Elevated Patio - Changing Wood Deck to Concrete Patio

by Char
(Seattle)

Elevated Patios

Here is a questions about eliminating steps on and elevated patio.
I have a relatively small yard with my one story home. I have two sliding doors that lead to my wood deck pretty much flushed with the doors. It is about 12 by 15 feet. There is only one wood step off the deck to the grass areas. My question is: I want to rip out the decking and put a stamped concrete patio in place but I am concerned with having steps outside those two sliding doors leading to my patio area because I have dogs and they are getting older and their eyesight is not the best.

So to get them off the steps may be a chore to get them down into the yard. Is there any other suggestion other than putting steps and then a patio? I thought of pouring the concrete right up to the height of the doors but the yard slopes a bit, so the ability to get off that high concrete will be a pain.


ANSWER

From what you are saying, it seems that you only have about 6 to 8 inches of grade difference from your existing sliding glass doors to where the deck ends. You explained that there is only one step...typcially that's the height they are. You can measure the height of the setp to know exactly.

I understand...I had a blind dog at one time.

Here are a couple of ways to solve the problem.

1. Create the patio at the same level as your sliding glass doors. The ground underneath will have to built up so that the patio is level. I say level, but it should slope away from your house at 1/4" per foot for drainage.

When you get to the end of the patio at 12 or 15 feet out, your patio will now be above grade. You can fill that area and slope it gently down and away. No steps.

2. Take the height difference at the existing step off the deck and divide it in two. If the height of the step is 8 inches, you will divide it into (2) 4" steps. One of these will be the step down from your house to the patio. The other will be a step down off your patio to the lawn. Can the dogs manage a 4" step?

3. Do the same as above, but do not have a step off the patio onto the lawn. Fill it as explained in the first option and re-grade.

Here are some related pages you migth find interesting.

Landscape Grading

Raised Patio

Elevated Concrete Patio

Let me know if you have further questions.