Thursday, May 23, 2013

Outdoor living space - deck - patio? What are YOU doing?

We started getting folks out here for estimates on outdoor living space.

Its killing me not having one, I spend a lot of time in my yard and not having a yard yet or a outside space..I have NO WHERE to go :(

We live on a flat lot so I do NOT have a walk out basement, I have a flat backyard.  My morning room sliding glass doors enter the back yard. Looks like two steps down maybe onto a patio.

At first I wanted a deck with a roof and lead into a patio area.......with deck area being 16x20 covered and patio being uncovered........

We were going to do Azec decking and exposed aggregate for the patio.

I am coming to find out the decking is about $16 - $20 a square foot without labor and the aggregate is about $8 sq foot.

What to do......what to do??

So yesterday we had a guy out here and we are getting an est with the aggregate with stone walls around some of the outside of the patio and half of it covered....

I have another company coming out but not till June 3rd...gesh!!!

In the meatime I ordered a program off EBAY a design program so I can try some things out visually, but I think those programs require sooooooooooo much input before it generates a picture, we will see it was ten bucks on ebay.......lol.

Thoughts on patio vs. deck with a flat yard????



15 comments:

  1. Patio! I hate all the debris and leaves and snakes and critters that accumulate under decks. A nice aggregate patio in an interesting shape with a lovely border of bright flowers and mulch or smooth river rocks would be my vote!

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  2. We did both. Deck before we moved in, and patio after letting the ground settle for 6 months. I would have loved just a patio but couldn't wait 6 months, and my husband visually likes having both.

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    1. I visually like both too, but.... it appears to be a lot more expensive, so I am waiting for estimates to come in to better determine........Hubby can do the deck himself , but not play around with concrete.

      We plan on stopping in Home Depot's building counter soon to price out a deck.......oh how the days go so fast! Wish these contractors provided some 3D pics or illustrations...a lot of these guys are old school, draw on a piece of paper deal....tough to visualize.

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    2. We have a flat yard too and are going to do a patio with pavers. I didn't know we had to wait six months!

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    3. I dont if you have to wait 6months, i know the concrete guy said you would anchor the patio into the house to it didnt move, but its been almost 6 months for us anywayz.

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  3. We have a flat yard as well and will most likely just do the patio. The hubby says it is quick and less expensive so I am all for it! What was the name of the program you got on Ebay? I have been wanting design software but it is expensive!

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    1. Punch! Landscape - deck and patio. v 17.

      It was 9.99 with free ship on ebay brand new. Its worth a shot for ten bucks...

      I cant wait to get our first quote, we have two more guys coming out yet also.

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  4. I would love to see the pictures you generate from that program! We just (almost) finished our deck and we plan to do a patio next year. We are very high off the ground though (~6 ft) so we kind of had to do a deck or we would have had a million steps down to the patio.

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    1. yeah, im kinda scared about the program!! Hubby will put in all the dimensions of the home ...........so i think!!

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  5. I personally like the patios on the lower level. I always think of decks being up high! I think a patio would look beautiful off of your morning room!

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  6. Can you do a combination of both? I like the idea of having choices. We are going to do both since we are so high up off the ground and the patio will be done later. We also need to get a fence for the dog too.

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  7. Thanks for sharing this information! I have been looking into outdoor living spaces in Rochester NY and where I might be able to find more information about outdoor living and how to go about it. Thanks again for sharing!

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  8. We are going through the same dilemma right now with our Ryan home. We are leaning towards a patio right now, probably 3 steps down. Are you in Peters Twp? It looked like from the pics. But let us know what contractors have the best bids! Thanks!

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    1. Anonymous, who are you, do you have a blog, are you building?

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    2. Hi, Sorry I am slow replying back. I haven't checked the Ryan blogs out for awhile. We built a house in Great Meadows. I don't have a blog, but I love to read the blogs to get ideas. We are going to build a patio with S&A Construction. It is supposed to be the end of July. I still have to come up with a design though.

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