Concrete Patios in Lenexa, KS

Concrete patios turn a Lenexa backyard into usable outdoor space. Kansas City summers are long and warm, with July highs averaging 88.3 degrees at Kansas City International Airport on Wikipedia’s climate table, so a patio gets months of use. Concrete holds up well, needs little more than sweeping and occasional sealing, and can be finished plain, colored, textured or patterned. HomeGuide’s patio guide lists plain concrete patios at $4 to $12 per square foot installed.

Size it before you pour it

The most common regret is a patio that is too small. A table for six with the chairs pulled out takes up roughly a 12-foot square on its own. Add a grill with room to work, a walkway past it and a couple of lounge chairs, and you are near 16 by 16 feet or larger. At the estimate we mark the outline on the lawn with stakes and string so you can stand in it, set chairs inside it and decide. Curves, a step down to the yard and a walk to the driveway or gate can be poured at the same time.

Keep water away from the house

A patio is a large hard surface next to your foundation. On clay soil, water that collects along the house wall soaks in, makes the soil swell and can push on basement walls. We slope patios away from the house, usually about a quarter inch per foot, and check where your downspouts and sump line drain before we set the forms. If a downspout empties where the patio will go, we plan an extension so the water ends up in the yard instead of under the slab.

Lenexa’s stormwater fee is based on impervious surfaces such as driveways and rooftops, according to the city’s Rain to Recreation page. That is one more reason to plan where patio runoff goes.

Finishes

• Broom: a fine texture for grip; the lowest-cost option and easy to hose off.
• Integral color: pigment mixed in at the plant, so the color runs all the way through the slab.
• Exposed aggregate: the surface paste is washed away to show the stone underneath; good grip and hides dirt.
• Stamped: stone, slate or brick textures, covered on our stamped concrete page.
• Saw-cut patterns: a grid or diamond cut into plain concrete, which also works as control joints.

Get a Free Estimate

How we build it

We strip the sod and topsoil, shape the ground to the planned slope and compact a crushed-rock base so the patio is evenly supported and drains. Forms set the shape. HomeGuide notes that standard residential patios are 4 inches thick, and that slabs carrying hot tubs or outdoor kitchens should be 6 inches with added reinforcement. We use air-entrained concrete, finish and edge it, and cut joints on a planned layout. An isolation joint against the house lets the patio move without pushing on the foundation.

When an old patio should go

• It has tipped toward the house
• Cracks have shifted and created trip edges
• The surface has flaked off, leaving loose sand and stone
• The step down from the door has grown as the slab settled

A patio that is in one piece but has settled may only need lifting. Our leveling page covers when that works.

Care

Sweep and rinse it. Use planter feet so water does not sit under pots. Reseal broom and exposed-aggregate patios every few years, and colored or stamped ones on the schedule we give you. Do not use salt on a patio; if you walk across it in winter, use sand.