio be poured against the house foundation?
Against it, yes, but not tied to it. An expansion joint goes between the slab and the foundation so the two can move separately through the seasons. On a house with a walkout basement, the crew also checks where the downspouts land, because a patio poured over a downspout outlet is a patio with a wet spot at the wall forever.
Free estimate
Get a written patio quote
Give the size you have in mind, whether the back door sits above grade, and how the side yard is fenced. A crew that pours patios in Henderson County looks at the yard and writes it up.
Rather talk it through? Call (270) 714-3029. If nobody picks up, leave the address and the job and you get a call back.
- Measured on site before the number is final
- Tear-out, base, finish and haul-off itemized
- Pour dates set by the weather, in writing
Answers
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