Concrete Patios in Omaha, NE

Concrete patios give Omaha families a place to cook, eat and sit outside through a summer that gets genuinely hot. Wikipedia's climate normals for the city put the average July high at 88.1 degrees, and summer thunderstorms are common, so a patio here needs to handle heat, heavy rain and then a long winter. Concrete does all three well. HomeGuide's patio guide lists plain concrete at $4 to $12 a square foot installed, upkeep is mostly sweeping and resealing every few years, and the surface can be broom finished, colored, exposed or stamped.

Plan the space around how you live

Start with the furniture, not the square footage. Write down what will live on the patio: a dining set, a grill or smoker, a fire pit, a couple of loungers, maybe a hot tub. Then add walking room around each one. A round table for four needs far less space than a rectangular table for eight, and a grill needs a clear spot to stand that is not in the path to the door. Many people find the slab they first pictured is a few feet short in each direction. At the estimate we mark the outline on the grass with paint or string, so you can set chairs inside it and see for yourself before anything is dug.

Slope and runoff come first

The slab sits against your foundation, so the direction water runs off it matters more than anything on top. We set a gentle fall away from the house, roughly a quarter inch per foot, so rain and snowmelt drain to the yard. Sloped back yards add a second question: where does water arrive from? A patio dropped into the path of uphill runoff can act like a dam and push water toward the basement. We walk the yard, look at downspouts and sump discharge lines, and decide before forming whether any of them need to be extended or rerouted.

Surface options

• Broom finish: light texture that grips when wet; the least expensive option.
• Colored concrete: pigment blended into the mix for an even tint all the way through.
• Exposed aggregate: the cream on top is washed off to reveal the stones; it is grippy and forgiving of dirt.
• Stamped texture: slate, stone or brick looks, explained on our stamped concrete page.
• Saw-cut designs: a grid or diamond cut into a plain slab, which also serves as the control joints.

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Under the surface

We remove sod and topsoil, which are too soft and organic to build on, then shape the subgrade to the planned fall. Crushed rock goes down next and is compacted so the slab is supported evenly. Most patios are poured 4 inches thick, with wire mesh or rebar chosen for the size of the slab and the soil. The concrete is air-entrained for freeze-thaw resistance. Where it meets the house we place an expansion strip so the patio can move with temperature changes without pressing on the foundation wall. If a hot tub or an outdoor kitchen is part of the plan, that section is thickened and reinforced from the start rather than added later.

Replace or repair?

An old patio is a teardown candidate when water now runs toward the house, when cracks have opened into uneven edges, when the top has worn down to loose grit, or when the slab has dropped far enough that the step out the back door feels too tall. If it is still one solid piece and has only settled, lifting it may be the cheaper fix, and we will price that alongside replacement.

Looking after a patio

Hose it off each spring. Lift planters on small feet so they do not trap water. Reseal plain and exposed-aggregate patios every few years, and colored or stamped patios on the schedule we give you. Never use salt on a patio; if you cross it in winter, sand gives grip without damaging the surface.