This article gives you 9 steps to follow when pouring your concrete patio. This step-by-step process gives you insight to pouring concrete projects. Learn how concrete is poured.
The steps below provide a summary of how to pour a concrete patio. It’s important to contact a professional concrete contractor before you start your own project. Professionals can help you solve any issues you may have with your concrete project. Here in Minnesota, SSI can offer you a Free Concrete Consultation. We’ve served the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for more than 10 years and pride ourselves on quality work and customer service!
1. Site preparation is important when planning your concrete patio. It’s essential to examine the grade of your site to ensure the slope of the new patio is pitched away from your home. Keeping water away from your home’s foundation is key to a hazard-free concrete patio.
2. Next you’ll remove the existing sod and dirt from the patio’s area. A new layer of gravel base may need to be added to provide a solid foundation for your new patio. This will help prevent major cracking during the freezing-thawing cycle. Also, at this time it’s best to dig trenches for any drain tile you’ll be placing in the ground. (Drain tile helps remove water away from your home’s foundation.)
3. After laying the gravel you’ll lay out your forms to match the shape of your concrete patio design. Make sure to square the forms to your house. Verify that your forms are pitched properly, moving water away from your home. Once the forms are up and square you’ll want to tamp down the gravel. (Tamping prevents the ground from shifting and causing a void underneath the new concrete patio.)
4. Rebar will be installed to reinforce the concrete slab; it should be installed in a 3’x3’ grid pattern. (Think of rebar as the bone structure in a human, keeping the concrete pieced together and giving it extra strength.)
5. After the grid is laid out you’ll begin pouring the concrete. The concrete is typically moved with a skid loader or wheelbarrow. Once the concrete is dumped into place, a screed is pulled along the top of the form boards to level the surface of the concrete. You’ll continue this process until the entire patio area is filled with concrete.
6. You can place control joints into your concrete patio or cut the concrete later, once it has completely cured. (Control joints are inserted essentially as a controlled crack, instead of allowing the concrete to crack in unwanted areas.)
7. Once concrete has cured, use a float to smooth out any lumps on the concrete patio. This process ensures that your concrete is flat and all the bumps are removed from the concrete patio’s surface.
8. You may want to finish your concrete patio with a stamp or push broom to give it character and style. Typical patios are swept with a broom to provide good traction and a nice aesthetic finish.
9. Wait 30 days for the concrete to completely cure. Concrete shouldn’t dry out too fast. (30 days is the typical curing time to ensure the concrete is strong.) At this time a second sealer application should be applied to your concrete patio to help protect it from stains and yellowing.
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