Creating a Raised Patio or Various Terraces

A raised patio is a great solution when the access out of your house is quite

Although you can build the patio at the same level as the inside of the house, or one step down from your interior room, this is not always the most comfortable or attractive design.

Who wants to walk down a steep flight of stairs to go from your patio to the ground?

By creating levels you can avoid this. In addition, interesting and functional spaces can be created.

Let's look at a particular situation. Yours may be more or less drastic, but the concept is the same.

Mabel (Mabel?....well we need some humor) wants to install a patio off her kitchen. When she looks out the door, however, it looks rather high off the ground. She decides to measure how high up it actually is.

Upon measuring the height, she sees that the kitchen floor is 4 feet above the ground. Step risers, or heights, can be anywhere from 4" to 9". Personally, I never go over 8" (for comfort), and I like to stay around 6" or 7" risers.

If Mabel builds her patio at the same level as her kitchen, this means she will need 6 or 7 steps off her patio to get to the ground level. Even if she makes the patio height one step onto it from the kitchen, she will still need 5 or 6 steps.

Personally, I would like to see two or three steps at the most for transitions.....ideally.

So, I would suggest that she steps down one step onto an upper patio. From this raised patio there would be 3 steps created to get down to a lower patio. And another 3 steps should be added from the lower patio to the ground.

You can divide the steps and transitions however it is most comfortable.

Each of the patios will have a wall from the patio to the next level down. This is where a major expense comes into play.

Patio Sizes

Perhaps you would like 2 large patios to have great spaces when entertaining large groups. However, maybe you really don't need that. You might consider making the upper patio just large enough for an outdoor grill and a few comfortable chairs. A dining table and chairs could be placed on the lower patio.

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