Tudor revival + patio + architectural sanity = ?

Although, thanks for fixing my typo. I wouldn't want TEAL to swoop down on me.

Boomerang,

This is a really nice house. It deserves to have a patio that goes with it as smoothly as possible, if you want one--and why not want one? They're useful and can be very attractive.

Is there any way you could echo--on a smaller scale--the round arches on the house when you build the patio? Something needs to tie it all together. Like Osso, I am no fan of stamped concrete--or any concrete that has been textured by molding or application of a veneer--for your project. Osso has a very good idea, suggesting that the patio, if it must be concrete, be executed in a plain concrete whose color matches that of the house walls.

The suggestion about tapping into some landscaping expertise is also a good one, since you live in what you describe as a wet area.

We installed extensive areas of bluestone a number of years ago. At the time we had to decide between putting the bluestone over a concrete pad and having mortar between the stones or a more natural look that leaves small gaps between the stones (no concrete pad, no mortar) which, we were told, would eventually allow grass to grow between the stones. We went with concrete/mortar similar to GW's picture (no wall). We love it, but now we need to have tuckpointing done to deal with the shifting stones. Either way, there will eventually be some maintenance required.

Osso - I forgot to post this yesterday re: broken concrete -- our courtyard is done with that. I suggested to Mr. B that we mimic the courtyard but he hates it:



I don't have a photo of the back of the house but it is shingled and the windows are all square.

Smooth has a certain allure as it can be used as a sports court. Maybe the idea of going basic and latter adding stone or something to the top is a good one. That would help with the budget too.

Hmmmmm......

What are ya gonna do about the dog poop, Miss I can't believe it's not butter?

Our backyard is pretty darn big so I believe there will be adequate poo room for the gnarly mutt. If not, I can always train him to use the street's median where everyone else lets their dogs poo.

Or I can sell the beast to the carnival!

Mixing the maintenance aspect along with appearances - have you considered a concrete/pebble (In some locations they call it "Pebble-crete") angle? You can get the pebbles in pretty much any stone color you'd like and they are embedded in the concrete slab so maintenance is basically reduced to just hosing it off once or twice a year.

They can easily vary the pebbles sizes and exposure (the amount of concrete showing in between the pebbles) when they pour these things so you'd have a pretty wide variety of looks to choose from. You could do something that appears to be loose pea-gravel (which would be more of an English-Tudor look) to a faux cut stone look.

Like this:



That's what Mr. B called exposed aggregate and I think that is what he'd like to see me decide on.

I've been looking at some concrete options and I'm not quite sure why everyone is so down on stamped concrete. Some of it is really pretty: http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/stamped_concrete/

Exactly!



IMO, it looks good in pictures taken from 30 (or more) feet away - not so good when you are standing on it.

Whatever you go for, make sure of the drainage. It ain't like you live in a dry climate . . .

Ditto on the drainage, especially if your surface isn't smooth.

Broken concrete can look, ah, much better than that, Boomer, but I don't have my scanner connected to prove it. In any case, me, I'd rather you top concrete with stone if you want that look. I'm almost more partial to a well done concrete job than stone for your house, your needs, and what I understand of your climate.

As to the soil between mortared pavers thing, I've lived with it. Buncha work over time. What we did in our designs sometimes was install a terrace with stone over concrete in, say, a geometric shape such as a rectangle, and then have stones just on mortar next to it, to you get some "lacing" at one or more edges of the rectangle - interweaving that edge by having some of the stone on the concrete pad base reach over onto the non-pad area. I'm not suggesting that for you, just mentioning that is what people do sometimes if they want a little of that creeping thyme between pavers look. I tend to like architectural lines to a terrace that adjoins the house, so I haven't used that 'laced edge' look that often, and then usually only the edge that goes towards the rest of the yard.

I would nix using the arches as a reference as they are the least Tudor aspect to the house, but that is, as usual, opinion.

Most important of all of this is that you do live in earthquake country, don't you, even if you don't get them as often as Californians? The way the pad is built is more important than some other considerations - as is the surface texture, re the weather, relative to either slipperiness or scunginess - as are the finished grades, relative to drainage.

Oregon is not as wet as most people believe; we just have measurable rain on more days:



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18827213




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon#Climate

In the 15 years I've lived here we have had two earthquakes that you could feel -- both minor. That's not saying they couldn't happen. And it's not saying that you can buy earthquake insurance.

We aren't trying to do the patio ourselves -- we've called in the professionals so I'm sure they'll know what to look out for. I hope so, anyway.

Good then, Boomer. Lots of people don't, even otherwise smart people (don't get me started.. )

Eureka had a few verging on serious shakes (relative to Los Angeles' abundance) and a zillion small ones in the nearby ocean in my time there: the few serious being significant house rattlers, if not as roly-poly or jerky lerky as Northridge. None of my concrete separated ways, although when in the escrow process I asked about a to-me problematic crack in the basement wall, a structural engineer waved it off. Me, I always planned to install a french drain with perf pvc along the sidewalk retaining wall to alleviate hydraulic pressure, which is what I would have done, given the bucks, draining to alley. In L.A. anyway, you can't just outlet a drainage system to the sidewalk but have to daylite to the curb. Or so it was for x years.

... And a similar amount of wetness to your area, at least in the years I paid attention. (Honeydew, on the other hand, was said to get a hundred inches one of those years.) Similar drainage questions, including re what is happening under the house, depending on house construction, on cripple walls or slab.

Our electritician in Venice recommended, at one point, a fluorescent light under the house. That was before the remod.

I considered stamped concrete for the concrete patio we put in last summer, but didn't like the cost.

First, I'll tell you what I did to the concrete driveway, which didn't work out after a short time, then, what I did to the patio that I personally like very much.

On the driveway, I did a concrete stain, first a sandstone yellowish color, then overlaid with a warm terra cotta (had to tone it done with black later), all with a power sprayer. It was a lot of fun, and I liked the results, for a while.

It was supposed to be permanent….it's not. It wore off places where we had to drag some things over it, exposing the concrete.

Sooooo, for the patio, I approached it differently, and like the results much better. I had concrete paint tinted 2 different colors, a light butterscotch, and a darker caramel. Put down a layer of butterscotch, then taped off a harliquen pattern 12" by 6 " and painted that caramel.

What I like is that is not "trying" to look like real stone, it's just a happy, yet sophisticated pattern.

I didn't this in the Fall, before it got too cold, and I haven't gotten around to sealing it yet, but I will. Even without the sealer, it's worn very well, and any little flaws in my artwork just give it character.

BTW, I orginally bought stencils for the project, but I did better with plain old masking tape.

Go to home depot and buy a couple of those 2 x 2 concrete stepping stones, get out your paint brush, and experiment.