mm740
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Joined: Mon May 09, 2016 6:37 pm

Patio on sloping backyard

We just bought a house with a nice sized patio. The only thing is that the backyard is on a very small sloping hill. Because of this, much of the ground has eroded, causing the bottom of the slab to show and patio to be pulled away from the foundation of the house (about 3/4"). Our predicament is trying to decide what we want to do with the space. We have gotten quotes for building a deck on top of this slab, but they are pretty costly. I was wondering if it is possible to somehow salvage what is here by possibly filling in the gap, maybe putting footers at the end of the slab to keep it from moving anymore? I am honestly completely in the dark to this as I have no experience with this or how to go about it. Is it better to just go with a deck that will have big support posts put in the ground, or is it possible to maybe salvage this and put a retaining wall at the end or something like that? For the grass (or lack of) we are going to try and install artificial turf as our neighbors have tried everything for their grass and cant get any to grow. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Photos here: https://s61.photobucket.com/user/mm740/library/
Last edited by mm740 on Tue May 10, 2016 8:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

nitlsu
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Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:36 am

That is actually a pretty steep grade from the patio to the back of the yard so you are always going to have trouble with soil erosion unless there's full sod cover. Even with sod there will be some settling due to soil compaction.

Your best bet would be to try and reduce the grade by raising the retaining wall in the back a little and then put in plenty of soil and then sod over it. This should help with it not sinking further. But if you want it raised back up...I'm afraid the solution is possibly having a foundation repair company come in and install some concrete piers below the patio and raise it that way.

HoneyBerry
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Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:10 pm
Location: Zone 8A Western Washington State

When I looked at your photos, I pictured a nice flat yard with a short retaining wall at the base of the black fence, like a bulk head. It would be costly to do it right, however. You would need to be careful about property lines and the side fences would need to be adjusted. You might need have it surveyed to be sure of the property lines. I had a survey done once and it is expensive.
A deck would be nice, but decks are not cheap and they are not maintenance free.
If this was my place, I'd probably plant some ground cover on the slope and add some flowering plants and shrubs here and there. There are some nice DIY surfacing products available for concrete patios. I've been looking into doing that myself. My friends applied a surface to their concrete driveway and it sure looks nice.

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tomf
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Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 8:15 am
Location: Oregon

You will need to put some fill under the bottom of the patio from what I can see. You could try getting some galvanized pipe and driving it into the ground at the bottom of the patio, this may hold it from sliding down hill.



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