Patio Slopes Toward House

Sandra Schumacher lives up in the land of billions of barrels of oil better known as Bismarck, North Dakota.

She's got a problem with here patio because it slopes towards her house.

Allow her to explain.

"We have a 10 x 12 concrete patio that has sloped toward the house causing leakage during rainstorms.

Could we pour a new concrete patio over the top with the proper slope (and enlarging to 14 x 12) or is it best to tear out the existing patio and start fresh?"

Here's my answer:

Sandra, you can do an overlay and not take out the existing patio.

If you go this route here's what I'd make sure of:

• the surface of the patio next to the house must be at least 6 inches down from the bottom of the first row of siding or whatever is the exterior covering of the house
• the new patio concrete must be a minimum of 4 inches thick and contain 1/2-inch steel reinforcing bars set on 2-foot centers going both directions - failure to do this will produce a crack where the larger patio extends over the existing one

Be sure to READ all of my past concrete installation columns so you don't have a premature failure of the product. CLICK HERE to read them.

CLICK this image and listen to the first story - Vic has a gorgeous patio on the back of his house. One part of the patio has sunken down. I've got the fix.