What concrete patios means in Augusta
Four inches over a compacted base is plenty for a patio. What matters more is that it sits below the house's damp course and slopes away from the wall, because a patio that ponds against a foundation is a problem that costs more than the patio did.
It is also the slab people look at most closely, from a seated height, which is why the finish and the joint layout matter here in a way they do not on a driveway.
Summer afternoons here bring hard short downpours, so a patio in Augusta is a drainage detail before it is a surface. Water coming off a roof in that volume will find any spot where the fall is wrong.
- Thickness
- 4 inches over 4–6 inches of compacted crushed stone
- Mix
- 3,500 psi, air-entrained, over a properly compacted clay subgrade
- Ready to use
- walk on it after 3 days, furniture after 7, sealer at 28
- Typical cost
- $6–$15 per square foot for a broom finish, $12–$20 stamped
- Service life
- 25–30 years with joints maintained
How concrete patios is poured
The perimeter is set out first with the fall marked on the forms, a minimum of an eighth of an inch per foot away from the building and more where the ground allows.
Where the patio abuts the house it gets an isolation joint with a compressible filler, never a rigid bond. The house and the slab move differently and something has to give.
Control joints are laid out as part of the design rather than as an afterthought, on a grid of roughly square panels. On a patio they can be tooled into the pattern so they read as part of the layout instead of as a scar.
Curing is where a patio is won or lost. A slab that dries too fast at the surface ends up with a weak dusty skin, and on a decorative finish that also means the colour goes patchy.
What concrete patios costs in Augusta, GA
Broom finish is the baseline. Stamping, staining, exposed aggregate and a border in a second colour each add a per-foot amount, and a small patio carries the same setup cost as a large one so the per-foot rate is higher.
Patios in Augusta run $6–$15 per square foot for a broom finish, with stamped work at the top of the range. Getting concrete into a fenced back yard on the older lots in Summerville or Olde Town usually means wheeling it.
Where concrete patios goes wrong in GA
The failure that costs the most is a patio poured level against a house wall. It looks fine until the first heavy rain, and then the water has nowhere to go except into the wall.
On clay, a patio poured level against the house does more damage here than it would on sand. The clay holds the water against the foundation instead of letting it drain away.
Where we do concrete patios
We cover Augusta, Columbia County and the South Carolina side of the CSRA, including and 34 more areas.
Questions we get asked about concrete patios
How thick does a patio need to be?
Four inches over a compacted base. Thicker only matters if a vehicle will ever be on it.
How much slope?
At least an eighth of an inch per foot away from the house. A quarter is better where the ground allows it.
Can a patio be poured against the house?
It can abut the house with an isolation joint, and it has to sit below the damp course and slope away. Never bonded rigidly to the wall.
Get a free quote
Tell us what you need. We answer the same day, and the on-site visit is free.
Get a price for your concrete patios
Call (762) 320-6343 and we will come out, measure, and leave you a written quote. There is no charge for the visit and no obligation afterwards.