An outdoor entertaining space in Banksville that started as a deck and ended up as a stamped concrete patio — the family changed direction after our first walk-through, when we mapped out the long-term tradeoffs of one against the other.
The Ask
We came to ICR with a deck in mind. We needed someone to tell us straight whether that was actually the right call for our yard, our maintenance tolerance, and the next twenty years of using this space.
The Design
We started by laying out the deck the family had pictured — and walked them through it against a comparable stamped concrete patio. Composite gets thirty years; concrete is permanent. A deck needs railing on the upper grade; concrete sits at grade with a clean edge. Maintenance and refinishing costs across two decades favored concrete by a wide margin. Once the math was clear, the family chose concrete. The final design: a stamped patio in a stone-finish pattern, sized for a dining table and a separate firepit seating area, with a clean integrated step down to the lower yard.
The Build
Five weeks. Sub-base prepared with 6 inches of compacted 2A modified stone, mechanically tamped to spec. Reinforcement laid before the pour. Pattern stamped while the concrete was still workable. Control joints saw-cut at engineered intervals to prevent random cracking. Sealed twice — once at install, once after 30 days of cure.
The moment it came together.
Details, from every angle.
“A stamped concrete patio that reads as a permanent extension of the house — the kind of outdoor space we'd build on our own homes. The Hayson family came in wanting a deck and we walked them through the math; once they saw the twenty-year picture, they chose concrete. That conversation is worth having before any project starts.”
